Richmond dispatch. [volume] (Richmond, Va.) 1884-1903, 1893-08-10
THE ROYAL WEDDING.
A RESIDENT OF VIRGINIA
SEES THE PROCESSION.
Fabulous sums Paid for Win.
dows and Scats-Thc London
Crowd as Described.
loorrs.nnnd.nco Of tne RIchmond pispa.cn.l

fcorrespondsnee Of the Richmond Dispasch.l
LONDON, July III sent You about
week ago O short description Of the
Ascot races with description OF some
OF the dresses also, and now como the
Royal wedding, the Henley regatta. and
the Oxford and Cambridge cricket
match--all in one week and all OF great
interest to the British public.
The crowd in the streets OF London
was beyond conception, and the decora-
tions wore six miles long, and on every
square there was triumphal arch with
appropriate mottos, &C, on them. Inc
bride looked thoroughly miserable, and
her head had to be in one continuous
nod 10 recognize the cheers OF the multi
tude, and tho Prince had TO take his hat
off every stem the horses took. The whole
length of the way from Buckingham
Palace TO the Liverpool-Street station
on the Great Eastern railway was ilned
with troops. and as the royal carnage
and four horses went slowly by they
saluted, and it gave q very pretty elect
ns il went along the line.
NV view was from window kindly
rendered me, whilst the ones on either
side sold for 80 guineas each-S2. oO.
Baron Hirsch and others paid 81, 500
for windows on Piccadilly, and it was es-
timated that on ST. James street and
picadilly alone over 800, 900 was spent
for windows from which to see the pro-
cession.
THEIR GOOD HUMoR.
The GOOD humor of the British crowd
was very noticeable fact, and though
they pushed and worried the police,
they did it with good spirit and only
made rushes for good places. and then
the police would have great job to get
the line straight again. All traffic was
stopped on aud near the line OF process
sion in the afternoon. and In the eve
ming, when the lovely illuminations
were alight on all the business-houses,
clubs, &C., not wheel was allowed to
move and the public had the whole
streets to themselves, and then it was a
sight. and all night, too. The
Hotel Albemarle was lovely in
decorations and Examinations, and
the Empire Theatre spent $1,750 in
their illumination. The Graphic was
also in the front with lovely pair OF
canopy windows in pink silk, &C., and
Prince of Wales feathers. Beautiful
weather had lot to do with the turnout
OF people, and even the jubilee crowd
was outdone. The Prince and Princess
won't to Sandringham for the honey
moon. Their train WAS drawn by IN
engine which used some patent fuel or
oil and made no smoke or dust. Per
haps the best conception OF the crowd
will be derived by the enclosed cutting
from the RAJ Mai Gazette:
SCARED BY A CROWD.
There were four OF US and we had
reached The coffee and cigar stage OF
dinner at the Cafe Royal on Saturday
evening. The talk was of Thursdays
crowd, and each man gave his impress
sions of that feature of the days pro-
ceediDgs, winding up with the remark
that these impressions were too vivid to
be dulled much by the passage Of time.
Finally, an American who had arrived
in London on Wednesday said he
would like to say word about his i'm
pressions, rs the soreness had not
quite worn Off He was invited
TO put on o full head of steam.
Well" be said, 81 learned
something on Thursday by actual expe-
rience that 10 amount OF reading nor
no amount of telling about at second
hand would have convinced me of. L
arrived in London on Wednesday. Eve
rybodv was talking about the royal
wedding that was to be celebrated on
the following day. l saw good many
of the decorations as l was driven from
the railway station TO the Hotel Veto
ria. asked if the procession would be
worth looking at. The man to whom |
put the question was an American who
had been over here for year or so. He
smiled at re as if really ought to have
some one to take care of me, aud said
that | had never seen anything like the
procession, and that if l did not go and
look at it might die without knowing
what crowd was like.
CONSIDERED HIMSELF A JUDGE OF CROWDS.
"The idea of not knowing what a
crowd was like struck me as being rather
rich, and 1 laughed and said well
/ guess you can't tell me much about
crowds. meant it, too, for I've seen
the biggest crowds that were ever col
lected in tine United States. I've seen
the biggest political professions that
ever marched in New York. was
at the opening of the Chicago EXPOSE
ton. I've been all over America, and l
thought knew what crowd was The
other man only smiled. He was good
natured, but l didn't like the smile
much. because there was something
about it that conveyed the suggestion
TINT hadn't stopped growing yet. I'D
get seat if were YOU he said.
'Where?' l said. 'On st. James
street. he said. Five minutes later
was in cab, and said to the driver,
st James street. He got there L
handed over a shilling. The driver
looked as if it were counterfeit, and l
walked away, feeling that l would,
during the rest OF my stay in London,
be looked upon with suspicion by the
cab.driving fraternity. Wherever | saw
seats-and L saw q few tried to buy
one. / was about to throw up my hands
when man told me he had one left. 1t
was on O stand on the roof of q building
that looked pretty far up. He said he
would give it away for q guinea, rs he
had other business to attend to. The
price rather bothered me. I had all
kinds Of silver in my pocket, also sove-
reigns and few fve-pound notes.
However, he was honest and took only
II shillings. Then 1 went back to the
hotel, thinking that after had seen the
Royal procession and the crowd / would
have word to say about crowds in
general. but American crowds in par
ticular."
NOT IN ANY HURRY.
"Well, Thursday came. was in no
hurry because knew the royal process
sion wouldn't reach ST. James street
much before 1890 o'clock. / saw
everybody leaving the hotel about 10
o'clock, though some left before that.
I SAID TO myself, There's no hurry :