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 — Schlatter 
 

Modern Miracles 
 of Healing 
 
 A true account of the life, works and 
 wanderings of Francis Schlatter, the healer 
 
 By FRANCIS SCHLATTER, 
 The Alsacian. 
 
 / come not to bring a ^wcrd 
 but peace to mankind. 
 
 — Schla'Ur: = 
 
 Copyright March, 1903 by Francis Schlatter. 
 
 Compiled by Mrs. Ella F. Woodard, 
 
 Kalamazoo, Mich.* 
 
HZ. +0( 
 
 ^S 5 
 
INTRODUCTION. 
 
 It is now a little over seven years ago 
 : - since the world was startled by the news- 
 paper reports that an unknown man had 
 appeared at Denver and was healing all 
 manner of disease by the simple laying on 
 of hands.. Even the people most familiar 
 with the Bible had regarded the Christ 
 method of dealing with human infirmity as 
 practically obsolete. It may have been 
 done nineteen centuries ago, but things are 
 different now. Faith in the Great Physi- 
 cian had been supplanted hy reliance upon 
 those who dispensed plasters, powders and 
 pills; and the unreliability of the modern 
 methods in practice only seemed to make 
 the multitude cling to them all the more 
 tenaciously. 
 
— 4— 
 
 But here comes a simple, unpretentious 
 man, without the training of schools, who, 
 by a sublime faith in the belief that the 
 power of God is ample for every occasion, 
 restores the sight to the blind, makes the 
 deaf to hear, banishes the persistent ache 
 or lingering pain, dissolving the doubt of 
 whether life is really worth the living, 
 thereby bringing the bloom of health to 
 the pallid cheek of the ones who had been 
 suffering. It was a new revelation to the 
 world of the truth that was as old as the 
 race, the efficacy of which seemed to be 
 adequate to every human need. 
 
 The lapse of time has not only shown the 
 permanency of the work of Francis 
 Schlatter, but the beautiful spirit of the 
 man as well. It must needs be so, for God 
 only gives a great work to do to a soul of 
 ample capacity for the task in hand, and 
 
the following pages are submitted in 
 response to the public demand for more 
 definite information regarding the man 
 who, in many ways, seems to be emulating 
 the example and practice of the Great 
 Master more nearly, perhaps, than any one 
 else living upon the earth today. 
 
MODERN MIRACLES OF 
 HEALING. 
 
 CHAPTER I. 
 
 Francis Schlatter was born April 29, 
 1856, at Alsace, Loraine, France, now a 
 German province. His father was a cloth 
 manufacturer and owned, mills at Eber- 
 sheim, Canton Schlastadt; he was very 
 wealthy at one time but much of his wealth 
 was spent in travel. Francis was born 
 blind, but was healed by the fervent 
 prayers of his mother when he was three 
 months old. A most peculiar incident 
 occurred before his birth. His mother 
 worked a picture of the Good Shepherd, 
 Christ, carrying a lamb, and it was believed 
 that the child Francis was marked in that 
 way. 
 
When he was two years old his parents 
 moved to London, England, and the child 
 attended school in that city on the East 
 India Road, Paplar, E. C. He had an own 
 J sister and brother who died in Ebersheim. 
 His parents came to America in i860, 
 stopping at Columbia, Tennessee, where 
 his father purchased a plantation on the 
 Pulaski Pike. Being of a roving dispo- 
 sition, he did not remain very long on the 
 plantation, but returned to England. He 
 came to this country again at the close 
 of the civil war, settling on his plantation, 
 where he soon died, and was buried at 
 McCain, seven miles from Columbia, in 
 1868. His mother married a man by the 
 name of Edward Martin, who was a con- 
 tractor by occupation, and one son was 
 born to them. He was named Thomas, 
 and, being a bright boy, was educated for 
 
— 9 — 
 
 the bar, but later went into politics and 
 was recommended for an Ambassador or 
 Minister Plenipotentiary during Cleve- 
 land's administration. 
 
