LAST JOURNEY

Evening Star, Issue 20613, 13 October 1930, Page 9

LAST JOURNEY

RlOl VICTIMS WESTMINSTER HALL TO CARDIHGTOH Press Association—By Telegraph—Copyright LONDON, October 11. In connection with the lying in state of the victims of the airship disaster the doors of Westminster Hall were closed at 0.35 this morning. It is officially stated that the total day’s almissions numbered 89,893. The victims commenced their last Journey on a - sunny autumn -morning, making slow progress through the crowded streets. Indeed, two hours were taken to cover the comparatively short distance between Westminster Hall and Euston Station, where the bodies were entrained for Bedford in five coaches draped with purple. Two hundred relatives and official mourners travelled in the same special train.

The traffic was diverted from the busy streets through which the cortege passed, heightening the impressiveness and sadness of the spectacle. Each coffin, covered with the Union Jack, was placed on a separate wagon by Air Force and Grenadier Guards detachments, and the Air Force, Welsh Guards, and Royal Marine bands were present. Mr Ramsay MacDonald, Cabinet members, many representatives of British and foreign aeronautical organisations, and high officers in glittering- full-dress uniforms marched in the procession. Messrs SculHn, Moloney, and Brennan joined the cortege in a motor car. Mr Forbes represented New Zealand.