File No. 123G98/53
Chargé Wheeler to the Secretary of State
Tokyo , April 28, 1917, 11 p.m.
My telegram of April 2, 1 p.m. At 3 p.m. today Azuma sailed from Yokohama bearing the body of the late Ambassador, Arnell accompanying it. After a short service at the Naval Hospital which was attended by the Embassy and consular staffs, Minister for Foreign Affairs, Vice Ministers Foreign Affairs and Navy, Chief of the Naval Staff, and other Admirals, officials of the Imperial Household Department, Mayor of Yokohama, and other high Government officers, the body was taken at noon to the sea wall; there it was received by officers of the navy and conveyed to cruiser where the Admiral’s room, which was draped with flags, had been prepared for its reception. The casket was met at the wharf by a guard of honor composed of bluejackets carrying rifles with a naval band and at the vessel was given a salute of 19 guns. The battleship Suwo was brought from Yokohama to take part in the ceremony. Commander Tamura and Lieutenant Commander Nakashima, representing the Imperial Navy, accompany the Azuma as special escort, former ordered to proceed to Pittsburg. In to-day’s ceremonies no detail was omitted by the Foreign Office and the Navy Department to emphasize the esteem in which the Ambassador was held and the friendliness of the Imperial Government for the United States.