1937-06-19 — Page 11

THE CHINA MAIL, JUNE 19, 1937.

Page..11

CURSE OF THE PHARAOH AT END

STRANGE INCIDENT IN HOME OF NOTED EGYPTOLOGIST

CRASH of an explosion; cascade of shattered

glass; a white smear on the carpet of Sir Alex- ander Sefton's library at Edinburgh at dawn, and the strange curse of the Pharaohs which has hung over the baronet's home for more than a year was gone for ever.

ALARMED BY THE EXPLOSION, SIR ALEXANDER RAN TO THE ROOM, FOUND THAT THE BONE A PIECE FROM THE SPINE OF A PRINCESS OF EGYPT 5,000 YEARS AGO HAD “EXPLODED” AND GROUND ITSELF TO A FINE WHITE POWDER ON THE FLOOR.

Sir Alexander found the bone in

a tomb at Gizeh, Egypt, during a holiday last summer.

The Warning

From the moment it entered his home the curse, which, from ancient time, threatens all who "put sacrile- gious hands on the relics of the Pharaohs tombs," has plagued him. Mysterious fires broke out. Croc- kery and glass leaped from side- boards of their own accord and were shattered. Lady Sefton has smitten with mysterious illnesses.

Then Sir Alexander himself was stricken by maladies that he could not explain.

KING GEORGE TO MAKE MASONIC HISTORY

London, To-day.

The King is to attend an Especial Grand Lodge of the United Grand Lodge of England at the Albert Hall, at six p.m., on Wednesday, June 30, to be invested as Past Grand Master.

Maids refused to stay in the

The investiture will be made by Sefton home and finally, a gaunt the Grand Master, the Duke of robed ghost began to roam the Connaught. house by night.

Seriously alarmed, Sir Alexander consulted a spiritualist. She warned him that he must restore the bone to its tomb or a plague of blindness would descend on his household.

After that Sir Alexander and Lady Sefton resolved to visit Egypt after the Coronation and bury the bone and the curse together.

Rocked the House During a dinner party which Sir Alexander gave last month the table on which the bone rested was lifted by an unseen agency, carried to the middle of the room and over- turned, yet no damage was done.

It will be the first occasion on which the Sovereign has been pre- sent at a Masonic meeting.

the

Bilbao Women Await Evacuation

With the fall of Bilbao to the sands of panic-stricken civilians Santander. Above are Basque outside prior to being taken off by

AIR TRAINING IN CHINA

Efficient Chinese

Fliers

China's bombing

insurgents awaited hourly, thou- are leaving the doomed city for women piling their household goods

merchant ships.

schools, mechanised with the latest

United equipment of the

States

Farmy.

primary

The first six months' training is now directed by Chinese officers at Loyang, using American Fleet pursuit places. Survivors are sent to Hangchow for six months

of The King's acceptance

pilots are the rank of Past Grand Master was an-cream of the young nationalists. nounced in March by the Earl of Since the days of grass hangars with heavy bombers under "Ameri- and bumpy flying fields, back in can officers. Graduates are divided Harewood, Pro Grand Master.

in American ex-military among three advanced schools His Majesty, when Duke of York, 1982, when

officers took charge of the infant bombing, pursuit, and survey, the was Senior Grand Warden of Eng- land in 1923 and Provincial Grand air corps, China's air training has first in Nanchang under Chinese Master for Middlesex from 1924 developed into three mammoth air officers, the others at Hangchow.

until his accession, and has always taken an active interest in Free- masonry.

Five Distinguished Predecessors

The title of Past Grand Master has, in the 200 years' history of Freemasonry in England, been con- ferred upon only five distinguished

personages:

"The explosion seemed to rock the house," said Sir Alexander. "As. the bones did not weigh more than one ounce, the explosion is all the more inexplicable. I have no ex- the Throne; planation to offer.

King Edward VII, and King Ed- ward VIII. before they acceded to

The Duke of Connaught; King Oscar II. of Sweden; and The Crown Prince of Denmark,

"Now comes this extraordinary happening. The bone is damaged beyond any hope of repair and afterwards King Frederick VIII. would like to burn the fragments, but my wife says they should be decently buried. As soon as I find someone who will do it the Pharaoh will go to its last rest.”

Sudden Illnesses Sudden deaths and misfortunes which have followed explorers of the tombs in Egypt's Valley of the Kings during the past decade have puzzled doctors and scientists.

Like the Duke of Connaught, King Edward VII, afterwards be- came Grand Master. He ceased to be an active member of the Craft when he became Sovereign.

Wednesday's Especial Grand Lodge is being held at the com- mand of the Duke of Connaught, in celebration of the Coronation.

20,000 Expected

Those eligible to attend are Grand

Of the twenty-six persons who Officers and subscribing Past Mag- were at the opening of King Tut-ters, and the Master and the two ankh-Amen's tomb at

Wardens of every Lodge in office on in 1922, nineteen have died suddenly. June 5.

Luxor

They included Mr. Howard Car-

A

It is probable that a loyal address

ter, chief of the excavation expedi- will be presented at the Especial tion, Lord Carnavon, and Captain Grand Lodge, the Hon. Richard Bethell, Mr. Car- ter's assistant.

Richard Dix, the American film star. who was released from Hollywood gaol on bail of £4, after his arrest on a The famous Nice racecourse, with its charge of drunkenness, stated that artificial lakes and shaded walks, is to after attending a meeting of the Ac- be moved to make way for a new air-tors' Guild he had started for the port, which will be one of the largest home of Frederic March and had gone in France.

kto sleep on the way.

Cook

by

Gas