Gold Hill news., May 13, 1937, Image 6

Thursday, May 13, 1937
The Gold Hill News. Gold Hill. Oreiron
GEORGE VI AND El JZABETH CROWNED
Five Million Voices Cry, “God Save the King!" as Guns Boom
Glad Tidings From Historic Tower of London.
3hi/nkd about
London, England.—‘‘God save
the
King!”
Humane Fox Hunting.
As
the great guns of the Tow­
ANTA MONICA. CALIF.—
er
of
London boomed forth the
In England it has been de­
news
that the Archbishop of
cided that fox-hunting is hu­
Canterbury
had placed the
mane. This opinion emanates
from the hunters. The foxes weighty Crown of St. Edward,
have not been heard from on the Crown of England, upon the
head of George VI, the cry came
the subject.
By FLOYD GIBBONS
Maybe you don't know it, but forth in a mighty swell from
DVENTURE sure laid an icy hand on the shoulder of Joseph there's a lot of fox-hunting among five million throats as from the
throat of one man.
Kurtiz, who sent me one of the best written yarns I’ve had us, especially down
Being but a
This was the climax of the great­
to date. Joe lives in Brooklyn now and at last writing could south.
lot of stubborn non­
est show on earth, • show for which
have used a job. He gave up his youthful ambition to be a mining conformists, south­
a generous share of the throng
engineer as a result of events related in today’s story, and erners do not follow
which lined the six and one-half
the
historic
rules.
A
switched to mechanical engineering. But, if you ask me, the
miles of the processional route had
party at large wear­
waited without moving from their
magazines are looking for people who can write like Joe.
ing a red coat,
S
A
Accordingly, I’m following his script pretty close. In April, 1920, Joe
was a surveyor with the Glen Alden Coal company, Scranton, Pa. It was
his first job, and he was assigned to investigating “pillar robbing” in the
Cayuga mine. I'll explain.
Miners mast leave enough coal to support the roof of the mine,
which consists of shale, a scaly rock, that eaves in easily. Pillar
robbing means stealing coal from these remaining supports, j nd
is illegal, since it may cause cave-ins in which workers are killed,
gas and water mains burst, even explode, and brick buildings
standing on the land collapse. It's earthquake, fire and flood.
Fine Place for an Avalanche.
The Cayuga had been deserted for fifty years. Inside Joe and three
companions found pillars cracked and crumbled by the weight of mil­
lions of tons of rock they had held up for five decades. As supports they
were useless and might just as well have been mined out. Old timbers
erected by miners to protect themselves in those far, bygone years
were rotted, useless. A touch and they collapsed to fungi-infestcd. mil­
dewed dust. Not much between Joe and the millions of tons of rock
over his head.
Worse, the workings were of the “pitch” type—each chamber like a
long, sloping tunnel, some very steep. The roof was dangerously cracked.
Slabs of shale hung so loose a breath would send them crashing to the
floor. Fallen rock covered the steeply-slanting floor in sizes from a fist
to a dining-room table. Thia “gob" can start an avalanche on the
slanting tunnel floor.
Joe’s duties—lovely job!—were to climb over this loose rock,
covered with slime. If he made it, it was safe for the others
to come up. If he didn't and started a fatal avalanche—Joe forgot
to tell about that.
A Pocket of Gas Was Ignited.
Well, sir, Joe climbed gingerly upward, clinging to the glistening
coal pillar at the side, peering ahead by the faint light of the lamp fastened
above his cap-visor. He stepped, light as a falling feather, testing every
footfall. At the top our “human fly,” as Joe calls himself, was to es­
tablish a point for the transit—a surveyor's instrument—to shoot at.
Joe never made i t Twenty feet from the top—Bom! An explosion
like a giant bassdrum shook the earth in a bolt of livid flame. GAS1
Joe’s light had ignited a pocket of whitedamp!
Splinter! Crack! Crash! The shock jerked rock toppling
from the roof, dropped it on the loose "gob” on the steeply-slant­
ing floor! THE SLIDE WAS ON!
At first with thumps scarcely audible above the rolling rumble of
the waves of flame over his head, then, in a roaring crescendo, jagged
rock raced, leaping and thundering downward past Joe, hurtling into
the hell o.‘ darkness far below.