 Francis was apprenticed to a shoemaker 
 to learn that trade ; but being of a roaming 
 nature, returned to London, and not being 
 satisfied, came back to America just before 
 the death of his father. At this time he 
 discovered his power to heal. His mother 
 had chronic neuralgia and he healed her by 
 his touch. This was when he was twelve 
 years old. It being known that the boy 
 could do such strange things, the boys in 
 that neighborhood would not have any- 
 thing to do with him. They thought he was 
 possessed of some mysterious power. This 
 drove him away from home. He went to 
 the old country and traveled about all the 
 time, his parents furnishing him with 
 
— 10 — 
 
 money. He was in Europe for thirteen 
 years traveling- about and sometimes 
 settling down and working at his trade 
 making shoes. In the meantime he lost all 
 track of his parents as they had ceased to 
 write to him. He thought his mother had 
 died and he was determined to find out if 
 it was true and sailed back to America, 
 landing in New York in May, 1884. He 
 settled at St. James, Long Island, lived 
 with a family by the name of Ryan. In the 
 summer he worked for the Benedictine 
 Bros, on a fishing boat and in the winter 
 he mended shoes in a room at the Ryan 
 house. August, 1891, he left for the west, 
 working at his trade in several places 
 along the route ; he could not hold a job as 
 a shoemaker and did not stop long any- 
 where. 
 
— 11 — 
 
 He had a natural tact for carving stone 
 and wood, so he took up with a stone 
 carver and did very well for a time, but he 
 soon tired of that. He went to Lincoln, 
 Nebraska, and engaged as a mining 
 engineer to go to Montana, but he did not 
 like tramping among the mountains and 
 he went to shoe making again. He went 
 to Denver, Colorado, July, 1892, and 
 started a shoe shop on Downing avenue, 
 near Colfax avenue. He did very well for 
 a time but was not contented, feeling that 
 there was something better for him to do. 
 
 V 
 
 *x 
 
CHAPTER II. 
 
 One bright July morning in 1893 he was 
 sitting on his bench in meditation. The 
 window was lowered a little from the top, 
 when it seemed that a ball of fire came in at 
 the open window and fell at his feet. The 
 Savior arose out of it and said to him: 
 "What are you doing here? Go and do 
 the work I have given you to do." He did 
 not look like the pictures that the artists 
 have painted of him ; he had a very dark 
 skin, a fine developed face and form, and 
 was almost nude. He had a covering over 
 him that looked as if it was made of platted 
 grass and woven by hand. 
 
 I did not understand the apparition, if it 
 was such. He looked real to me and 
 seemed to be flesh and blood: neither did 
 
— 13 — 
 
 I know what it meant, but I was determined 
 to trust him. I did not know what he had 
 for me to do. I shut up my shop and 
 started out with only three dollars and 
 sixty cents in my pocket to do his bidding. 
 
 I walked twenty-six miles that day and 
 slept in a barn that night near Golden. T 
 dreamed of people being healed and saw 
 Jesus traveling about healing the sick; 
 then it came to me what I was to do. 
 When I got up the next morning and 
 looked at my small amount of cash, for I 
 knew it would not carry me very far, my 
 heart failed me and I returned to Denver in 
 a hard rain storm. When I got to my shop 
 I could not go in, so I started out toward 
 Trinidad on the Ft. Worth and Denver 
 railroad. When I arrived at Trinidad my «/ 
 money was all gone and I was footsore. I 
 had not met anyone to heal up to that v 
 
— 14 — 
 
 time. I walked down the track from the 
 city, as I did not care to be seen, and I met 
 a lot of tramps, one of whom was sick with 
 the chills. I told him as the Father had 
 told me — to go and heal in his name. He 
 was well the next morning. They fed me 
 for what I had done. I traveled with them 
 for several days and made companions of 
 them. They seemed to think there was 
 something uncanny about me and left me 
 as soon as we got into Texas. I traveled 
 on alone, healing one person along the 
 road toward Throck Morton. My shoes 
 were nearly off my feet and I did not have 
 much of anything to eat. Twice on the 
 road section men gave me something out 
 of their dinner pails. When I landed at 
 / Throck Morton a policeman accosted me 
 and wanted to know my business. I told 
 him of my mission but he would not believe 
 
— 15 — 
 
 me. He called me a tramp and arrested 
 me ; put me in jail, charging me with being 
 a vagrant. I was sentenced to ten days' 
 work on the stone pile, but was let go in 
 three days, they concluding that I was a 
 harmless lunatic. But I was rested from 
 my soreness and was able to continue my 
 journey in good spirits, the three days' 
 feeding up made me feel good again. I 
 was treated well all along the road until I 
 got into Ft. Worth, then I was given two 
 hours to leave the city, as they wanted no 
 tramps there. Some days I fared well for 
 food and others I went without, sleeping 
 in sheds, cotton-seed houses, and during 
 the cool nights of November sleeping out 
 in the open air, the earth for my mattress, 
 the sky my counterpane. I finally landed in 
 Texarkana. It was cold that night and I 
 went to a saw mill where they were burn- 
 
 y/ 
 
— 16 — 
 
 ing some slabs of logs and slept. I burned 
 my shoes so badly that I could not wear 
 them and I lost my hat. So I started out 
 hatless and shoeless over the Iron Moun- 
 tain railroad to Malvern, Arkansas, then 
 over the Hot Springs railroad to Hot 
 Springs. Here I heard of a Sergeant Major 
 who was in the U. S. Hospital that could 
 not walk. I went to see Col. Little about 
 it and he allowed me to go and see him, 
 and I took care of him for several days and 
 I went to a boarding house and healed 
 him. They told me they could not keep 
 me any longer so I was obliged to sleep by 
 a camp fire that cold December night. The 
 next night I heard of a place in town 
 where, they let people who had no money 
 stop in a room by the stove. Gunther 
 was the man's name who kept it. There 
 were a lot of poor fellows standing outside 
 
— 17 — 
 
 to get in. They were all sick and had come 
 to the springs for treatment. As we were 
 gathered together the city marshal and 
 one of the police came down the street 
 with a long rope and corralled us all, I 
 being the only one they took out of the 
 bunch. I was tried for insanity. I 
 was beginning to think I was insane, 
 going about with no shoes or hat. This 
 was the latter part of December, 1893. 
 They tried me and sent me to jail to await 
 results. When they put me in the prisoners 
 held what they called a Kangaroo court. 
 This was done for the purpose of getting 
 money for tobacco. I had no money but 
 I had a little watch that was my father's 
 which I thought a great deal of and they 
 wanted it. I could not part with it in that 
 way, so they beat me with a piece of hose 
 until I was bruised. 
 
— 18 — 
 
 The deputy sheriff took me out of the 
 jail and put me in the kitchen to wash 
 dishes and do odd jobs about the house. 
 I soon made friends with the deputy and 
 his noble wife and was trusted everywhere. 
 One day in March, 1894, the deputy went 
 away and I saw a chance to escape, so I 
 went as soon as I knew he had gone. I lay 
 all that day upon the mountain behind a 
 log, until night; then I went over the 
 Ozark mountains towards Sulphur Springs. 
 The first day out I met a companion by the 
 name of James Galagher. We made a fire 
 of pine stumps and the blaze went up so 
 high that we attracted some moonshiners. 
 They thought we were United States 
 marshals and were going to shoot us, but 
 we finally convinced them that we were all 
 right and they let us go. They asked us to 
 go to their house and get some breakfast 
 
— 19 — 
 
 and when we left they gave us a note to 
 some farmers along our line of march. We 
 were treated well all the way to Sulphur 
 Springs. From there we went to Neosho, 
 Missouri; then to Webb City, where we 
 slept in a lime kiln. We obtained a job 
 filling barrels with lime. It took us two 
 days and we had five dollars between us; 
 we started on again, coming to Joplin, 
 Missouri. While in this place I healed a 
 Mr. Lee of dropsy. We stopped here for 
 several days and then we went to Pitts- 
 burg, Kansas; then to Ft. Scott; healed 
 some there and did a little work for a man 
 by the name of Moody, who kept a stone 
 yard. We went to Junction City, Kansas, 
 and went into a Latter Day Saints' church 
 prayer meeting. I healed several there ; 
 was offered money for the healing but I 
 would not take it. We traveled on, going 
 
— 20 — 
 
 through Eldorado, Kansas; Osage Mis- 
 sion, and then into the Indian Territory. 
 
 We were on our way to Tahlequah when 
 I lost the use of my left leg and was taken 
 in and used very kindly by a family of 
 Creek Indians. At this juncture my com- 
 panion left me. I rested for three days and 
 my leg recovered and I was able to go on 
 again. While at the Indian's home, 
 several Indians were healed. They told it 
 to others and I was treated kindly by all 
 whom I met. 
 
