The Washington herald. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1906-1939, 1915-11-28
Copyright, lN5.)

their origin either in kIrks of the
human brain or III the mysterious
history of some relics of ancient times
You who have followed these rec
ords will have made the acquaintance
of Coram, the curator of the Men
zics Museum, and it was through
Coram that | first came to hear OF
the inexplicable beheading of MUM
mics which, commencing with that
Of Mr.. Pettigrew's valuable mummy
of the priestess Hor-ankhu, develop
ed into a perfect epidemic. No more
useless outrage could well be mag
ined than the decapitation OF an an
cient Egyptian corpse; and IT L was
surprised when | heard OF the hrSt
case. nv surprise became stark
amazement when yet other mummles
began myStcriouSly to lose Their
heads. But ! will deal with the trst
instance, now, as it was brought I'M
der my notice by Coram.
He rang me up carly one morning
81 say, Scarles," he said, "A very
odd thing has happened. You We
heard me speak OF Pettlgrew' tne
collector; he lives out WandsWori |,
way; he's one of our trustees, wen
some dcmcntcd burglar broke into
his house last night, took nothing
but cut off the head of valuable
mummy. The police are hopelessly
mvstihcd, and as / know you are
keen on this class of copy l though'
YOU might like to run down and nave
a chat with Pcttigrew. Shall teli
him you are coming:
"Bv all means" | said, and made
an arrangement forthwith. =,
Accordingly, about eleven clo0h
I presented myself at a gloomy
Georgian house standing well bach
from the high road, and screened by
an unkempt shrubbcry. Mr.. Marx
Pcttigrew. familiar figure at Sothe-
bv auctions, was a little shrlVeleo
man, clean shaver and with the COM
plexion OF a dried apricot. His big
spcctacles seemed to occupy a great
proportion of his face, but his eyes
twinkled merrily and his humor was
as dry as his appearance.
Glad to see you, Mr.. Searles, he
said.
He conducted me to a large
gloomy room in which relics, primer:
pally Egyptian, were arranged and
ticketed with museum-like precision
Before a wooden SarcophaguS con-
tanning the swathed figure OF mum.
my he stopped, pointing. He looked
as though he had come out OF a sar-
cophagus himself.
"Hor-ankhu," he said-"a prieStess
of Sekhct: very fine specimen, Mr.
Scarles. | was present when 1t was
found. See-here is her head
STOPPING, he picked up the head oil
the mummy. Very clcanly and scien'
tifcally it had been unwrapped ant
severed from the trunk. 1t SmelleC
strongly OF bitumen and the. shrivel-
ed features reminded me OF nothing
so much as of Mr.. Mark Pettigrew.
Did you ever hear of more sense
less thing" he asked. Come over
and look at the window where he got
in"
We crossed the dark apartment, and
the collector drew my attention to a
round hole which had been drilled IN
the glass of one OF the French WIN
dows opening on kind OF miniature
prairie which once had been a lawn
81 am having shutters fitted, he
went on. at is so easy to cut hole
in the glass and open the catch OF
these windows"
Very easy" l agreed. "Was any
one disturbed"
mo one" he replied excitedly;
that's the insane part OF the thing
The burglar, with all the mig ht before
him and with cases containing port
able and really priceless objects about
him. contcnted himself with dccapl-
tating the priesteSs. What on earth
did he want her head for? Whatever
he wanted il for, why the devil dldn
he take 1t :"
We stared at ono another blankly.
That, then, is all that | have occa-.
sion TO relate regarding the hrst OF
these mysterious Outragcs. was
Juitc unable to PROFOUND any theory
covering the facts, TO Petugrew
evident annoyance He assured me
that | was very stupid and insisted
upon opening a magnum OF cham
naPne | then returned to my rooms,
and since reflection upon the subject
Dromised to be Improbable, had dis
missed it from my mind, when some
lime during the same evening lnspcc-
tor Grimsby rang me up from the
Nard. =, 90,
hear YOU called on Mr.. Pettigrew this
morning."
81 wasn't on the case then, but I'm
on it now"
Flows that"
.TE,II 49, bcer another mum
my bchcadcd in Sotheby,s auction
Where arc you speaking from?
l asked.
81 will meet you there in an hour,
said-"and bring Morris klaw II
can find him" =,
Good" replied Grimsby with much
satisfaction in his voice. This case
ought to be right in his line
I chartered a taxi and proceeded
without DELAY to the salubrious neigh
borhood of Mapping Old Stairs. Al
the head OF the blind alley which
harbors the klaw emporium l direct
ed the man to wait The gloom was
very feebly dispellcd by waverIng
light in the shedlike front of the shop
A dilapidated person whose nose
chronicaliy blushed for the excuses
of its owner lowered about a pros
pcctivc purchaser. This was William
whose exact position IN the Nav
establishment | had never learned
but who apparently acted during his
intervals of sobriety as salesman
Good evening" | said. rs Mir