FEAR OF CRISIS ALLAYED

Taranaki Daily News, 12 October 1934, Page 5

FEAR OF CRISIS ALLAYED

ASSASSINATIONS AT MARSEILLES CROAT LEADERS ACCEPT REGENCY ' TROUBLES EXPECTED IN FRANCE Ui— THOUGH fears of the precipitation of a major crisis ill Europe aS a result of the assassination of King Alexander of Yugoslavia and M. Louis Barthou, French Foreign Minister, have been allayed by the Croatian leaders’ decision to co-operate with the Regency Council appointed at Belgrade, it is likely that a French political crisis Will result from the assassination. Deputies are clamouring for the resignation of the Minister of th Interior owing to his failure to take measures to protec; distmguished.strangers. They also seek the resignation of the M n iSter of Justice, and drastic measures against certain high police ° ffiCl The body Of the murdered King was conveyed through the crowded, silent streets of Marseilles to the Yugoslaviani wars; ip DUbfovnik, Which departed for Zelenika, whence the body will be taken to Belgrade. It will lie there in state before being taken to its final resting place in the famous Karageorgevich dynastic XS To g polo. M. Barthou’s body has been taken to Paris, where it will lie in state at the Quai D Orsay until a State funeral is held. General Georges, who was at first to have been assassinated with King Alexander and M. Barthou, did not die. He is improving, and hopes are entertained for his The* movements of the assassin have been traced by the French police from the time of his entry to France on September 2 g. He later went to an obscure hotel at Aix-en-Provence where he was joined by two others, who have since disappeared. He left Aix oh the day of the assassination for Marseilles.

borne to own country

BODY OF KING ALEXANDER WIDOWED QUEEN ARRIVES DEPARTURE FROM FRANCE By Telegraph—Press Assn—Copyright. Rec. 9 p.m. Marseilles, Oct. 11. Queen Marie of Yugo-Slavia arrived by a special train accompanied by Madame Edouard Harriot, wife of the former Prime Minister of France. She drove to the prefecture through streets strongly guarded by police, and entered the dearth chamber, where she remained alOne with the body of King Alexander for half an hour. Her face bore traces of her deep sorrow and a sleepless night on the train. . , _ ~ ~„ Queen Marie received President Lebrun, who, controlling his emotion with difficulty, expressed his grief. Queen Marie thanked him in low tones, and discussed the last rites before the King s body was placed aboard the warship Dubrovnik for Yugo-Slavia. ' Every token of mourning was offered when, as troops kept the quayside streets .clear pending the arrival of the widowed Queen and the grief-stricken statesmen of France, the cruiser Dubrovnik underwent preparations for the departure to Spalato with King Alexander’s body. , , , A mortuary car conveyed the oak and silver coffin, shrouded With the Yugoslavian flag, to the waterside. It was preceded by a motor-car containing police chiefs. Then came a car- carrying the heavily-veiled Queen and President Lebrun. ~ , T , Queen Marie and President Lebrun followed the coffin as, carried by Yugoslavian officers, it came aboard. Six French and six Yugo-Slavian officers were at the gangway, saluting it with their swords, while 2000 infantrymen presented arms. Officers of the Dubrovnik acted as bearers aboard the ship as the coffin, with the King’s sword upon it, was placed on a platform on the afterdeck SHIPS DRESS IN MOURNING. The strains of the Yugo-Slav anthem, followed by the Marseillaise, pealed across the harbour, in which all anchored ships displayed signs of naval mourning. Queen Marie bent and kissed the flag on the coffin, and departed with President Lebrun. The vessel weighed anchor and steamed out for Spalato, convoyed by French battleships and submarines. Aboard her were M. Francois Pieri, French Minister of the Navy, and Marshal Petain, who will represent France at the funeral, i The silence of the 50,000 mourners crowding the quay was so complete that the sea could be heard lapping the piles of the wharf. _ ' King Alexander’s body will be landed on October 12 at Zelenika, where the greater part of the British Mediterranean fleet will honour his memory with dipping flags and booming guns while 12,000 sailors will stand at attention. The body will be railed from Zelenika to Belgrade, where it will lie in state before its interment in the famous Karageorgevich dynastic mausoleum at Topolo. M. Barthou’s body was brought fropi hospital and laid alongside King Alexander’s, French and Yugo-Slav generals standing on guard. Later a train conveying other members of Cabinet carried M. Barthou’s coffin to Paris. The body will lie in state in the Salon d’Horloge at the Quai d’Orsay. M. Edouard Herriot and M. Andre Tardieu, French Ministers, have arrived at Marseilles and agreed that M. Barthou’s State funeral should take place at Paris on Saturday. General Georges, who was reported earlier to have died at the hand of the same assassin as King Alexander and M. Barthou, is now expected to recover. His condition is improving, but the bullet has not yet been recovered.

INCREASE OF CAUTION

RESULT OF THE MURDERS LITTLE FEAR OF A CRISIS ATTITUDE OF THE CROATS By Telegraph—Press Assn.— Copyright. Rec. 7.10 p.m. London, Oct. 11. British Ministerial opinion does not expect direct international complications aS a result of the assassination, inasmuch as, though it has increased nervousness, it has augmented caution among the central European Administrations. Everything is believed to depend on the attitude of the Croats in response to King Alexander’s gesture in appointing two of that nationality to the Regency Council. Fears that the Croats would precipitate an immediate crisis were allayed when Croatian leaders at a meeting at Zagreb decided to co-operate with the Regency. Thus far the only talk is of a military dictatorship, though many good judges regard this as inevitable. It is doubtful if any political outrage has ever evoked such universal horror and condemnation. These sentiments are calling forth expressions of deepest sympathy for the families and the nations of the dead King and the dead statesman in the Press of every country. In Britain the newspapers, without exception, pay . a tribute to the intense loyalty to their respective, countries which were the common characteristics of King Alexander and M. Barthou. “From a general European standpoint, says The Times, “Ring Alexander’s murder is all the more' disastrous m that he has long maintained a directing hand on the foreign policy of his country. His last fatal journey had been undertaken with the object of discussing conditions of better relationship between his country and Italy aS an essential preliminary to a Franco-Italian understanding, on which so much depends.” ITALY’S CONDEMNATION. Mussolini’s newspaper at I&me, B Popolo d’ltalia, condemns the tragedy as suddenly upsetting international life. It. says: “The recent shadows in the Adriatic, following Press comment in Yugoslavia, which wounded us, cannot affect our sympathy.” The AUgemeine Zeitung (Berlin) says Versailles has claimed two more victories. Other German newspapers say Germany had little sympathy for King Alexander’s aims, though she respected him as a man. The Yugo-Slavian Government profited by the delay in announcing King Alexander’s assassination to rush troops to the frontiers and to disaffected areas. The news of the King’s death was first published at Belgrade in the morning papers. Women fainted and ex-soldiers who fought with Alexander in three wars were grief-stricken. The city was plunged into unparalleled gloom. The assassination prostrated King Carol, who spent most of the day with the Crown Prince Michael, who is almost of the same age as the new King, Peter, gays a Bucharest message. The Government in view of the current unrest does not desire King Carol to visit Yugoslavia to attend the funeral. The Court of St. James will go into full mourning from to-day until Monday, October 22. At the Yugo-Slav Legation ait London members of the diplomatic corps began to call at an early hour. The Minister received a great number of messages of sympathy and condolence. A second woman has succumbed to a bullet wound in connection with the assassination. The Marseilles police have impounded the films of the procession showing the assassination and have prevented . the transmission of such films to America. On the stock markets foreign exchanges soon recovered from the unsettlement caused by the assassinations.