A Few More of These Egyptian Carcasses
On 15 June 1824 the ship news column of the local weekly paper Independent Chronicle and Boston Patriot included the following information:
“Brig Peregrine, Clark, fr Gibraltar, via Plymouth, with salt, wine, specie, &c. … The P. has two mummies on board.”
Quite obviously mummies were eminently newsworthy if such information about them preceded their actual arrival in port. The 17 June 1824 issue of the American Statesman & City Register recorded their arrival.
"The brig Peregrine, [Captain] Clark, from Gibraltar, arrived here on Tuesday, brought two mummies, fresh from Thebes, and of undoubted antiquity. At this rate the flesh of mummy will be as cheap as that of dogs. The market is already glutted; a few more of these Egyptian carcasses, with a mermaid or two, and the stock of our museums will be as cheap as candidates for the presidency."
It is not stated for whom the mummies which had arrived on the Peregrine were imported, nor has information come to light which reveals if (or where) they were exhibited after their arrival, but by March of 1825 they had been purchased by Ethan Allen Greenwood. He noted in his diary:
“[1825] Mar. 1st. Began to unroll the mummy & had good success. Dr. Fisher &others assisted. [May]21st. Prepared the mummies for exhibition … June 1st. Mummies beginning to attract.”
Greenwood had a broadside printed up for the display of the THREE mummies he now had but it is obvious the depiction of the two Peregrine mummies is not as neat or exact as is the coffin of Captain Turner's mummy. The drawings are sloppy and the hieroglyphs unreadable. Most certainly they were brightly painted though, and formed a sharp contrast to the darker coffin of Turner's mummy. This may be the reason Greenwood divested himself of that mummy and concentrated on the Peregrine mummies as they would be much more inviting exhibits.