1890, at eight o'clock, to give expression to the loss sustained by all our people in the death of John Boyle O'Reilly, and to take appropriate action thereon.
August 22, 1890.
At the appointed hour for the meeting an immense crowd had gathered in front of Tremont Temple.
They were the Irish-American and the Anglo-American and the Afric-American, in short, the people,—the people whom John Boyle O'Reilly had loved and loyally served,—and they were gathered together to do honor to John Boyle O'Reilly's memory.
It was an eager, but a patient and good-tempered multitude, and once the doors were opened, it flowed in almost noiselessly, mounting from the floor to the very last rows of the upper gallery, like a high tide.
Meantime, the guests invited to the platform had taken their places, and when Mayor Hart, Chairman Charles Levi Woodbury, and the other speakers appeared, there was not a vacant place in the vast auditorium.
The guests included the rectors of all the city churches, and many priests, personal friends of Mr. O'Reilly, from out of town. There were also the presidents of the Charitable Irish Society, the St. Botolph Club, the Papyrus Club, the Catholic Union, the Athletic Club, many prominent State and City officials and representative citizens of every ancestry and creed.
Over the platform was a fine crayon portrait of John Boyle O'Reilly, flanked by the Stars and Stripes and the Irish flag.
Mayor Hart, who was received with hearty and prolonged applause, called the meeting to order as follows: —
