Butler citizen. [volume] (Butler, Pa.) 1877-1922, 1900-10-04
TRICkING THE
EGYPTIANS,
BY HI. QUAD.
.. 90 83%%:.3%%as3


Co. of London established an agency at
Cairo, Egypt, l was placed in charge.
Ny business was the buying of rugs,
vases, arms, cloths and whatever else
might find sale in England. That was
what | may call my general and legit-
innate business. As q side line | was
to pick up bargains in mummies. Up
to the founding of that agency in Cairo
only a few museums in Europe or
America had been ableato secure speci-
mems. To get hold of mummy with
a history required a couple of years
diplomatic correspondence between
governments. and the cost would run
up as high as $4,000. Under the laws
of Egypt it was death to disturb the
dead without official permission, and
death to any foreigner discovered try
ing 10 ship mummy out of the coun-
try without special license. In justice
to the old and respectable house | have
named l must say that they had no
knowledge of my side line. l had
partner in London who advanced the
money and shared the profits. When
was ready to begin business. we had
orders for 80 mummies.
Let me tell you that I had a crafty
part to play. In a way the branch
was under the supervision of the
Egyptian government At the end or
each week | had to submit list OF
my purchases. All my shipments bad
to pass the customs officials. My ware
rooms must always be open to official
inspection. | was not. told in so many
words that all this watchfulness was
TO prevent me from dealing in mum
mics. but of course [ knew that it was.
Nv first step was to bribe every official
who could obstruct me, and had to
move slowly in the matter and make
no mistakes. Then an agent must be
found to look up and ship me the
specimens from points in the Interior,
and he had to be a nervy as well as
an honest man. He in turn would
have to find faithful men. and taken
all in all it was a bit of business to
be handled with care. 1t was SIX
months before l got it under way. and
after once fairly in it there was not
an hour In which ] felt safe from
discovery.
In most cases the burial places in
Egypt are easily to be got at Most or
our orders simply called for a speci-
men, and it made no difference about
the sex or whether there was record
attached. There were few museums
in want of particular bodies. They
wanted kings, queens, generals or
poets who had been dead from 5000
to 5000 years. 1t is perhaps unneces-
sary to inform the reader that | always
filed these orders. After getting q
mummy into my warehouse | had
way of making it fill the bin and give
general satisfaction. My assistant,
who was a native antiquary, native
doctor and a villain, was handy at un-
wrapping and rewrapping and carving
hieroglyphics and manufacturing rel
les. If there was fraud in 1t, do not
seek to defend myself. | simply say
that II there is a public demand FOR
the mummy of Pharaoh it is the duty
of some agent to supply it as near as
possible and keep people good natured
In the course of two years | shipped
Sc mummies safely out of Cairo and
landed them in London, and l am
frank to say that my dividends were
considerably larger than those paid
last year by the Standard Oil compa'
ny or the Carnegie Iron works The
mummy business was booming, and
was filling orders for anything up to
10000 years old on demand when q
government official gave me hint thai
my business had been tumbled to. He
exchanged his information for my $40
goldpiece and went his way, and II
was my business to put up job on the
khedive and square myself. don't
know that any one had given me away
directly, but suspicion had somehow
become aroused, and | was to be put
under surveillance and caught rec
handed. My shipments suddenly ceas
ed, and the mummy market became
dull. After a couple Of weeks my as
sistant villain went up the Nile toward
the ruins of Memphis to look for
man. 1t was live man and particu
lar sort of man he wanted, and wbeI
he found him the sum Of $50 changed
hands Then the man died. At least
he was swathed in bandages which
had come from the looms 1000 years
before scented and spiced in Al
style and then put In a coffin which
gave him away as having been dead al
most 20 centuries. The hieroglyphic:
on that coffin and on manuscript in
closed revealed the fact that the dead
man was the celebrated fakir Sonad
Hassassan and that when he had slep
his sleep he would awaken and begiI
another pilgrimage on earth
The mummy reached my warehouse
one afternoon, and within an hour &
government official backed by n filC
OF soldiers had arrived to make 6
search. There had been no conceal
ment. The mummy occupied con
spicuous position They had caugh
me red handed In way, and yet they
could not understand why | had beer
so open about 1t.
my dear sir" said to the official 'l
know the laws Of Egypt. | am no
dealing in mummies. The law doe
not say / may not restore a dead ma
to life. At this present hour that thin
there is n mummy. Tonight at o'clocl
it will be a living man."
"What nonsense is thisT" exclaime
the man as he struck the coffin wit
his cane. DO you think L am chill
4 70 believe such talesY
81 think you are a very smart man,
replied, but there is yet something
TO learn Read of SonadI HassassaI
He was the greatest magician tn
world ever knew. He it was who mad
the Nile flow backward for n day
When he had lived for 1000 years, h
became weary for the want of sleeI
He fell into n trance which was not t
be broken for 1000 years. The time /
up at . o'clock tonight"
"And he viii come back to lifeT
/ queried the man, with an incredulou
smile.
"He will. You and your friends vii
| be here to see. | had read of him, an,
1 was anxious to get his body. paid
large price for it that L may see it re
stored to life with my own eyes"
The Egyptians natural superstition
and my earnestness staggered the man
/ and when | saw it l clinched the mat
ter by saying: