Las Vegas daily optic. [volume] (Las Vegas, N.M.) 1880-1908, 1897-06-07
noNn HnNom.
Tho Bleaching Bones OF the &reat
Healer, Francis schiaster, ttepnd
Near Casa Grande, Me naD.

Poor Francis Schlatter. who nurses
10 his soul the Aattering ~dielusion tina
ne was divinc-.he VI ltatcred cobbleI
OF Colorado, whose wonderful cure
caused the lame, the halt and th,
olind from all over , no country TO flocl
to Denver, has gone the way OF al
mortality. His me atless and glistenine
bones lie buried In the mountains o
lid Mexico. 1t is a strange story, bu'
4 true one.
The story is told by Contractor
aichard Capless George Look, +. G
stanley and Frank BArnum, who cam,
ia yesterday from Casas Grandes, or
the Rio Grande, Sierra Madre and
Pacific railroad. The reader will re
member that early last tall, FrancI,
Schlatter, the great healer, mysterious
ly disappeared. The last heard OF him
in this country was when the Lordsbure
Liberal reported that the healer, rid,
ing q white horse, had stopped at Q
ranch near Lordsburg and eaten an
immense dinner; that after dinner
/ when he went TO saddle his horse tC
resume his journey, q cowboy called
| mis- attention TO the fact that the horse
vas suffering from a painful swelling
ON his back, that Schlatter passed his
hand over the swelling and 1t disap'
peared. The healer lhen mounted his
gray horse and rode away toward the
Mexican line waving his heavy healing
rod OF copper In his hand, the end Of
he rod ever pointing towards Mexico
He was asked where he was going and
| replied that his rod pointed the way,
| Sclatter was seen NJ more in the United
| States.
On the och Of last month, q Nor
mon cowboy, riding his range, thirty
| i've miles west Of Casa Grandes, say q
| saddle, bride, hat and slicker hanging
in q scrub oak tree and rode up to the
spot. Reclining iu q perfectly natural
pose, nnder the tree on q blanket, was
the skeleton Of a man. The bones and
skull were perfectly bare and glistened
in the sunlight as il they had been pol.
ished. The skeleton was lying on It's
back with the right hand resting on the
| chest aud the left arm stretched straight
out from the body. The right foot was
drawn up SO as to make the knee stand
up, while left leg was stretched straight
out. The position was such as eight
men out CT ten will take when they lie
down on The grass. There was no evil
jence Of q struggle, but everything ir-
dictated that The nan OF the skeleton
had passed away peacefully while rest
irg. Beside the skeleton lay a copper
rod about three and a half feet long.
Lying against the tree was a pile
of clothes on top OF which were
two memoranda books and a bible. On
the inside cover of the bible was in
scribed the name .FraEcis Schlatter,
under the name were two verses Of a
prayer and under the verses was the
address, "Clarence j. Clark, Denver,
Colo.' This cowboy then turned his
attention to the articles hanging in the
tree. There was q saddle, made by q
Denver house, q bride, rope, white
felt hat and o canteen containing
water. Over all OF these hung q slicker,
which protected the other articles from
the weather. There was nothing in the
shape Of a cooking utensil to be found.
The man of the skeleton had evidently
starved to death. The cowboy making
the find reported the matter to the
judge at Casas Grandes. who took
charge of the skeletons effects.
Messrs. Caples, Stanley, Look and
iBarnum were shown The skeleton
, ying where 1t was found and after
hey Iooked at it, the cowboy, McGren,
buried the bones and burned the
blanket.
There can be no doubt as to the
Of the skeleton. II was the
of Francis Schlatter, the heal
er. The Ell Paso people began making
enquiries about the white horse and
one Of the Mormon cowboys told them
that last fall he saw a strange white
man riding a white horse in the vicin-
ity OF Casas Grades; that some time
afterward he saw the saddle In the
scrub oak tree end a man lying under
meath the tree, while near by, grazing,
was q white horse. Thinking that the
reclining man was sleeping, the cow-
boy went on his way without disturb
ing the unknown. Since then, how
ever, he again saw the white horse in
possession OF Indians. So the sup
IS that after the death of his
master, the animal strayed off ana was
Iound by the Indians.
While blessing the crowds that
TO him to be healed in Denver,
Schlatter frequently announced that he
would 500 disappear from the world,
but would return again. Well, the
poor fellow has disappeared from The
great living world, but he did not 60 as
lis blind %worshipers expected MIN to
20. He did moi disappear in a cloud,
lor was his mortal body taken up TO
heaven in a chariot Of hre. Schlatter
passed through the same narrow aisles
II death that are trod by mortality
every day.