LONDON HOUSE MYSTERY

Sun (Auckland), Volume II, Issue 388, 23 June 1928, Page 10

LONDON HOUSE MYSTERY

CURSE OF KING TUT CINDERS ON THE SOFA A number of mysterious incidents that have occurred recently at the home of Captain the Hon. Richard and Mrs. Bethell in Manchester Square, London, have been the subject of investigation by the police. Discoveries made in the house in- ’ eluded: Red-hot cinders underneath a I cushion on a divan; a silk curtain, valued at £SO, set alight by an elec- ! trie stove placed near it; back of an antique screen burnt: a burnt patch on a carpet; corner of a divan in Mrs. Bethell’s boudoir found smouldering; and moulding wrenched away from a window on the second floor. Captain Bethell, the son and heir of Lord Westbury, is a keen archaeologist and was secretary to Mr. Howard Carter when he discovered the tomb of King Tut-Ankh-Amen. His daughter is named Nefertari, after the EgJ'Ptian queen. Some speculation has been aroused as to whether or not the incidents might have some occult origin, but a more commonplace explanation has [ been suggested by the police. As a result of a suggestion by the detectives, a member of the household left Captain Bethell's employment. Smell of Burning “Captain and Mrs. Bethell gave a luncheon party,” said one of the staff. “Afterwards, when Captain Bethell was in his Study, he thought he could ; smell burning. At first he imagined that a cigarette end had dropped on the carpet, but it was discovered that red-hot cinders and ashes had been placed in a corner of a sofa, beneath a ] cushion. “The coal shovel, covered with ashes, was found near the sofa. “One afternoon a silk curtain in the drawing-room was found smouldering. It had been set alight by an electric j fire placed behind it. “A short time ago a carpet was found burned in one of the rooms, and it was thought to be due to a piece of coal flying out of the fire. The carpet now appears to have been dam- | aged through a red-hot poker being placed on it. Dancer Daughter "The edge of a divan in Mrs. Betbell's boudoir has been found smouldering. and Nefertari discovered that the back of a valuable ornamental screen in the corner of one room had been burnt. Part of the framework of a window has also been wrenched away.” Mrs. Bethell joined with Miss Gertrude Lawrence in opening a beauty boudoir in Hanover Square last year, and their ten-year-old daughter Nefertari has been training to be a ballerina | since she was three.