In the short story The Adventure of the Egyptian Tomb, Mr Schneider was an archaeologist from the Metropolitan Museum of New York. He was present at the excavation of the tomb of Men-ha-Ra and died from tetanus subsequently, the fourth death in quick succession.
At the conclusion of the case, Poirot said of Schneider that he could not be sure why the killer needed to kill him. Perhaps, as Schneider knew Rupert Bleibner, he may have suspected that something was amiss. Or perhaps the killer simply wanted another motiveless and purposeless death to strengthen the superstition in the ancient curse of the tomb. A third possibility was that a successful murderer would always want to repeat his triumph.
Portrayals[]
Schneider was played by Olivier Pierre in the film adaptation of The Adventure of the Egyptian Tomb' in Series 5 of ITV's Agatha Christie's Poirot. Here he was given the first name "Henry". There is less speculation about the reason for killing Schneider here. Poirot seems quite clear that he was killed merely as a distraction from the intended victims and to reinforce the idea of an ancient curse.