Please wait. Contacting image service... loading

Article text

FUNERAL OF KING LEOPOLD, j
'HUMBLE WORKERS FOLLOW-IN'
THE PROCESSION; .
-DAUGHTERS' FAREWELL,í
S Amidst-rain and«a' most depressing j
^looni,.the: budy of King i-copold was ,
Káays ..Lic-yd's" of December -¿ii) carnea j
.to.its-last festing place. . .' ; -j
i following an impressive service IT»
the Cáthectfal of »t. Uudulo, m> uros-.:
I eels, .'the'fSäcred building, hoing pa« lt ea
1 rilrhpst tö; sutibcatkn, a procession was
.fôrmed:td Laekon, the route beiuglvneu
with- troops and spectators. . i'rince
Albert - was, the chief / mourner, ana
^amongst the representatives of toendiy
Powers were the Duke .of Coiuuiiigivb
¡and/ Jennee Henry of Prussia, wit
riiore significant were the humble Work-
ers from' the factory arid mme who,
came as delegates of . other toilers m
the. provinces. . . , / .
' /After a short service in the cluirOn;
at'Laeken, the Royal corpse was trans-,
ierr.ed-to .'tho; crrypt,; where -tho late.
King's three daughters proceeded alonep
to'trike a last farewell- . .. ..->;'.. V«
.¿«..'í^ítaBwitk?^
ioably 30i»,0Pp, people, .and; was attended
by'all,'the liigh /dignitaries" of . the.
;Ghurch'and'State. ' ?
- Fog hung like a pall over tho whole
city. / It rained heavily throughout the
night, and continued nearly ad u¡ed-,
. nesday. £ .The {streets of : the capital
were wrapped iii gloom, which tho gas
lamps, Vwith. their draping of " crape,,
vitad; little chance of dispeling. J
The line'iöf' route from the Palace
.gates to the; Cathedral Church of St.
Gridule.' a .' 'distance of about half a
mile, was. Jined. with troops. Behind
'the'troops".was-, a stout barricade breast
high; anti l>ehind;. this tíie populace,
-wedged/in.' dense masses : man, women,
arid ohildreri, young and old,, rich arid
..poor, shivering' in the - raw December
air,5'many'saturated to the bone.
/Vendors of «hairs andtables for the
use of moro ;obulent sightseers spent
a profitless,; morning^ for tiie rain ruin-
ed- their business. , The few stands
which liad ^been erected en route were
téríantless fer the same reason. An-
other disappointed commercial section
were the camelots, who had been en-
riching themselves * during the week;
selling photographs and biographies,
moré or less apocryphal, of King Leo-
pold's favorite, the Dil Barry of Bel-
gium, for the sale of their .wares was
o'ri the day of. the funeral forbidden.
; Early'ro the- morning three sad-f/ced,
black-robed women had gathered by
the ;coflin in the chapelle ardente to
weep ätid-pray ; they wore the three
daughters of the dead King,, whom his
death/had recalled 'from exile and so
strangely reunited. - .
li" '. it;;.was',;- soipeiftime'*, later ' before,'the
Lofficial ^mourmfs'ri>rived j including fer,
Ê'résèntatives/'of the . Royal Houses of
hifope./The.iCarainal-Archib'shop of
i»l^ines^-iri.:mitre>'.'rind .'cope,- and sur-,
rourided : byi. his subordinate, clo-gy
?briefly recited tho first" part of the '-.er
vice for the dead. Then the coffin was
borrie down/the stairs to. the funeral
car outside' the hóard'ng. This was
drawn by "*feix horses , heavily capar-
isoned. . ' / , " ? ' '. -,
Tho only flowers;placed on tho collin,
íweré. two. :siriipio;äwfeaths. "one fiona
Clementine. ?'
Here tho funeral cortege was form-
ed. Next to the funeral car walked
NBajart, King Leopold's 'faithful valet,
who had attended him in his last ill-
ness. Just; behind and alone walked
the youthful looking man upon whom
lins fallen the mantle of the King.
By special, courtesy of the Minister
of tho Interior, tho ropresentat'vo of
.the'"Daily Chronicle" was given a
place in the procession immediately
behind the Diplomatic Corps, the only'
other journalist oii whom this signal
honor was conferred being a corres-
pondent of .a New York newspaper.
The hooming of thc minute guns
and the tolling of church bells herald-
ed the setting in motion 'of . the cor-
tege. Through rain-swept streets it
wound its way very slowly, indeed,
howards thc. doors of 'the cathedral.
The Cathedral of St. Gudule is perch-;
ed oh an abrupt slope, and commands
tlie lower part of Brussels. Round
this venerable « fame the crowd1 was,
densest. - y
Thc prince's4 throne within .the sanc-
tuary, and that of tho Cardinal-Arch
bis'h'op immediately facing it, iwero
draped, .like the cathedral itself, in:
black. The coffin was borrie t° nn jin-,
iliense catafalque which stood in front
of tho high... altar, covered with a pall,
with tho Royal arms of Belgium om
¡brpidered in gold. t
Ti\vo hundred candles placed round
the catafalque -shed ia- confused light
upon the scene. . Thc .church wás
packed to its utmost capacity. Solemn
High Mnss was, celebrated with all the
impressive ritual, of tho church. ' At
tho .moment of .the4 elevation of the
Host the soldiers on guard within the
church presented nrrns, and tho Bone
diction waa pronounced to the accom-
paniment of a fanfare of trumpets-.
During Divine servico incidents of a
somewhat serious nature were taking
place outside between the peoplo and
the soldiers holding the route.
Against tho church wall.nenr the main
door spectators were in . such -force
that they «wept aside cordon , of
oa valry and made a rush-to the, doors
cf the cliairch. Tho hussars, assisted
by other mounted troops, charged
amongst the crowd and drove itback.
The people did not take kindly to this,
and. hooted. . The soldiers, using the
flats of their sabres, pinned the multi-
tude against thc church wall. A's-fur-
ther' fetront was impossible, 'Several
women were crushed underfoot.
On the other side of the cathedral
tliB crowd also broke through, and
showed fight .when the. troops endeav-
ored to drive it behind tho biiri
cades. In this tussle with tho cavalry
several were ridden down arid injured,
but none very seriously.
At the conclusion of the service,
when tho cortege re-formed, Prince
Albert stood bareheaded at the church
door while the coffin was being placed
on tho' funeral car. Then for the jour-
ney of . three, miles, to Lneken the
mourners entered carriages. The rain
was still falling heavily, but the entire
route from Brussels to Laeken Church
wns lined with people. In the crypt
is tho: burial vault of the. Belgian
Royal Family. A brief fëligious service,
was held there. Tho Cardinal Arch-;
bishop pronounced absolution, and the
body of King Leopold II. was borne
to tho vault .beneath «nd placed by the
side of his forebears.
When the mourners hud gone, Phin
cess Louise, Princess Stephanie, and
Princess (Clementine, under the escort
of ri doyen .of: the church, stole softly
into tlie crypt, and gazing into the still
unclosed vault took a lust farewell of
their Royal father who hod caused
them to drink so deeply thc cup of
-bitterness. Then tho three princesses
drove away in the darkness and the
rain. ,
Tho Baroness Vaughan held a . reli-
gious «erv* 9 er. Wednesday in th» rü*
! läge of AArröuyillp. Her two. sons and
j and the ..servants from tho chateau
wero also present, as well ns the mayor |
j and >a few other people from the vii-,
$