Image provided by: University of Nebraska-Lincoln Libraries, Lincoln, NE
About Omaha daily bee. (Omaha [Neb.]) 187?-1922 | View Entire Issue (June 15, 1902)
London's Preparations for the Coronation Show )NDON, May 14 (Special Corre 1 I spondence of The Bee.) The ca I blegrams sent out from this town Ut'CtiiUJ Just now may make you think aWaAa that tVa offalf In WaetmlniFap Abbey on June 26 Is what all the world and his wife have been hurrying Into Lon don for to see. But really except for a half-mile royal Jaunt In public across Green park, from Buckingham palace to West minster Abbey at 10:30 a. m. and then home again sumo two and a half hours later, tlrtd and hot and hungry except also for some booming of cannon when the king's crown is put on there will not be much doing in London on the great day outside of the wholly private ceremony In the Abbey. That night things may be expected to warm up a little, and we shall doubtless discover whether the new verb "to maf fick" has come into the English language to stay, or whether occasion for It died out when the first wild buret of Joy at the relief of Ladysmlth and of Mafeking set tled down into dull apathy toward the progress of the war in South Africa. 'Arry and 'Arrlet should be expected to break loose on Coronation night, to deluge every one with confetti and to tickle each other's faces with peacock feathers, but the chances are that a large proportion of the extra 1,500,000 or 2,000,000 who are to be packed into London on that night will feel as if they hadn't had their money's worth at the end of the actual coronation day. Seven Mile "Hoyol Ir(tre." It is to relieve any such feeling that the king and queen are going to make a "prog rees" of seven miles through the city on the day after the coronation and that Is what the world's "a'waiting for to see." The king and queen will wear their crowns and robes of state and will travel in what Is perhaps the most gorgeous coach now in actual use anywhere in the world. Her alds and titled supporters and troops from all quarters of the globe will help to make the "royal progress" as brilliant an affair as the procession at the time of the late queen's Jubilee. It Is a lucky thing for the king, and more especially for the queen that the royal progress does not have to be made in the same gilded chariot that will take them from the palace to the Abbey. The Journey of June 27 is to be made in a coach of more recent vintage, with springs that will not cause the unhappy occupants to think they are crossing the English channel on a bad day. The long, slow Journey will be hard enough at best, for delicate, sensitive Queen Alexandra and it would have been a physical Impossibility for her to make It In the vehicle to be used In the short procession of the day before, as she has a tendency to sea sickness. Uy the I.ord Hyor'ii Leave. Perhaps the most Interesting point in the Journey will be the imaginary line at the lower end of the Strand, marking the boundaries of the proud little patch in the heart of the metropolis which Is entitled to call itself the city cf London and which has the lord mayor of London all to Itself. Even Edward VII, king of Great Britain and Ireland, defender of the faith, emperor of India and all the rest of it, may not enter the city without the lord mayor's con sent. As the route of the progress lies partly through the city, a herald In wonderful raiment will ride ahead of the king to the boundary line at Temple Bur and after a quaint ceremony "Who-gois-there" bus iness, blowing of trumpets and all that sort of thing will politely ask the lord mayor, who will be in waiting to guard the city's right, if the king may please enter the city. It Is reasonably safe to say that the lord mayor will graciously consent. Just what would happen if he didn't ie something that seems never to have suggested Itself to anybody. Wherever there la an open space along ..... 1 Him' O- '-' I - 'Arc tf the seven miles of streets which will be traversed by the procession, on frontages where building operations are in progress, along the sides of the public squares, in front of hotels and government buildings that stand back from the sidewalk, are signs of whole forests stripped and brought to Loudon. Every club along the line of march Is putting up scaffolding. There is a mammoth timber terrace for the ex clusive use of peers, a building on the northern side of Trafalgar square, while in Constitution hall, past which the king will drive from and to Buckingham palace, a stand which, It Is paid, is the largest ever built is being constructed. But perhaps the most remarkable of all are the tiers of scats being built around the two old churches that stand in the middle of the Strand, St. Mary's and St. Clement Danes'. Both of them are picturesque and venerable buildings, but that has not pre vented them from being utilized by the stand-builders. The widening of the Strand has cleared out the buildings that used to surround rw g yv- 1 n i-' . - MEMBERS OF GROUP 1, NEBRASKA the churches so that they command a eplendid view of the street, and each of them now is being enclosed with a mass of scaffolding which is intended to result in an immense "three-decker" stand capable of holding several thousand people. The topmo.