FRAGSON'S FUNERAL.

Sun (Christchurch), Volume I, Issue 15, 23 February 1914, Page 5

FRAGSON'S FUNERAL.

HAND-TO-HAND FIGHT. # „-,.-, Disgraceful scenes of disorder marked the funeral of Harry Fragson, the famous comedian, who was shot by his octogenarian father, and they were made worse by the fact that the police were entirely unprepared for the crowds which assembled.

Fragson's body was brought from the Morgue to his flat in the Eue Lafayette, which had already been filled with wreaths and flowers. Three of the wreaths came from Drury Lane Theatre—one from the staff, one from the directors, and one from Mr Arthur Collins. There was also a wreath from the Savage Club and a number from English friends. ■ • By the time the funeral procession was ready.to start for the church of Notre Dame de Lorette, the street was crowded with people, many of them from the Paris slums. As the body was carried out, there was a rush forward. Women screamed and men shouted, and the few police present could no nothing. M. Defert, the police commissary, shouted "Respect for th>i dead," but even this had little effect, and when the hearse started there was another rush, in which a number of women were badly crushed.

UNPLEASANT INCIDENT. There was a distressing incident on the way to the church. Fragson's friends, M. Edmond Bloeh and M. August© Bosc, walked behind the hearse, and the crowd, mistaking M. Block for old Victor Pott, Fragson's father, to whom he bears a slight resemblance, raised the cry of "Murderer," and made a rush for him. At the church there was a hand-to-hand fight for admission, in which the slum dwellers were victorious. Most of Fragson's friends had to wait outside during the service. " Matters were even worse at Montmarte cemetery. All the dregs of the quarter had swarmed into it, trampling the graves and making merry, as if the occasion were a holiday. Speeches were made at the graveside by representatives of theatrical societies, but hardly a word could be heard. There was a painful incident when Mile. Paulette Franck, from jealousy of whom Fragson's father murdered him, burst into* hysterical, weeping and tried to throw herself on the grave. She was led away by friends.