 I journeyed on until I arrived at South 
 McAllister, then I took the Choctaw rail- 
 road and started toward Wister, the 
 junction of the Frisco railroad, near a 
 place called Fanshaw, when I encountered 
 a large black bear on a trestle. I looked 
 at the bear and the bear looked at me. 
 After his bearship came to the conclusion 
 
— 21 — 
 
 that I did not intend to hurt him he walked 
 leisurely into the woods and left me. When 
 I arrived at Wister I took the Frisco line 
 toward Texas, at a place called Bengal in 
 the Choctaw Nation. I was obliged to 
 sleep out on the prairie, so I took up my 
 abode for the night beside Salt Creek, and 
 when I awoke in the morning I was sur- 
 rounded by a lot of cotton-mouth moc- 
 casins. I could not get out; they were 
 running all about me and over me but did 
 not harm me. I believe they knew that I 
 was their friend. I did not feel afraid for 
 the Father was with me. My money had 
 given out, but the Indians were very kind 
 to me, sharing their small store with me. 
 The Indians understood me. They said 
 that I was sent to them by the Great Spirit. 
 I would go into their houses at all times at 
 night, get a blanket and lie down until 
 
— 22 — 
 
 morning. They would merely look at me 
 and let me sleep and when I got up they 
 would prepare me such food as they had; 
 sometimes they would give me some meal 
 to take along with me to last for the day. 
 I learned to love them — they were indeed 
 friends. They are not savages as some 
 people suppose, they possess the warmest 
 of hearts. If you love them they will love 
 you. Every instinct of their nature is 
 divine. They are really true Christians. I 
 became one of them and was entertained at 
 several of their feasts. I learned a great 
 deal about the divine plan in watching 
 them in their true simplicity and I noticed 
 that they were the real children of nature. 
 Every action was an inspiration. I cannot 
 say enough in their praise. I went my way 
 on to Arthur City, Texas, on the line of the 
 Red river. I had no money. The ferry- 
 
— 23 — 
 
 man would not take me across so I was 
 obliged to make a raft of some driftwood 
 and I went across safely. I was treated 
 very kindly by a Mr. Foley, and was asked 
 to stop at his house and rest. I was very 
 tired from my long tramp and accepted the 
 invitation. The Father showered a blessing 
 on him by taking me there to heal his only 
 child that had been an invalid from birth. 
 I healed her on the third day. I felt that 
 my mission was finished when the Father 
 gave me victory in healing his child. I went 
 forth with the prayers and blessing of the 
 father and mother. They said: "I knew 
 that my prayers would be answered. God 
 sent an instrument in the shape of a 
 stranger, ragged and footsore to my gate." 
 Other people of the little town heard of 
 the news. They followed me and met me 
 at Cross Roads with their sick. I gave 
 
— 24 — 
 
 the blessing to several. From there I went 
 to Paris, Texas, but did not. stop. T con- 
 tinued on through the Pan Handle country 
 until I got into New Mexico at Red River 
 Springs. 
 
 Nothing of importance occurred until I 
 got on to the Staked Plains. In this barren 
 waste I suffered intensely from hunger and 
 thirst, there not being a house for fifty 
 miles. I was obliged to suffer from hunger, 
 thirst and cold. A norther came up and 
 lasted for three days. My clothing was 
 very thin and worn. All I had was an old 
 pair of jean pants, very much the worse for 
 wear, no underclothes and a blue jumper. 
 I had thrown my shoes away and had my 
 feet tied up in rags. The cold at night was 
 almost unbearable. I could not lie down 
 only for a short time and then I would 
 nearly shake to pieces from being so cold. 
 
— 25 — 
 
 Then I would have to get up and walk 
 again. I would pray : "How much longer, 
 Father, how much longer ? This is more 
 than I can bear. Take me and warm me. 
 Guide me to a spring, where I can quench 
 my thirst." I would fancy at times that I 
 could see beautiful springs in the distance 
 and when I got there it was only the sun 
 shining on the waste. I was doomed to 
 disappointment and I would sit down 
 again. Then an inspiration would come to 
 me to "be brave, the Father is with thee. 
 All will be well in time." At this most 
 severe time in thirst I came to the Pecos 
 river. But now I could not get to the 
 water as it was impossible to descend the 
 bluff. I wandered down the river for 
 several miles and I thought I could not 
 stand it any longer. I thought I would 
 have to jump over the bluff into the river, 
 
