Messiah, the Life and Times of Francis Schlatter by Conger Jr. Beasley Jr. Conger Beasley

Author:Conger Jr. Beasley, Jr. Conger Beasley [Conger Jr. Beasley, Jr. Conger Beasley]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: Biography & Autobiography, Historical, Religious
ISBN: 9780865346666
Google: g2QCxOmxESkC
Publisher: Sunstone Press
Published: 2008-01-15T00:26:53+00:00

Five

Flight

Francis likely took refuge at one of the two Rooney ranches located near the town of Morrison, a few miles southwest of Denver. At least that was the rumor that buzzed around the Colorado capital in the aftermath of his abrupt departure. During his stay in Denver, Francis had successfully treated Michael Rooney, son of the land baron who owned both spreads, of a hearing defect. In return, Rooney père told Francis that if he ever needed a place to stay, he was welcome at either ranch. The editors of The Rocky Mountain News deemed the rumor significant enough to merit special attention, and a pair of junior reporters was dispatched to keep watch on the entry gates to both ranches. The gossip they gathered from people passing in and out indicated that Francis was somewhere on the premises, enjoying a much-needed rest after his sojourn in Denver.

One evening a tall, rangy cowpoke wearing a Stetson hat and a soiled duster turned up at the gate to one of the ranches. He flashed a badge that identified him as a federal marshal looking to serve Francis a subpoena in connection with the mail fraud deception case regarding the handkerchiefs bearing his image. The guard told the officer he had never heard of Francis Schlatter and that no one by that name currently resided within the Rooney family estate. The marshal was in a quandary; if Francis failed to show up at the U.S. courthouse in Denver, the federal government wouldn’t have much of a case against the three defendants. The longer the healer stayed away, the more the case fizzled.

***

While hiding out at the Rooney ranch, Francis, with the help of his friend Clarence Clark, obtained a sturdy, white, Percheron draft horse with a thick neck and solid body named Butte. Butte was sick and lame, the result of many years’ service in the Denver Fire Department, pulling heavy water wagons through the streets. Under the healer’s beneficent touch, the horse quickly mended. Although Francis didn’t know exactly where he was going, he sensed he would not be able to walk the distance, as he had two years earlier. Butte would be indispensable.

The healer lay low at the Rooney ranch for three days. Then, rested, reinvigorated, mounted on Butte, his few belongings wrapped in a blanket lashed to the back of the saddle, he headed off in a southeasterly direction along the edge of the Front Range to the little town of Elizabeth, nestled in the foothills. He spent the night at the home of some New Thought devotees, who welcomed him warmly.

***

Francis seems to have made a crucial decision at this point. During the flush days of healing in Denver, before things began to sour, he announced that once he had completed his work there he intended to go to Chicago. One of the biggest cities in the nation, with a population of around a million, Chicago posed a challenge to the healer that could well have given him pause.

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