A Priestess of Death

Manawatu Standard, Volume XL, Issue 7902, 30 July 1904, Page 6

A Priestess of Death

Weird Story of Vui Egyptian -.- -.Coffin. -

Majnmy's"• lioinaawo

In a corner oi tho first Eoyptian room at the British' Museum* ibehinjd..the crouching: body o f the prehistoric who - lived before there were , Pharaohs in Egypt or-pyra-mids on the Nile, stands a woman moulded from some ancient form of teardooard. She is merely a shell, the cover of' a mummy case. Her, hands are crossed upon her breast, and Her dar,k eyes stare forward into vacancy. •'.;■: : According- to the /Catalogue, she is No. 22,512, a problematical Koyal personage and a priestess of the College of Amen Ea. She lived in the mighty city of Thebes some 1600 years before Christ.. And about this same coffin cover th:re hangs as terrible a story as ever an Edgar Allen Poe or a Balzac or Kipling- produced from a gloomy imagination. If 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 I will presently relate, says-a correspondent i n a recent issu-j of the Express, are .-.true, ' though whether they be~ a coih'.iidcnce cv a manifestation of supernatural power who can say? There is a second professor ot the more exact sciences and a traveller oi distinction who are equally well informed. I7or three months I have been ••■gathering; the tangled threads of evidence. I have now in my, possession, proofs of the identity, of all those who suffered from the anger of the priestess of Amen Ea. But for tho salte of friends and relatives 1-have been requested .to suppress the names. • About the middle of the 'sixties a party of five friends took ship in a dahabia for a 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, witlh i£s avenues of sphinxes and rams, its vast hall of cohunns, an;d its temple to Amen Ra, which is unequalled on earth in tihe swHlimity of its ruined magnificence. Lady Duff Gordon entertained theparty at dinner, while the Consul, Mustapah Aga, held a strange dance oS the Gaivazi- ladi,es of Luxor. There were salutes and illuminations to mark the arrival of the guests. One night an Arab, sent by Mustapha Aga, came to one of their number, Mr D. as we may ,ca!l him, saying- tlx*vt lie liad found a mummy case of unusual beauty. What became of the' mummy the man did not 'explain.!' 'The next.morning Mr D. bought the case. Both lie" and his companions were impressedl by its remarkable beauty and by the curious face of the woman portrayed —a face that was filled with a cold malignancy of expression 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 tho raiise of its discovery, heilost the mummy cover, which passed to a friend, whom we will call Mr W.. . It was on their return journey that tho series of misfortunes commenced. Mr D's. servant was handing hmi a gun, when,, without- visible 'jai.se, it exploded, the charge lodging-in his arm, whuah had to be amputa.ecl, a second1 died in poverty within the year : a third w-as shot ; while '.Mr W., the owner of t.he mummy case, discovered, on his arrival in ("airo, that he 'had lost a large part o.° his fortune. He died goon afterwards. -The priestess of Amen Jta -Jiocl E-jpr.i----fiod her disploasure in a vory convincing- manner. From the date it A'as shipped - .on. board the steamer, Mi- D. lost sight of the mummy case tor several y ears. He did not, at the time, in any way associate the misfortunes th:it]-.;id occurred to the party,with its/d.f every, but when he next heard cf it, ami had full information: of the disasters which had boon .siib'sevTaently associated with its he began to suspect tbatjit was not D.ereJy chance, not merely a coinT.denee, that1 had brought' so sinister."a. fate on all: who had dealing with the priestess Amen Ra. ' " ■- ■ .' OBJECT OF DANGER. On arrival of the case, in England,it was given by its' owner, Mr W., to a married sister living near Lon-. don. From the day the case enter,-, ed the house misfortune 'followed misfortune. The family suffered large losses, 'and the end came with,-pain-ful'troubles-'which need not be speci--fied.- . ... • " ; , . '.. ...

The lady, while in possession/ vof the caso, received ■ono day' a ;visit from Mme. Blavatsky. The great Theosophist became very disturbed on'entering-the room, ..jand* after a few minutes' conversation, told ier-hostess*-that there was something in her house possessed of a most malignant influence. ' She' asked to 'be al-' lowed to- search the house, "and, on discovering.tlie coffin-lid, ,'appealed to her hostess. to send -away aii object which' she described.' as of Athe r- utmost danger." Jler Hostess, however,"refused, laughing at what she imagined to be an example, of foolish superstition. " » '"'.'' : Some time afterwards the lady Bent the case to a .well-known photographer -in Baker, street. Within' a week the chief of the firm came down to this lady's house in a, state of great excitement. He Had, he said, photographed the face with the greatest eare^ and lie could guarantee ' -that no one had tqiiehed either the negative or the photograph in any way. Yet it was not the cardboard features that looked out of the photograph, but a living Egyptian woman staring_ straight-before her with an expression of singular -malevolence. Shortly afterwards the photographer died suddenly, and mysteriously. It was.about-;this- time '.that Mr D.. happened to meet., the owner of the coffin-lid, and begged-her, upon hearing Jier story, to. get. rid of it at once. She agreed, ;: and , a carrier was found to convey it to the British Museum. , This carrier 'died within a week. The man who assisted in removing! . theT.lid into -the . met with a serious; accident. ' • ,'• Every •one -of■•these,- facts is absolutely authentic. " : '""'■ ' ■ Mr D. has since visited the photo- ■' 'grapher's, and at Jhis retqfuest the son —who carried on the business after the death of-his father—produced the negatives of . the photograph. He knew nothing of' the mystery nor -that it might possifcly be connected with

his^ father's tragic end." After ''examnmig th e negataves, ho assured Mr. -U. that they;liad'■ ifiot'been in aaiy way "faked;"; >•;.:;. ( >.. ~-"'-.;,.;•.. It IS certain' that the Egyptians had powers which \ve in- tike twentieth century -may laugh at, yet caii never understand." There is,- for- in-stanc-e,■ a recorded case,-of an' explorer who 'carried- off a coffin -on which was engraved the threat that if the man therein buried was disturbed by any thief of'; the graves, the body of that thief would be scattered in liis! death. The explorer laughed," for he was not^ he was pleased to, say,-, ola superstitious nature ; - yet 'soon after-, wards;he. was'-forn to pieces' by 'an. elephant when shooting. , ' :I "" . Since the arrival o^ the_ jiumrhy case in the museum, the-prJitestes»B of Ameil Ra.has not troubled the learned gentlemen -who presides over -fche room in which she; .stands. Perhaps it; is that "the priestess; only used,her powers ' "against ,'tliosei-.who brought her into the' lightVof day, and- v/h o kept': her |as' aiT ornament in a private room ;; but' "tliatj; now : staridiiig. among- Queens' and Princesses of equal rank, with a card setting forth' her titles and Jber dignity before her, sho no lotager makes use of the malign powers which, she possesses.