The Montgomery advertiser., 1908-07-12
Augustiniani--- The Wanderer Life Story of the Man Who Sas0 Vision Amidst
 Italian Flowers
Italian FIotOeys
By J MARVIN NICHOLAS wrftten Special for Advertiser.

shadow am writing. and but a short Journey from Baldy, there has dwelt A hermit for many years. He elected soli- tude on account of an unapproachabie page in his life-history. Dressed in the coarsest raiment his hair long and gray, his beard flowing like that of a patriarch, he stands at the entrance of nis cavern home but no man dares to cross It's threshold. Miles and miles re- moved from any human being, another reciuse has made his solitary home in the Grand Canyon Of Arizona. He al- ways answered your inquiry with en- other: How could one be lonesome in the Grand Canyon of coloradoT. Ana go it goes. Some are hermits because Of a tragic page in life's history: others. because of the in-born cry for sclitude--the hunger to be Near to | Natures Heart.
 John Mary Augustiniani was a her nit because of pious inclinations. A nobleman by birth--the product of Ind Ian aristocracy-he was born of the nobility in Sizzatio, Lombardy. Italy, m ls0i.' Under the impulse of religious zeal he turned his back upon all the wealth and luxury of his Italian home, only to become wanderer in strange and distant lands Of this there is a 1 legend. common in some fashion, to the beginning of every reformer's life One | the old estate. Suddenly he saw an ap- parition-the finger of the Virgin point Ing to regions far away. He must therefore lead solitary life in lands Tar from his native home. No cave dweller in the Orient ever more cer- tainly followed the path of destiny. After three years of earnest medita- ton. and at the age of 20. with only a i stan he set out on foot for Rome. Sew en long years he dwelt in the caves of ttalys ana for five more years he war- dered on foot all over Europe. About this time his thought turned toward new continent, and he landed on the shores of Venezuela. Here, still afoot ne traversed the Brazilian, Chilean and Argentine countries. He then sought out his abode near the dangerous Ori- xaba volcano in old Mexico. In all these wanderings he became famous as a doctor and priest among the wild est Indian tribes.
 While doing his priestly work around the city of Orizaba. be was arrested by the civil authorities. A charge was trumped up against him and convic- ton followed. He was banished to the l island of Cuba. From these shores he | set sail for New York and from there he walked to Montreal. in the Domin- | ion of Canada. He reached St. Louis in | the opening of the sixties atfer plod- | wilderness. Tn going through the re- cords of this pious saint. there comes I to ones mind the story of Father I Marquette. for Augustiniani descended the Mississippi in his light canoe No one seems to know much about him during the Civil War period, but I 1t is certain he was never very far | from St Louis. His biography is very vague during those long and bitter years. There were the opening days when the intrepid pioneer bIazed out the Santa Fe trail Inis was the over land highway thrown across the Rockies from westport, Mo, to Santa Fe. N. M., and on to the gold fields of California. Augustiniani began to dream of priesthood among the Indians in the distant West. His knowledge of Spanish made him at once familiar and popular with the Spaniards who moved vast caravans through the Rockies He walked to Kansas City and on to West port By invitation of Gonzales. A wagon train king of the historic trail, he found his way to Las Vegas, N. NJ.
 The monks passport is still a treas | ured heirloom in the Romero family, prominent today in the affairs of Northern New Mexico. It may be in- teresting to quote here the ancient 1 document in possession of Senor Rom- ero:
 
 John Mary Augustiniani. the bearer of this, is. an Indian Catholic priest, about 62 years of age. He came to 1 Westport. Jackson County. last fall and has passed the winter in a cave and hollow tree, which has been his custom for the past thirty-six years. | He has certificates from the most prominent persons in nearly every part of the globe. He is an Italian by birth and speaks several languages has trav- eled in various countries and never asks for charity. He has some docu- ments to show that he is from a noble family. When invited he will some times eat with person. but never asks. He often lives with the wild beasts and gives them a part of his food. Thoms J. Goforth. 1 J. Bernard
 Fred Chouteau,
 On reaching Las Vegas he found a eave-home in Kearney's Gap. west of l town. The people thought him super- human but their coming broke the quietude he so much longed for With only his bag of meal. his books and | his stan. he began his long Journey | toward the Owl Mountains. Because of the thronKs that again gathered about him. he sought solitude in the hills beyond the valley of Cimarron. There Is well-worn path on the very summit of Old Baldy about which there gathers a legend of the hermit priest. | From breast to breast the story has been passed and to this day they say this Is the path of the pious patriarch as he walked to and fro in his devout meditations. Amidst the snows of this immense altitude Augustiani lived in pious solitude until that last tragic hour of his life in the summer of 1867.
 About the base of this famous peak lay the trading station of the Santa Fe trail Old Baldy overlooked the vast outstretchtng leagues of the Beau Maxwell land grant. equal to three States the size of Rhode Island. In the shadow of the heights, piled in such wondrous beauty. stood the Max well palace where frontiersmen like Kit Carson, Dick Wooten, Don Jesus Abreau, Col. St. Vrain and ex-Gov- ernor Boggs made their rendezvous for years. Along the rushing waters of the Cimarron. the Ponil and the Yer mejo. 5000 Utes and Apaches roamed in wanton freedom. In full view, and over the tortuous mountain passes, pi- oneers dragged immense wagon trains