Arizona republican., 1902-01-24
THE CLINKER FIREPLACE
And the Strange Faith of Mir. and
 Mrs. Shaeffer.

Since the publication in The Republi- can, Monday morning of the nyster- ious fire that has been burning for over fifty days in the fireplace at the res idence of Mir. and Mrs. Al Shaeffer. corner of Second avenue and Jackson street, hundreds have visited the place daily to witness. what seems to be a remarkable phenomenon. As then stated. the mysterious thing is. that ordinary wood. mesquite or any other kind, is seemingly not reduced to ashes. but to clinker like the slag of furnace or the clinker in a coal stove. It is only fair to state that most of those who visit the place come away convinced that some unusual circumstance is transpiring, and that the wood actually turns to clinkers. Further, there are none who accuse the family of trickery in the matter, though they are asked every hour of the day if they put any chemical into the fire.
 However. in the interest of fairness on the other side, it should be said that the writer visited the place and took along his own wood, q privilege given all visitors. He watched it burn till it had crumbled into embers. and could not with the ! iron poker discover anything mushy or "slaggish' in them. He did not remain | longer, for the reason that the em- bers were gradually growing smaller. and though there were no ashes to speak of. neither was there slag. Had ! he waited till entirely consumed the ! eplberS would have mingled with 1 the previously melted slag in the fire ! place. and would not have been a fair ] test. Still the experiment was not | sufficient to deny the alleged fact for the satisfaction of other than the eX- perimenter.
 Opinion is divided among the hun dreds who visit the place and Mrs. ! Shaeffer says she can only present the facts and let those who are called of l God accept, while others reject. She says the fireplace is for her a sacred place and it is life and death to her. She therefore makes it public as di- ! rected by visions and not for notoriety or money.
 Her story is a wierd and interesting Cne. She says that a little over fifty days ago she saw in the night a vision which she graphically describes. calling her to obey instructions. There were several persons in the vision and one of them sang:
 "Oh who will join the heavenly band ? Come along, children, come.''
 The vision also made It plain that hereafter the wood in the fireplace would turn to clinkerss She found in the firs1 two verses of the sixty fourth chapter of Isaiah what she believes ia | q phophecy of the incident. At the | same time it was told to her that her life should be guided by the teaching in the first two chapters of the book of | Isaiah.
 For a week the fireplace burned, and she told her neighbors about it and gave away the slag as fast as pro duced. Then she had another vision, that said she must not allow the slag to be given away. and money would | not buy a piece of it now. The vision said until l further command by which sine believes that some very sud den and strange change is to come to pass shortly, and that then the slag may he given to those who desire it. The vision also told her not to sleep in front of the fireplace under penalty of death, but to take up thy bed and walk Since then Mir. and Mrs. Shaef- fer have been sleeping in chairs. Sit ting up and sleeping, as it were. The first week was very tiresome, but by continual prayer they grew accustomed to that manner of sleeping. She says she knows that if she were to lay down to sleep in front of the fire place she would be struck dead.
 A bucketful of the slag sits at the side of the fireplace and to the ShaeffeI family is just now more precious than gold. They have had many visions and hold many queer theories, but they seem to be honest to say the least. MT
 Shaeffer. who, until religious fervoI seized him some years ago, was very l-lain man with an ordinary moustache
 has allowed his beard to grow almost tC
 his waist and in his general appeaance affects resemblance to the popularly excepted pictures of Jesus Christ.