physician Dr Litchfield, He spent nearly an hour trying to revive him, but O'Reilly died shortly before 5 a.m. Public announcements attributed O'Reilly's death to heart failure, but the official death register claims "accidental poisoning". Grief and tributes O'Reilly's sudden death received an outpouring of grief and tributes from the Boston community and also globally, The Pilot published a full biography of his life in their 16 August edition. Cardinal James Gibbons said upon hearing the news, Grover Cleveland wrote, George Frisbie Hoar sent a telegram to O'Reilly's wife saying, His parish priest Reverend McMahon of St. Mary's Church, Charlestown said, Oliver Wendell Holmes Jr. wrote, Boston mayor Thomas N. Hart along with many other identities in Boston and Ireland also paid tribute. Funeral and memorial service His funeral on 13 August held at St Mary's Church in Charlestown was attended by thousands. The streets near the church were lined with mourners. The bearers were O'Donovan Rossa, Jeremiah O'Donovan, Michael Fitzgerald, James A. Wrenn, Capt. Lawrence O'Brien, and Denis Cashman. His wife did not attend the funeral due to grief and was "unable to leave her bed." On 2 September a public memorial service was held at Tremont Temple in Boston, attended by dozens. The speakers included Mayor Thomas Hart, Charles Levi Woodbury (son of Levi Woodbury), Rev William Byrne. Charles H. Taylor, Benjamin Butler, Thomas Wentworth Higginson, Edwin Walker and Patrick Collins. O'Reilly was originally buried at Calvary Cemetery in Roxbury, but in November 1890 his remains were exhumed and moved to Holyhood Cemetery in Brookline. His grave is near that of Patrick Collins. Legacy and honours In 1891, James Jeffrey Roche, O'Reilly's assistant editor of the Boston Pilot, published a biography of O'Reilly's life titled Life of John Boyle O'Reilly. O'Reilly became one of the most famous and respected journalists and writers in the United States. His civil rights activism garnered a lot of attention at the time; in 1945 The Crisis described O'Reilly thus: On 20 June 1896 (nearly a week before what would have been his 52nd birthday), a multi-figure bronze sculpture of O'Reilly was unveiled, then-President Grover Cleveland gave a speech at the event. O'Reilly's admirers included poets and politicians such as Walt Whitman, James Whitcomb Riley, Oscar Wilde, John F. Kennedy, Grover Cleveland and Oliver Wendell Holmes Jr. The John Boyle O'Reilly Club opened in 1880 in Springfield, Massachusetts. They celebrated their 125th anniversary