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adherence minded with the hundreds of
persons along the way.
The Royal train with First Class
Driver Mr. Jack Hinds at the controls
left Kingston at 9.40 ten minutes be-
hind schedule and arrived in Montego
Bay at 4.10 , twenty minutes later than
planned.
A densely packed crowd on the
platform of the Spanish Town railway
station edge close to the diesel train as
it pulled in at 10.05. Word had reached
security forces on the train that the
Spanish Town stop might be eventful.
When the Acting Prime Minister, the
Hon. Donald Sangster had alighted
along with the Governor-General Sir
Clifford Campbell and presented the
Mayor of Spanish Town, Councillor A.
U. King, the press of the crowd grew
greater.
Police barriers collapsed and the din
of the crowd completely; drowned the
efforts of the Mayor to start the cer-
emony of presentations. As the police
started an attempt to clear the plat-
form in the area where the dignitaries
stood, the scene became a shambles.
Spectators threw stones and chairs and
at least one police man threw back a
chair. Fists and batons went into play
and finally tear gas sent a section of
the battlers into a wild scramble. Many
were trampled in the rush. Within five
minutes the ceremony was abandoned
and the Emperor and his party returned
to his air-conditioned compartment
on the train. As the hubbub died down
many persons crowded the window of
the Emperor’s rail compartment and he
shook a few outstretched hands A Ras
Tafarian held up a young baby to the
window of the Emperor stretched out
and touched the child.
DENBIGH
, the next stop at 11a.m.
went smoothly with the presentations
of dignitaries of Clarendon and songs
by a combined choir from the Denbigh
Primary School and the May Pen Se-
nior Secondary School. The Emperor
signed the Visitor’s Book.
WILLIAMSFIELD
55 minutes
later, perhaps out with the biggest
crowd of the trip in the rural areas. The
Emperor saw the Christmas Group
dance to the tune “Wheel and Tun
Me”, and heard the thunderbirds play
“Solas Market” and “ For He’s a Jolly
Good Fellow” while he waved from
the platform at a crowd waving minia-
ture Jamaican flags. AT 12.40 the train
stopped on Green Hill about four miles
from Greenvale the 1705-foot summit
of the line, and the Emperor lunched
with the Acting Prime Minister, the
Governor-General and His Highness
Ras Imru in the seclusion of his com-
partment. Fifty minutes later the train
moved again, a pilot rail car with the
police mobile reserve maintaining
quarter-mile rule.
The Emperor had left his compart-
ment after Kendal to watch the Jamai-
can scenery from the front compart-
ment o the train.
MAGOTTY
at 2:10 had a small but
excited crowd which made the singing
of the Glen Stuart Primary School chil-
dren almost inaudible. Here, Her Royal
Highness Imebet Sophia Desta, grand-
daughter of the Emperor got the bou-
quet from one of the school children.
A JOHN CANOE
band was the
featured entertainment at Montpelier,
followed by the dancing group from
Lucea Primary School and the St.
Mary Academy.
This function was a joint one for the
parishes of Westmoreland and Hanover
and dignitaries from both parishes
were presented to the Emperor.
While the train moved through the
cockpit country, Prince David, grand-
son of His Imperial Majesty, got a
presentation from the Jamaica Infor-
mation Services: Jamaican Landscape
(second in the series Face of Jamaica),
32 colour slides and a recorded docu-
mentary on Jamaican scenery.
Cricketers on a field adjoining the
Appleton Estate abandoned their game
temporarily as the train passed by.
At the end of the journey, the Em-
peror met and shook hands with Driver
Hinds and the Guard Mr. Alexander
Spicer at the Montego Bay Railway sta-
tion. He presented them with souvenirs.
Emperor Haile Selassie signs the Visitors’ Book during a function at Montpelier,
St James in 1966