Buried—and in Inky Darkness.
Joe's lamp had gone ou‘ with the explosion. But above him was a
blinding glare—a marching surf of blue-and-red-streaked fire, lighting up
the chamber overhead. Blistering white heat above—thundering flood of
angry rock below! Joe clung to the pillar on his stomach, ducking hurt­
ling rocks, shrinking from the blazing heat above. With clawing fingers
and toes that vainly sought foothold in the hard floor, he lay there—it
seemed ages—aching muscles a-torture. The slide diminished. The “car­
bonic oxide” above burned fitfully, threatening any second to seek out
with its rainbow flames another pocket, spreading in chain explosions
through the underground terrain, burying Joe and his companions.
Joe thought of the others. Had they been crushed to a jelly-
smear under those tons of rock—trapped in some doghole or cross­
cut in a pillar?
The rolling flames died, went out. In the inky black Joe groped
for a match, lit his lamp. The floor was clear. He stepped out. In­
stantly he tobogganed down on a slab of rock he had overlooked. Four
hundred feet below he brought up short on the heap of loose rock. It
had blocked the entrance completely.
No Wonder Panic Seized Him.
Joe was CAUGHT LIKE A RAT. Hr ^at on a rock, wondered that
he was not frightened, began to figure his chances of seeing sunlight
again. It seemed suddenly very precious, sun and open air. Air! The
rock had sucked much out, the explosion had driven more out and the
fire had burned he didn’t know how much of the life-giving oxygen in
that black pit. Would the rest last till they got to him?
Then, Joe says, panic did grip him. He shouted himself
hoarse. He smashed a rock repeatedly against a pillar, listened.
Not a sound. Just silence. TERRIBLE SILENCE. Joe saw
slow death ahead—suffocation, thirst, starvation. Cnwounded. he
wished for death—swift death, rather than this drawn-out agony.
Now he could only wait helplessly.
Joe says he prefers to forget the next nine hours. Imagination
can be the most horrible form of torture. But—his companions had es­
caped. With all hope gone for Joe, they had notified the surface. A
relay of rescue crews, working as only mine rescue crews can, dug
through the pillar from an adjoining chamber and pulled Joe out nine
hours later.
From that day on the only coal Joe can stand looking at is in a
stove. He quit the mining engineer career cold. But I still say he can
writr like a professional. What do you think?
© — W N U Service.
Bees Do Not Sting You
if You Display No Fear
Macaroni Club Figured
in “Yankee Doodle” Song
According to the popular notion,
Insects are physically unable to
penetrate the human skin no mat­
ter how hard they may ply their
stingers, cecause the pores are
then closed, notes a writer in the In
dianapolis News. The United States
bureau of entomology investigated
and reported that the belief has
no foundation in fact. The stinger
of a bee does enter the skin through
the pores, and these tiny openings
may be slightly affected by breath­
ing, but the difference is not suf­
ficient to interfere with the opera­
tion of the bee's stinger. If bees
do not sting a person while he holds
his breath or clenches his fists it
is not because they can not sting
under such conditions, but because
the person is then likely to be more
quiet.
Bees seem to be able to detect
the slightest sign of fear in a hu­
man being and are stimulated to
sting by any quick, nervous move­
ments. A person who remains quiet
and who shows no fear is not in
great danger of being stung. Bees,
however, are repelled by certain
body odors, and some persons do
not excite and anger bees as others
do.
The word “macaroni” in the song,
“Yankee Doodle” is more than
merely nonsense. It is a remnant
of eighteenth century English slang,
declares a writer in the Cleveland
Plain Dealer.
About 1772 a group of young Eng­
lishmen of wealth and leisure, most
of whom had spent considerable
time on the continent and particu­
larly in Italy, formed a fashionable
organization which they called the
Macaroni club. The name was taken
from the fact that as one of their
peculiarities or individualities, they
served macaroni at the club din­
ners. The dish was then little known
in England, and was practically in­
troduced in that country by the
Macaroni club.
The Macaronis also sought for
singularity in dress and manners.
