The Stourbridge Observer, Cradley Heath, Halesowen & District Chronicle.
Stourbridge, West Midlands, England, 1888-06-23 00:00:00

THE FINAL SCENE.

At ten o'clock precisely Sir Morell Mackenzie
stepped out of the Emperor's room with his hat on,
walked rapic.,ly to the Crown Prince William,who was
waiting for him, and, after a few hurried words, they
went into the large ground-floor room, where the
Emperor was breathing his last. He lay on an iron
bedstead, his head raised by large pillows, his wan
hand on the white coverlet. Sir Morell Mackenzie
stood between the bed and a table, on which were in-
struments and medicines. The Crown Prince
William placed himself on the opposite side. The
Empres was seated at the lower end of the
bed, and afterwards knelt beside it, and re-
mained in this position during the last hours,
watching the faint gasps of breath. During the
night the Emperor, when consciousness returned, had
beckoned her to his side by a look, and, as she bent
low over him, had murmured a single word and some
short sentences, which she alone understood. At the
foot of the bed knelt the Emperor's four daughters,
Prince Henry, and the two daughters-in-law. The
chaplain softly murmured the Litany. The Princess
Frederick Charles, who had brought some white roses,
and an hour later strewed them over the Emperor's
coverlet, stood with the rest of the family. At some
distance were the members of the household.

The servants crowded to the doors, and stood there
with bowed heads and holding their breath. From
time to time the monotonous sounds of the Litany
were interrupted by half-strained sobs, the most
heartrendering being those of the poor old Wendelin,
the Emperor's trusted servant since the days of his
youth. He was the only one who sometimes heard a
reproof from the mild lips of his master; but was
forgiven immediately afterwards. He is quite pros-
trated by the death of the Emperor, and it is
thought will not survive him long. Every five
minutes Sir Morell Mackenzie, the other phy-
sicians standing behind him, felt the Em-
peror's pulse, and the expression of his face
showed that it was growing weaker every moment,
and was sometimes suspended altogether. The
breathing was very short, and so faint that the phy-
sician was obliged to place his ear close to the
Emperor's lips to distinguish it at all. At eleven
o'clock Sir Morel Mackenzie signed to the Empress,
who fervently kissed the hand of the dying Emperor,
and at twelve minutes past eleven he took out his
watch and declared life to have passed away. The
Crown Prince William gave whispered orders. Two
adjutants left the room, and at a quarter-past twelve,
while the silent throngs watched with bated breath,
the Imperial Standard was lowered to half-mast.
The sad event was immediately announced as fol-
lows in the Official Gazette :—" The royal sufferer
has finished his course. By God's decree his Majesty
the Kaiser and King, Frederick, our most gracious
Sovereign, entered into eternal rest this morning,
shortly after eleven o'clock, after a long period of
suffering, which he had endured with astounding
resolution and submission to the Divine will. The
Royal House and our people, twice bereaved within
so short a time, deeply mourn the too-early decease of
the much-loved Sovereign.—THE STATE MINISTRY.—
Berlin, June 15, 1888."