-t tier of (seats will reach almost to the base of the spires, so that the entire bodies of the churches with the exception of their roofs will be hidden. CnrpenterM nntl the Abbey. As for Westminster Abbey itself, the amount of carpentry work that is being done around it is a thing that makes folk who love the old church for its romance shudder and gnash their teeth. To begin with, the western entrance and the ap proach thereto are disfigured by a mass of scaffolding where a strong force of laborers is at work on the temporary building In which the king and queen will robe before their coronation. And, as if this were not enough, operatiens are Just beginning on the side of the Abbey, where an immense stand, to run along the whole length of the building, will be placed. So the timber men and the building con tractors of London are rubbing their hands and chortling as orders come piling in and every laborer who can handle a ham mer and -saw has more work than he can Omaha's Latest Contribution to Ranks of Citizenship GRADUATING CLASS OF 1902 GROUPED attend to. Trices In both trades have gone up to an amazing figure and they are al most certain to go higher yet as the de mand for timber and workmen grows keener, rounds upon pounds, too, are fall ing into the coffers of the people who man ufacture street decorations; and the gor geous ornamentation of the Iioudon streets through which the royal precession Is to pass will be one of the sights of the day. Every Louden borough which the corona tion route crosses is arranging for decora tions to cost thousands and British and continental firms are working overtime to furnish all sorts of ornaments. In the royal borough of Westminster the decora tions are to be unusually striking. Sit miles of the coronation route lie In this borough and the streets composing it will be lined with Venetian masts swathed In red cloth and decorated with golden crowns, with garlands and with parti colored streamers. Imitation Marble Decorations. The finest scene of all, however will be Just In front of the western entrance to the If 11 5ii ' ' i & O if V - . ' -a - , BANKERS' ASSOCIATION, WHO RECENTLY Abbey, where a whole forest of Imitation marble pillars will be raised. Each one will bear the golden figure of a saint, while, in about, the center of the column a crown and shield, emblazoned with the royal arms, will be hung. From lit low these, graceful garlands will stretch from one column to another. Besides these there will be at least four triumphal arches, also in imitation marble, and also bearing the) royal arms, besides being decorated with rich gilt. From the curves formed by the arches, loops of prairie grass, ornamented with different colored balls, will hang. Though the business that will be done in scats on the grandstands on Coronation day promises to be startling, there will be even a brisker trade in seats In windows. Even now, It is hard to find a shop or office building, of any sort which is not advertis ing "windows to view the coronation pro cessions." Almost all of these windows have been bought up by rich syndicates most of the stands also are being built by syndicates who are planning to charge whopping prices for them. Some one has estimated that these windows will accom modate about 200,000 spectators, that the grandstands will probably seat 100,000, while 70,000 more will find places In the show windows of shops, almost every one of AT WEST FRONT OF THE HIGH SCHOOL which along the route will contain a tlor of scats. Added together these figures give a total of 370.000 people who will be seated In one or another along the corona tion route, rresent indications are that the humblest of those seats will sell for 2 gul. leas, or $10 apiece. To attempt to say what the mor.- desir able will bring would be rather a ras i prophesy; but if you calculate that each one of these 376,000 spectators pays on an average $10 for his seat, you have $:!, Tilo.t'OO changing hands. To keep the crowd back, the line if march will be hedged with troops and policemen. The soldiers will come from India, from the colonics; some of them w 11 be volunteers or Imperial Yeomanry, and there will be 83,000 of them in all So you can Imagine the scene the pavements, from the shop-fronts to the curbs, black with people, pressed back by the "thin, red line" of troops, the windows of every story white with faces, thousands looking on from endless stands, and other thou sands peering down from the roofs. It Is J? V H 47 i V'- MET IN CONVENTION AT AUBURN. expected that the London streets through which the procession is to move will be Impassable at 8 o'clock In the morning. Energetic