They wore immense knots of artifi­
cial hair, projecting behind very
small cocked hats; carried walking
sticks adorned with tassels of bright
colors, and affected very tight jack­
ets and knee breeches. “Macaroni”
soon came to be a derisive term
for an effete man, but in its earliest
popular use it had something of the
suggestion of such expressions as
"ritzy” and “high hat.”
white panties and
high boots would be
mistaken for a ref­
ugee from a circus
band. And anybody
blowing a horn as Irvin S. Cobb
he galloped across
hill and dale would be set down as
an insane fish peddler; and if you
shouted “View, halloo! Tantivy,
tantivy! Yoicks, yoicks!" or words
to that effect, they'd think you were
a new kind of hog-caller.
Down there they’ve chased the
fox until he's wise. The foxes have
learned that the hounds can’t fol­
low trail on a paved highway and
so quit the thicket for the concrete
when the chase is on. A fox has
been sitting in the middle of the big
road listening to the bewildered
pack.
On second thought maybe Brer
Fox isn't so smart, after all—not
with automobile traffic what it is.
'Tis a hard choice—stay in the
woods and get caught or take to the
pike and get run over.
• • •
Courageous Republicans.
HO, besides the writer, can re­
call when the Democrats held
their jubilation rallies the night be­
fore a presidential election and the
Republicans the night after the re­
turns were in, when they had some­
thing to jubilate over? Now the sit­
uation is just the other way around.
The Literary Digest poll was prac­
tically the only thing the Republi­
cans had to celebrate during the en­
tire fall season of 1936.
Still, we must give that dimin­
ished but gallant band credit for
courage.
Here, in an off-year,
they're spiritedly planning against
the next congressional campaign.
• • •
English Recruiting.
HE English are still having
trouble inducing young fellows
to join the colors. First, the gov­
ernment tried to increase enlist­
ments by giving every recruit a gid­
dy new blue uniform, absolutely free
of charge, and still the lads re­
fused. So now, as an appeal which,
'tis believed, no true Britisher can
withstand, the military authorities
announce that, hereafter. Tommy
Atkins will have time off for after­
noon tea.
This may be a new notion for
peacetime, but, during the great
war, the custom was maintained
even up at the front. Many a time
I’ve seen all ranks, from the briga­
diers on down, knocking off for tea.
However, t h i s didn’t militate
against his majesty's forces, be­
cause, at the same hour, the Ger­
mans, over on their side of the line,
were having coffee—or what the
Germans mistake for coffee. And
the French took advantage of the
lull to catch up with their bookkeep­
ing on what the allies owed them
for damage to property, ground
rent, use of trenches, billeting
space, wear and tear, etc., etc.
Did it ever occur to our own gen­
eral staff that guaranteeing a daily
crap-shooting interval might stimu­
late volunteering for the American
army?
• • •
The Job of Censorship.
NE reason why moving pictures
are so clean is because some
of the people who censor them have
such dirty minds. To the very
pure everything is so impure, is it
not? That’s why some of us think
the weight of popular opinion, rath­
er than the judgment of narrow­
brained official judges in various
states, should decide what should
and what should not be depicted.
Anyhow, there are so many movies
which, slightly amending the old
ballad, are more to be pitied than
censored.
Sponsors of radio programs also
lean over backward to be prudishly
proper. But without let or hindrance
the speaking stage, month by
month, grows fouler and filthier.
Suggestive lines once created a
shock in the audience mind. The
lines no longer suggest—they come
right out and speak the nastiness.
Sauce for the goose isn’t sauce for
the gander, 'twould seem—or may­
be, after the reformers got through
saucing radio and screen, there
wasn’t any left over for the so-
called legitimate stage.
IRVIN S. COBB
W
T
O
© —WNU Service.
Modern Language Course
The study of French, English and
German has been introduced into
El Azhar university, Cairo, the old­
est university in the world, estab­
lished in 972 A. D.
places through the dampness of a
London spring night and. indeed,
through part of the preceding day.
Those of the King's subjects who
had not been able to afford $2 to
$250 for a seat that would assure
them a glimpse of their new mon­
arch on his proudest day began
marking off space along the curb on
the afternoon of May 11. Smart
alecks who thought they could put
off their vigil until sunrise of Cor­
onation Day were doomed to stretch
their necks an inch or two in twelve
! hours of straining to see over sev­
eral rows of earlier arrivals.
