Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1904-07-05
ANGER OF A PRIESTESS
REMARKABLE FATALITY AT.
TEACHING TO MUMMY CASE.
Every One Connected With It's Re-
moval From Resting Place Meets
Death or Misfortune.
From the London Express.

rTofn tne Lonuon f-Xpress
In a corner of the first Egyptian room at
the British Museum, behind the crouching
body of the prehistoric chief who lived be-
fore there were Pharaohs in Egypt or pyra-
mds on the Nile, stands woman nodded
from some ancient form of cardboard She
is merely shell. the cover of a mummy
case. Her hands are crossed above her
breast and her dark eyes stare forward
into vacancy.
According to the catalogue she is No.
22542, a problematical royal parsonage and
a priestess of the College of Amen Ra. She
lived in the mighty city of Thebes some
LOCO years before Christ.
And about this same coffin cover there.
hangs as terrible a story as ever an Edgar
Allan Poe or a Balzac or Kipling produced
from gloomy imagination.
If you question the attendants in thestirst
Egyptian room they will shake their heads
and say nothing. But there is famous
professor in the museum who knows that
the facts are true, though whether they be
a coincidence or manifestation of super
natural power who can say? There Is
second professor of the more exact sciences
and a traveller of distinction who are equal
ly well informed.
For three months have been gathering
the tangled threads of evidence. l have
now in my possession proofs of the identity
of the priestess of Amen Ra. But for the
sake of friends and relatives l have been
requested to suppress the names.
In Ancient Thebes.
about the middle of the COS a party OF
five friends took ship in a dahabeah for
trip up the Nile They travelled to 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 to Amen
Ra. which is unequaled on earth in the
sublimity of it's ruined magnficence.
Lady Duff Gordon entertained the party
at dinner, while the consul, Mustapha
Aga, held a strange dance OF the GalVazl
ladies of Luxor. There were salutes and
illumination to mark the arrival OF the
guests.
lone night an Arab sent by Mustapha
Aga came to one of their number. Mr. D..
as we may call him, saying that he had
just found mummy case OF unusual
beauty. What became of the mummy the
man did not explain. The next morning
Mr. D. bought the case. Both he and his
companions were impressed by its remark
able beauty and by the curious face of the
woman portrayed. face that was filled
with a cold malignancy of expression I'M
pleasant to witness.
They had agreed that being all interest
ed 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 exploded, the
charge lodging in his arm. which had to be
amputated; second died IN poverty within
the year: third was shot, while Mr.. W..
the owner of the mummy case, discovered
IN n a
large part of his fortune. He died soon
afterward. The priestess of Amen Ra had
signified her displeasure in very "onvi;ic-
ing manner.
From the date i 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 occurred to the party with it's dis
covery; but when he next heard of it and
had full information of the disasters which
had been subsequently associated with its
possession he began to suspect that it was
not merely chance, not merely a coinci-
dence that had brought SO sinister fate
on all who had dealings with the priestess
of Amen Ra
Object of Danger.
ION the arrival of the case in England
1t was given by it's owner, Mr.. W., to a
married sister living near London. From
the day the case entered the house misfor-
tune followed misfortune. The family suf-
fered large losses, and the end came with
painful troubles which need not be speci
fed
The lady, while in possession of the case,
received one day a visit from Nine. Bla
vatsky. The great theosophist became very
disturbed on entering the room. and after
4 few minutes converse ton told her hostess
that there something in her house
possessed of a most malignant influence.
She asked to be allowed to search the
house, and on discovering the coffin lid APP
pealed to her hostess to send away an OBJ
ject which she described as of the utmost
danger. Her hostess, however; refused,
laughing at what she imagined to be
example of foolish superstition.
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 ladys house in
state of great excitement. He had, he
said, photograph the face with the great
est care. and he could guarantee that no
one had touched either the negative the
photograph in any way. Yet it was not
the cardboard features that looked out of
the photograph, but living Egyptian wo-
man staring straight before her with an
expression of singular malevolence. Short
ly after the photographer died suddenly
and mysteriously.
1T was about this time that Mr.. D. hap
pened to meet the owner of the coffin lid
and begged her, upon hearing her story, to
get rid of it at once. She agreed, and a
carrier was found to convey it to the Brit
ish Museum. This carrier died within
week.