The Savannah morning news., 1902-06-25
HOW THE NEWS WAS RECEIVED
Was a Great Shock to LOndon-An-
nOuncement of His Majesty's Con-
dition Made Mt Coronation Re-


been postponed indefinitely on account
of the Kings illness.
The sudden announcement of the
postponment of the coronation, just on
the eve of the ceremony caused the
utmost CONSERVATION everywhere. The
of thousands of occupants of the streets
suddenly stood still under the shock and
gazed att one another in silent dread
of what might come next.
On the stock exchange the effect of
the startling news was immediate.
Prices weakened, led by consols with a
fall of half a point.
Official announcement of the Kings
serious illness were made to public
bodies as speedily as possible. Word
was sent to the House of Commons and
| the acting lord chamberlain, Lord
Churchill, personally delivered to the
Mansion House, the official residence
Of the lord mayor, a message regarding
His Majestys illness, and at this
mornings rehearsal of the coronation
| ceremony ct Westminster Abbey the
/
Bishop of London. at the request of
Lord Esher the deputy governor of
Windsor Castle. made a statement as
follows:
II have to make a very sad an
nouncement. The King is suffering
from an illness which makes an opera
ton necessary to-day. The coronation,
| therefore iS noetpopad
Prayer for the King.
The bishop requested the congrega-
ton to join in the Litany out of the
coronation service and pray for the
recovery of the King.
During the afternoon the earl mar
shall, the Duke of Norfolk, issued the
! following notice:
1.-THE Earl Marshal has received the
! Kings commands to express His Ma
| jesty's deep sorrow that owing to his
serious illness the coronation ceremony
must be postponed. The celebrations
in London will be in consequence like
wise postponed, but it is the King
earnest hope that the celebrations in
the country shall be held as already
arranged"
The King also expressed to the lord
mayor his desire that His Majesty
| dinner to the poor of London be not
postponed.
How the News Became Known.
Outside of buckingham Palace enor-
nous throngs of people congregated
since early morning for the purpose
of witnessing the arrival of the spe-
cial ambassadors who We're to be re-
| ceived by the King and Queen to-day.
| Large numbers of foreign representa-
| tives actually arrived, but the short
ness of their stay was noticed, inqut-
ries were made and soon the news of
His Majesty's serious state of health
was circulated among the waiting
| thousands.
At the various palaces and at the
Grosvenor, buckingham, Cecil and
other hotels where the foreign repre-
sentatives are staying the news created
| the greatest dismay.
Royal carriages were already drawn
! up in readiness to take the guests to
| the reception at the palace, but the
moment the "tickers" announced His
Majesty's illness all the preparations
for the day ceased.
News Was ParaIyzing.
In the streets the change, which
nounced. Traffic seemed momentarily
paralyzed, and it was long before the
full effect of the startling intelligence
was felt.
Large crowds quickly gathered
around the Mansion House, where the
official notice was put up by a police
inspector, who first mounted the steps
and read out the bulletin, which was
received with respectful silence.
became more and more congested and
the holiday crowd concentrated into
groups reading and rereading the extra
editions of the papers. Most of
the people seemingly felt dazed and
scarcely appreciated the full import of
what they read.
The work on the stands erected on
all sides to enable people to view the
coronation procession was gradually
discontinued
In Piccadilly, along nearly the whole
length of which workmen were COM
pleting the decorations, the roadway
was blocked with sightseers, newsboys
were yelling the announcement of the
postponement of the coronation, but
! the workmen in that part of London
stolidly continued to finish their work
| At about 1 o'clock in the after
noon three copies of the signed medical
! DullSIln were pOSleu Oh inherent pdrIS
! of the railing surrounding the
front of Buckingham Palace
| The crowd. which had been so numer-
| Gus during the earlier part of the day
had by that time dwindled to a few
hundreds, but a constantly increasing
number of fashionable occupants of
! passing carriages descended to read the
bulletins.
King Treated 1t Lightly.
| In the course of the early afternoon
| the bulletin from Buckingham Palace
! announced that the operation had been
/ successful, that a large abscess had
! been evacuated and that the King
! condition was satisfactory, was issued
| and posted at the various points where
people congregated. and shortly after
ward a court official informed a repre-
/ sentative of the Associated Press that
/ His Majesty was recovering satisf9c-
| torily from the effects of the anaesthe-
| tic The King treated the idea of the
operati very lightly. his great con-
| Germ being for the disappointment of
4 the people.
"This. however" added the official,
| was entirely unavoidable as up to
| the last moment the medical attend
| ants confidently hoped the patient
would be able TO go through AT all
/ events the more important OF the coro-
/ nation ceremonies"
| Immediately after recovering from
| the operation the King asked for the
/ Prince OF Wales. Queen Alexandra
is terribly upset and nervous The
royal grandchildren were driven 10 the
/ palace from York House shortly after
] / o'clock