”A Quiet Empire.”
It was a heavy day of work at
j the end of many back-breaking
i weeks of preparation for the 9,000
gentlemen and ladies of the peer­
age whose rank and purse entitled
them to sit for an entire day in 10
to 25 pounds of clothing per capita,
! on a hard seat 19 inches wide with­
out ever moving. But it was a mag­
nificent show.
“The Lord give you fruitful lands
and healthful seasons,” said the
archbishop in the benediction which
followed the crowning of the King,
"victorious fleets and armies, and a
quiet Empire. . . ’’
No one in Britain could deny that
in a time of world-wide unrest, a
time of urgent necessity for im­
perial strength and unity, the politi­
cal expediency of “a quiet Em­
pire” prompted the government to
make of this the most splendid cor­
onation in all history. The gov­
ernment expense in the crowning of
George VI has been estimated to
be double that in the coronation of
his father 26 years Bgo; its backing
of the dazzling pageantry required
expenditures of $2,620,000 of pub­
lic funds, not counting an estimat­
ed $500,000 spent by the royal house­
hold in entertaining royal and for­
eign guests.
In the vast coronation pageant
the government hoped to lend new
emphasis to that sentiment which
is the real bond holding the empire
together, and which is symbolized
by the crown and the man who
wears it. There is still an under­
current of dissatisfaction over the
abdication of Edward VIII. The new
King and Queen must be popular­
ized to the fullest possible extent.
The coronation was on opportunity
to accomplish this, and the govern­
ment could afford to let none of it
slip past.
The show and the crowd lived up
go all advance billing. It was es­
timated that there were 300,000 vis­
itors who had to cross the ocean.
All London’s 12,000 hotel rooms
were sold out. Souvenir manufac­
turers and vendors did the expected
land office business. The drink bill
for toasting the new King was
guessed at $10,000,000
Queen Goes First.
Pomp and regal solemnity were
byword of the day from the time
the King and Queen boarded the
coronation coach at Buckingham
Palace in mid-morning. Eight mag­
nificent cream-colored horses drew
the ancient four-ton vehicle down
the streets it has traversed since
1761, when it was built for Queen
Anne. In its heavily ornate gold
and jewels it carried the spectators
back through the pages of histqry
to those days before the American
colonies had revolted and prevented
the British Empire from including
the lion’s share of North America.
The ancient coach, a tradition at
coronations, bore the royal couple
down the mall to the Abbey, where
the Queen’s procession left the King
to enter first, so that she could
stand and wait for him by the chairs
of state, or recognition chairs, in
front of the royal box where the
other members of the royal family
were seated.
Peers and peeresses were in their
places before the central figures of
the coronation drama arrived. And
before them the real martyrs had
assumed their positions. These were
the eight newspaper photographers
the government had permitted to be
present.
Abhoring the thought of flash
bulbs marring the solemnity of such
an occasion, but still anxious that
pictures be taken, officials hit upon
a solution. They provided camou­
flaged quarters for camera men in
false pillars and other positions
which blended into the background
of the Abbey. Narrow slits in the
walls of these refuges enabled the
cameras to peer out at the spectacle.
But the poor “photogs!” They had
to be “set up” before anyone en­
tered the Abbey and maintain their
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King George VI and Queen Elisabeth, officially crowned In one of
history's most spectacular and colorful coronations.
cramped positions for eight or nine
hours. They were not permitted
to withdraw until everyone else had
left.
A general color scheme of blue
and gold with rich, soft velvet hang­
ings made a brilliant background
for the cast and for the spectators
in their gorgeous uniforms and
gowns. Peeresses wore robes of
crimson velvet, trimmed in ermine,
unless they happened to be of royal
blood, in which event they were re­
quired to don the purple velvet of
royalty. The court gowns worn un­
derneath were of white, cream, sil­
ver or gold. Fashion experts es­
timated that the most economical
of the pi cost at least $1,290. Uni­
forms of the men started at ebout
$600 and went up from there.
History’s Greatest Gem Display
This did not, of course, include
the jewelry or the coronets. The
cheapest coronet could hardly have
been purchased for less than $100.
