The San Francisco call., 1896-04-19
Strange Tale Told by an Egyp-
tian at the Receiving
Hospital.
IS A sHRINER DEGREE MASON
When Seen at His Home He Flatly
ContradctS the Story Told at
the Receiving Hospital.

About A. NJ. yesterday man hurried
into the st. Nicholas drugstore, corner of
Hayes and Market streets, and exclaimed
that he had been poisoned. An emetic
was promptly given him, after which he
was hastily driven to the Receiving Hos
pital. There the stomach-pump was
brought into play, and the mans stomach
thoroughly emptied.
When he had convalesced sufficiently to
talk coherently, he asked that message
be sent to the secretary of the Masonic
Board of Relief and to DR.. Wallace de
Witt 10 attend him at once. This was
done, and pending their arrival the sick
man told story that for strange blending
OF the theatrical and the practical the
fresh scenes and incidents of Western civ
ilization and the mysticism of the Orient
has never been exceled. 1t reads as ii
penned blythe hand of Haggard or Kip
ling.
Said he, 'I was born in Cairo, Egypt, in
1862. Four years later l lost my mother
and came under the care of my grandaunt,
who reared me tenderly because 1 was
named after her brother, my grandfather,
who was killed at Sebastopol.
II commenced my education at Ismailia,
Egypt continued it in French at the
Frere College and in Arabia at Kootab,
finishing at the University of Cairo.
"At 19 l married the daughter of A.
Pessoah, the famous old merchant of
Egypt. One of my children 1 have named
after Victor Hugo and the other after
Tuah, an Egyptian goddess.
81 have travelled extensively and have
been in Constantinople, Greece, Palestine,
Rhodes, Paris. London and other promi-
nent places. Some of the men with whom
] have been associated are Sir Arnold
Morley, Mr.. Gardiner M. P, and Lord
Dorchester of England.
my linguistic education includes Eng
lish, French, Italian, Spanish, Turk
ish. Greek. and all Arabic dialects.
Five of these L can write and hold cor
respondence in. l have also taken the
thirty second degree in Masonry.
During the Columbian Exposition l
brought 160 persons, selected from the
tribes and communities of Egypt, and
ensconced them in the "Streets of Cairo"
From there came to San Francisco and
invested at the Midwinter Fair. Here 1
met with i'll luck, and lost everything.
To-day friend of mine gave me some
candy. l ate it and was Immediately
taken sick. An examination showed me
that this candy had been stepped in vir-
ulent poison made from Indian hemp.
That is how | came to be here now"
Though the Hadji was repeatedly urged
to give the name OF this friend he stub
bornly refused to do so.
On arrival of Secretary Haw of the Ma
sonic Board of Relief it was ascertained
that his claim to be Shuner Mason was
legitimate. Shortly afterward DIR. de Witt
procured buggy and drove Raphael to
his home, corner Polk and Union streets.
When Raphael was seen at his home
late in the evening, though in bed by the
physicians orders, he did not seem to be
in any pain, conversed freely and ration
ally and was generally cheerful. But he
fatty cantradicted his former story of be-
ing poisoned.
THE reason l told the druggist that l
had been poisoned" " he said, sis because 1
thought they would give me relief more
quickly than if they thought was merely
ILL.,"
When it was suggested that they might
have not used the right remedies for his
case, acting on this hypothesis, he re-
marked that man so i'll as he could not