THE ESSEN AFFRAY.

Waikato Times, Volume 97, Issue 15211, 12 April 1923, Page 5

THE ESSEN AFFRAY.

FUNERAL OF VICTIMS. ASTONISHING DEMONSTRATION. PROCESSION FOUR MILES LONG. Australian and N.Z. Cable Assn. Received April 12th, 11.30 a.m. ESSEN, April 11. The funeral of the seven workmen and five apprentices was the occasion of an astonishing national demons-tra--lion. Funeral bells began to toll throughout Germany at nine in the morning, and floral tributes, including those from German and Prussian Governments and one from the Communists of France, numbered many hundreds.

In Essen itself the streets were thronged at daybreak by people dressed in deep mourning, many carrying flowers, making for Atlendorferstrasse, which cuts through the Krupps works, and was the scene of the tragedy. Here 60.000 Krupp workers had as- 1 sembled, and 250,000 others lined the streets to wateh the passage of the coffins which had been guarded at night by ten miners in the uniform of the Miners' Guild, each carrying a miner's lamp lighted. The rest of Krupps employees, marching in two columns four deep on either side of the road, preceded the coffins to the cemetery, which is four miles from the town. When the van reached the cemetery gates the end of the procession was BtlTl at Krupps works.

After the coffins had come into the street, the silence was unbroken except by the singing of Krupps choir. The musicians were followed by the coffins, four on each of three hearses, decked with evergreens. The relatives of the dead and representatives of the masters and delegates of trade unions followed, the latter, carrying gold, silver and multi-coloured banners, numbering at least 300. When they reached the cemetery, the bannennen formed a great circle around the pulpit from which the graveside orations were spoken. Many other mourners carried flags, and as the coffins passed the flag bearers, each dipped their flag. At the graveside the speaker for the Workers' Council declared that Krupps workers were determined not to work under foreign bayonets.

After other orations had been delivered the twelve coffins were lowered into the graves. During the rest of the day every shop in Essen was shut and the blinds of all the houses were drawn. Throughout the funeral ceremonies not a single French or Belgian soldier was to be seen, the military authorities having confined all to barracks.