The total of all the rings, bracelets,
necklaces, etc., worn by the 9,000
present must have run into the mil­
lions, and was probably the most
costly and magnificent display of
The Crown of St. Edward, or
Crown of England, made for Charles
II in 16G2 and worn, because of its
excessive weight, for but a fleeting
moment by George VI during the
coronation ceremony.
gems ever worn in one place at
one time in the world’s history.
Rank of the members of the no­
bility was indicated by the amount
of ermine on the robes of the wom­
en and the length of their trains. A
duchess was marked by four rows
of ermine on her robe, and a train
two yards long. A marchioness was
permitted three and one-half rows
of ermine and a ofle-and-three-
fourths-yard train; a countess half
a row less of ermine, half a yard
less train; rank was further graded
down at half a row and half a yard
per classification.
The head of the procession, which
had included a great list of digni­
taries, the King's representatives
and royal persons with their fam­
ilies from all over the world had
been waiting at the west door of
the Abbey, and as the royal coach
approached, filed in to await their
monarch. Following them came the
chaplains, deans and officers of
Westminster, then the archbishops
with the Queen consort and the
ladies and gentlemen of the court.
Enter the King.
Noblemen close behind bore the
staff and the sceptre, with the cross
and the golden spurs, and the three
swords which signify mercy, tem­
poral justice and spiritual justice.
These were the trappings of St. Ed­
ward. with which English king* are
invested.
Then came more dignitaries, and
the King’s accptre with the dove
symbolic of mercy and equity; the
King'a gold and diamond orb, sur­
mounted by th e Christian crosa; the
crown of St. Edward, the patent and
the chalice and the Bible.
Then entered George VI in the
crimson robes of state, to join his
Queen, nnd march through the choir
and up the stairs to the theatre.
Passing the thrones, they then
kneeled at the faldstools before the
recognition chairs to offer prayers.
Next they proceeded about the Ab­
bey to all four sides before the
view of the assemblage. The King
went to his chair and once more
faced each aide of the Abbey os the
Archbishop, in loud tones, an­
nounced him.
After the regalia had been
brought and placed by the dean of
Westminster upon the altar, the
Archbishop asked the King, accord­
ing to ritual. “Sire, is your Majesty
willing to take the oath?” and the
King answered, “I am willing.” He
gave his onth to govern the peoples
of the British Isles and the Empire
according to their laws and cus­
toms; to maintain the profession of
the Gospel and the Church of Eng­
land. Aftdr he had kissed the Bible
and signed the oath, the King re­
peated and subscribed to the dec­
laration required by parliament and,
with the assemblage, prepared for
the communion service.
Following this lengthy service,
the King, hnving first removed the
cap nnd robes of state, ascended to
the throne of St. Edward, the an­
cient chair which contains beneath
its seat the historic Stone of Scone
upon which the kings of Scotland sat
as they were crowned a thousand
years ago. After a silken pall had
been put over the King, the Arch­
bishop anointed him upon the
hands, breast and face with the holy
oil, nnd he was rendy to be pre­
sented with the spurs and the
sword.
King Receives His Crown.
These given, George VI removed
the pall and was clothed for the first
time in the royal robe of purple.
The orb and cross were brought
from the altar by the Dean of West­
minster and placed in the King’s
hands by the Archbishop. He was
next invested with the ring and the
sceptres.
Then as the King bowed his head
the Dean of Westminster brought
the Crown of St. Edward, and the
Archbishop, receiving it from him,
held It but momentarily upon the
head of the King (its weight is ter­
rific).
This was the signal for the trump­
ets and the guns in the Tower of
London, for the peers and peeresses
to cry “God save the King!” and
for the millions who, along the pro­
cessional line outside, had been
waiting for that moment, to toss
their hats in the air and cry like­
wise, “God save the King!” The
peers were now allowed to put on
their coronets.
There followed more religious
ceremonies of great length and sol­
emnity, and then the coronation of
the Queen, following which the peer­
esses cried, “God save the Queen!”
and donned their coronets.
Still more long hours of cere­
mony. Then, in the early evening
the King’s coach at last pussed once
more down the processional route,
nnd the millions who had waited all
day for the sight went home happy.
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© Western New spaper Union.
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