The daily morning journal and courier. [volume] (New Haven, Conn.) 1894-1907, 1901-07-24
sCHLAYYER's CRAVE.
REPORTED no HAZE BEENF0 UND
IN SONORA, MEXICO.

Strange "Faith Curist" Who Set Dem
y yer wild n Few Years Ago and Then
Disappeared His Great Following.
Schlatter is dead The divine" ia
matte is no more. Reliable information
has come that he persisted miserably on
lonely Mexican desert, unattended by
any of the thousands who profess
themselves cured by his miraculous
touch.
DR.. Fl. F. Gray, of Los Angeles, has
Just returned from Casas Grandes,
state of Sonora, Mexico. While in
Mexico DR.. Gray came upon Schlatter's
lonely grave He saw all the parapher-
MALTA and wearing apparel Of the heal
err which are now in possession of the
Jeffepolitica, or chief official, Of Casas
Grandes.
DR. Gray says that there is absolute
ly no doubt that the strange healer
came to his death in lonely Mexican
desert about one hundred and fifty
miles below the American line.
Thousands of people will remember
Schlatter. His wonderful "cures" in
Denver three winters ago, his great fol-
lowing and the hundreds of all classes
who thronged to his apartments, wait
ing eagerly in the street in the long
line that slowly filed by him in order
that the garment might be blessed or
the healing touch bestowed, spaKe
rather Of the superstition and credullty
of the middle ages than the natter-of-
fact skepticism of nowadays.
Divers and many prophets have
sprung up in modern times. Some
have held popular attention for a
month, year: others have lasted put
a day. But none have exerted so re-
markable an influence or created SO
great following as did this uncouth
Norwegian shoemaker, who was pc
sought by rich and poor, humble ano
great. with strange feverish intensity
that amounted almost to religious "a
naticisnn For Schlatter, the healer
nrofessed to be endowed with a divine
touch. :.
His faith in himself approached sub
Unity. Without an apparent feehns o.
blasphemy he cultivated in his pearlns
a striking imitation of Christ. his
long flaxen hair, light brown beard
drooping garments, bare feet and ar
expression of unutterable WEAKNESS
and ecstatic absorption through Whlcf
in deeper undertone ran a mournlu
vein of religious fervor, might easlS
have betrayed the conscious chaflatal
had not his dealings" been ATTENDED
by cures, apparently so thorough ane
testimony so sincere that his bitteres
enemies and those most bent upon nv
exposure were dumfounded.
No doubt the cures he effected were
the result Of mental suggestion. be
fore Schlatter's rise to notoriety ne na'
been an humble, ignorant shoemaker
and conducted little shoe shop IN thf
sluns. The man was open-eyed, va
cont sunerstitious. Intensely reli
gious. his eyes far apart, his feverish
flushed, irregular features made one
think Of Zola's workers in the field o.
Millet's man with the hoe. 1t is no
improbable that Schlatter's remarka
BILE success was due to the fact that NJ
thoroughly believed in himself and 81
made others believe.
In Denver the newspapers were mucl
bent on exposing Schlatter. But the!
did not succeed. Great crowds of hun
dreds thronged about the healer-no
alone the ignorant, the superstitious
the credulous, but persons apparenti!
of almost every station in life, and tn
universal enthusiasm concerning tn
power of this simple shoemaker wa
marvellous.
Schlatter, after leaving Colorado
went to Las Vegas, then to Albu
oueruue, and the last sight of him wa
crossing the Southern Pacific RAILROAD
near Deming, N. M. He then passe'
into Mexico and through the desert t
Casas Grandes, found food and shelte
for himself and care for his burro Wit
some lonely Mexican families Wh
dwelt in the caves made in the aban
doned Mexican mines.
Here the strange healer lived severa
months and here he drew about him
self a small following among the Mexi
can mine laborers and their families.
An opening in one of the caves LED {
a, large interior cavern fitted up as a.
altar. Schlatter never commanded TN
following among the lonely cliff dwell
ing laborers of Casas Grandes that ha
thronged to touch the hem Of his gar
ment in Denver and Albuquerque.
Schlatter remained some thre
months in the cliffs OF Casas Grandes
Then mounting his burro, this strang
man started forth into the desert
fast and pray, with the intention OF vi
timately returning to the Unite
States But it grew hot in the deser
and he had taken little food and water
His Mexican followers grew uneas!
They followed Schlatter up and foun
him lying dead under cactus bush.
, Miles behind on his back trail tn
heaIers famished burro was discovered
and still nearer was found the bras
> staff which Schlatter always carried
, Tn one hand he clutched the Bible give
by one of the most prominent wome
of Texas, who believed Schlatter ha
; worked miracles upon the body of he
, sick son. In his pocket was found tt
, watch given by prominent Burlingto
, official whose inherited inffrmity ha
, miraculously yielded to the divir
' touch.
The Jeffepolitica Of Casas Grandt