The Somerset reporter., 1900-10-04
TRUCKING THE
EGYPTIANS.
BY NJ. QUAD.
Copyright, 1900. by C. B. Lewis.l


Copyright 1900. by C. B. Lewis.l
When the firm of Haywood, Stone 81
Co. of London established an agency at
Cairo, Egypt, | was placed In charge.
My 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 a side line | was
to pick up bargains In mummies. Up
to the founding of that agency in Cairo
only few museums in Europe or
America had been able to 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 1t was death to disturb the
dead without official permission, and
death to any foreigner discovered try
ing to ship a mummy out of the coun-
try without special license. In justice
to the old and respectable house have
named | must say that they had no
knowledge of my side line. | had a
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 had crafty
part to play. In a way the branch
was under the supervision of the
Egyptian government At the end of
each week | had to submit list of
my purchases. All my shipments had
to pass the customs officials. My ware
rooms must always be open to official
inspection. | was not told In so many
to prevent me from dealing in num-
miles, but of course | knew that 1t was.
My first step was to bride 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 1t was a bit of business to
be handled with care. 1t was six
months before | got 1t under way, and
after once fairly In 1t there was not
an hour In which l felt safe from
discovery.
In most cases the burial places In
Egypt are easily to be got at. Most of
our orders simply called for a speci-
men, and 1t 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 1000
to 5000 years. 1t Is perhaps unneces
sary to inform the reader that always
filled these orders. After getting a
mummy into my warehouse | had a
way of making 1t ill the bill and give
general satisfaction. My assistant,
who was a native antiquary, native
doctor and villain. was handy at un-
wrapping and rewrapping and carving
hleroglyphlcs and manufacturing rel
les. If there was fraud in 1t, | do not
seek to defend myself. l simply say
that II there is a public demand for
the mummy of Pharaoh 1t is the duty
OF some agent to supply 1t as near as
possible and keep people good natured.
In the course of two years | shipped
SO mummies safely out Of Cairo and
landed them In London, and ! 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 a
government official gave me hint that
my business had been tumbled to. He
exchanged his information for my $40
goldpiece and went his way, and it
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 red
handed My shipments suddenly ceas-
ed, and the mummy market became
dull. After a couple Of weeks my as
sstant villain went up the Nile toward
the ruins of Memphis to look for a
man. 1t was live man and a partlcu-
lar sort of man he wanted. and when
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 hieroglyphics
on that coffin and on a manuscript in
closed revealed the fact that the dead
man was the celebrated fakir Sonadi
Hassassan and that when he had slept
I'll h. nj In