Ellsworth American. [volume] (Ellsworth, Me.) 1855-current, 1904-08-31
A CARDBOARD WOMAN
THE MALIGN INFLUENCE OF A
MUMMY CASE FROM EGYPT.
QUEER SEQUENCE OF FATALITIES AND
HARD LUCK THAT APPEARED TO
BE UNHAPPY LEGAcIEs.

cnlef VINO lived before there were
pharaohs in Egypt or pyramids ON the
Nile, stands a woman nodded from
some ancient form Of cardboard She Is
merely shell. the cover of mummy
case. Her hands are crossed above
her breast, and her dark eyes stare
forward into vacancy.
According TO the catalogues she is
No. 22542, problematical royal per.
sonage and a priestess of the College
of Amen Ra. She lived in the mighty
city of Thebes some 1,G00 years before
Christ
And about this same coffin cover
there hangs as terrible a story as ever
an Edgav Allan Poe or Balzac or n
Kipllng produced from a gloomy imag-
ination.
Ii you question the attendants in the
first Egyptian room they will shake
their heads and say nothing. But
there Is a famous professor in the
museum who knows that the facts are
true, though whether they be coinci-
dence or a manifestation of supernat
"For three months have been gath
ering the tangled threads of evidence
l have now in my possession proofs of
the identity Of all those who suffered
from the anger of the priestess of
Amen Ra. But for the sake of friends
and relatives l have been requested to
suppress the names.
4 -.
the last century party of five friends
took ship in dahabeah for Il trip up
the Nile. They Travelled 70 Luxor on
their way to the second cataract. and
stayed there to explore the ruins of
the great and wonderful city of Thebes,
with its avenues of sphinxes and rams,
its vast hall of columns and its temple
10 Amen Ra, which is unequaled on
earth In the sublimity of its ruined
maguiticence.
zone night an Arab sent by Musta-
pha Aga came to one of their number,
Mr.. D., as we may call him, saying
that he had just found a mummy case
of unusua! beauty. What became of
the mummy the man did not explain
The next morning Mr. ID. bought the
case. Both he and his companions
We're impressed by its remarkable
beauty and by the curious face of the
woman portrayed, face that was
filed with cold malignancy of ex-
preston unpleasant to witness.
'"They had agreed that, being all
Interested in Egyptology, they should
apportion their finds by lot, and so,
! though Mr.. d. had been the cause OF
its discovery, he lost the mummy cover,
which passed TO a friend, whom we
will call Mr., W.
1T was on their return journey that
the series of misfortunes commenced.
Mr.. DIS servant was handing him a
gun, when without visible cause it ex-
ploded, the charge lodging in his arm,
, which had to be amputated; second
died in poverty within the year; a
third was shot, while Mr.. W., the own
er Of the mummy case, discovered on
his arrival in Cairo that he had los 4
large part of his fortune. He died soon
afterward. The priestess of Amen RIA
had signified her displeasure in very
convincing manner.
From the date it was shipped on
board the steamer Mr.. d. lost sight Of
the mummy case for several years.
He did not at the time in any way
associate the misfortunes that had oc-
Cured to the party with its discovery,
but when he next heard of it and had
C,,n snf - m 1rrINi f,h
had been subsequently associated with
its possession he began to suspect that
It was not merely chance, not merely
coincidence, that had brought so sin
lister Il fate on all who had dealings
with the priestess of Amen Ra.
"On the arrival of the case in Eng
land it was given by its owner, ". W,
to married sister living near London.
From the day the case entered the
house misfortune followed misfortune.
The family suffered large losses. and
the end came with painful troubles
which need not be specified.
The lady while in possession OF the
case received one day visit from
Mime. Blavatsky The great theoso
phiSt became very disturbed on enter
ing the room, and after few minutes
conversation told her hostess that there
was something in her house possessed
of most malignant influence. She
asked to be allowed to search the house
and on discovering the coffin lid ap-
pealed to her hostess TO send away an
object which she described as of the
utmost danger. Her hostess, however.
refused, laughing at what she imagined
to be an example of foolish supersti-
ton
Some time afterward the lady sent
the case to well known photographer
in Baker street. Within a week the
chief Of the firm came down to this
lady's house in state of great excite
ment. He had, he said, photographed
the face with the greatest care, and he
could guarantee that no one had