Americans who come to Lon don with the intention of seeing King Ed ward's royal progress undoubtedly will see It, in spite of high prices, crowds and the unfaniiliarity of their surroundings. But even should they miss it as ho many missed the queen's funeral they at least will have the rare opportunity of seeing the biggest city in the world giving Itself up to frol icking In a way that probably it has never done In all long years of Its history. Even the merry-making of the diamond Jubilee time promises to be surpassed. (iiioil Tliuea for K ver one. It will be rather an interesting thing to see Just how stiff old London goes about disporting Itself. Contimntal cities, like Paris and Vienna, go in for that sort of thing at regular Intervals, and do it well, because they are accustomed to doing It, and also because "letting yourself go" comes more naturally to the Latin than It does to the Anglo-Saxon temperament. All the same, you never can tell. London's "Mafeking night" t.rgy couldn't have been beaten for sheer spontaneity in Nice Itself, which seems to Indicate that the coronation BUILDING Photo by a Staff Artist. V "rejoicing" may not be as leaden as one might suppose. The Idea seems to be to give everyone in 1-omlon a chance to have a good time on Coronation day, and the various arrange ments that are btit.g made to that end have nothing at all to do with the pro cession through the streets. Every Loudon borough is collecting a fund toward or ganizing some sort of fete within its pre cincts, public squares without number will ln given up to cntcitaiiuiionls for the chil dren as well as for the nM r people, where hauls will play and comedians p'.-if . rtn ; I'mich and Judy hhows Innumei able will be on view. There will be great dinners for children and p.or folk In other parts, as well as sports of all Muds The hands of the clock are to be pushed back, too, and the River Thnun s utilized for merry making, Just as It used to be In the time of good Queen Hess. There- will be great water fetes at Cheliea and Biitterwca, with long processions formed of ornamental barges. The picturesque old city of Rich mond, seldom missed by visiting Americans In any event, will be especially worth a visit at coronation time, for there Is to be a Venetian fete on the water front which at night will be Illuminated with fireworks for a couple of mileti. Another reminder of old times Is the plan to light up GreAl Britain from end to end on Coronation night with Immense bonfires. There Is an official bonfire com mittee which Is p'aiiulug to have a Ore of really great size on every hilltop through out the land. The funds for building these fires are being raised in the different local ities and they are all to be lighted at ex actly 10 o'clock on the night of June- 2il. when there also will be displays of colored fires and of rockets on a grand settle. Most of the fires are to be made of peat and will burn brightly for over four hours, so that to anyone on a vessel off the Eng lish coast on that night. It will look as if the fighting men of the country were being warned against the coming of another Span ish Armada. Oill I.iiimIiiii I nun id nee naliima. There Is a custom that si enm much more common In England than It Is In America, it ttd which Is playing a decidedly prominent part in the arrangements for the corona tion fi st lvltloH that of Insuring against every possible chance of financial logs. Of course, the speculators who are building all the Immense grandstands and who have bought up moot of the available windows, Ihe proprietors of coronation shows who have arranged special programs and the managers of hotels and restaurants who have doubled and trebled their facilities in the expectation of Immense crowds, all stand to lose disastrously in case of any thing happening to prevent, or even post pone the great ceremony. Therefore most of them are insuring against such an event Just ns they would against death, physical injury or fire. The king's life has been insured prob ably some thousands of times during the lust two months, In eases for amounts as high as $100,000. The life of the German emperor whose death, of course, would lead to the coronation being postponed In being Insured almost as extensively. The lives of other continental rulers are being insured by Iaondon tradesmen who make a specialty of catering to visitors from their respective countries ami who prob ably would not come In large numbers in case of serious mishaps to their ruler. Some entertainment purveyors have In suredat heavy premiums, of course against not making us big a profit as they hope out of the ventures. "Risks" have been taken even on the possibility of the rain spoiling business. To decide on the rates for this Insurance the compant'-s drew up a funny little table of rain sta tistics and calculated their chances of hav lii.; to pay by studying the June weather for the lunt hundred years and averaging up. MARSHALL U)RI).