— 26 — 
 
 as my tongue had become parched and 
 black from thirst. At last J came to where 
 the trees were close together. I got down 
 on the limbs, lowering myself from branch 
 to branch, and had I broken any of them 
 I would have been dashed to pieces on the 
 rocks fifty feet below. This was a very 
 perilous descent, but the water at that 
 time was between me and death, so I made 
 every attempt to quench my thirst. At 
 last I reached the river and I was tempted 
 to drink my fill; still I knew that it would 
 not be safe for I knew it would cause me a 
 great deal of agony; so I dipped up a little 
 in my hand and moistened my lips and 
 tongue. Then I drank a little occasionally 
 until I was all right. If any of my readers 
 have ever been there, they know what I am 
 writing about. It is easier imagined than 
 described. At many places along the 
 
 
— 27 — 
 
 banks of the river as I could not walk 
 along I had to swim — in places where the 
 water came up close to the bluff. I was 
 obliged to lie down at night in my wet 
 clothing. I had a little corn meal with me 
 and I wet it up and made a raw mush. I 
 managed to live on this until I arrived at 
 Lincoln, New Mexico. There I was sick 
 for several days from exposure. The people 
 of that place took kindly to me and all my 
 wants were supplied. After I recovered, I 
 went to White Oaks, New Mexico. There 
 I administered the healing blessing to 
 several people and they were healed. They 
 gave me ten dollars and some food for my 
 journey. I came across a fellow traveler. 
 I thought from his looks that he was either 
 a tramp or a prospector and that he was in 
 the same condition as myself. That night 
 we slept beside a fire on the mountain. 
 
— 28 — 
 
 While I was asleep he took the ten dollars 
 out of my trousers pocket and made off 
 with it. Then I was alone and without 
 money again. I went over the Osurro 
 range of mountains into Arizona. These 
 mountains are infested with all kinds of 
 wild animals and venomous reptiles. I 
 lay down at night and they came close to 
 me but they did not harm me. 
 
 Nothing of importance occurred on this 
 journey, only sore feet and a weary body. 
 I came to the Atchison, Topeka and Santa 
 Fe railroad at Billings. From here I went 
 to Flagstaff, - Arizona, and landed there 
 very tired and broken up from my long 
 journey. I heard of a gentleman that 
 wanted a man to herd sheep. I went to 
 him and asked him for the place. He 
 looked at me, up and down, and I do not 
 believe that he formed a very good opinion 
 
— 29 — 
 
 of me as I was a very tough looking cus- 
 tomer. He thought I looked too bad to 
 employ; but, however, I persuaded him to 
 try me for a while because I knew that I 
 could fill the bill. I remained with him a 
 little over three months and saved a few 
 dollars and started on my journey again 
 toward San Diego, California, and took a 
 steamer for San Francisco. I remained 
 in that city but a short time. I next went 
 to Puento, California, and treated about 
 thirty people. This was the first time 
 that I had treated so many at one 
 time. They were all sitting on the 
 benches of a private lawn. From there I 
 went to Santa Barbara, then into Lower 
 California, then back into Arizona, follow- 
 ing the line of the Southern Pacific rail- 
 road. The towns are all a very long 
 distance apart and while walking on the 
 
— 30 — 
 
 Southern Pacific, walking on the ties and 
 hot sand made my feet very sore and I sat 
 down to rest. I thought that I could never 
 go to the next town, as it was about fifty 
 miles. I sat down on the end of a tie and 
 asked the Father to heal my feet so that I 
 could continue my journey and I happened 
 to look around and espied a shoe box. I 
 went over to it and found it was full of 
 food. I was very hungry and suffering for 
 something to eat. This seemed to be a 
 blessing bestowed on me from the Father. 
 I sat down and ate the food and then I 
 continued on my journey and my feet were 
 as well as they had ever been. I consider 
 this a direct answer to prayer. 
 
CHAPTER III. 
 
 This is the way I account for the box of 
 food. A train had passed me an hour 
 before and they had seen me walking along 
 the track and knowing it was a long way 
 between towns thought I might want 
 something to eat, threw the box off the 
 car, knowing that I should pass that way 
 and pick it up. I continued on into the 
 Huma desert and was without food and 
 drink for several , days until I found the 
 cactus. I lived on its fruit for food and 
 drank its juice to quench my thirst; but I 
 came to a bare place where the cactus had 
 been destroyed for miles and could find 
 nothing to quench my thirst. The sand was 
 so hot that it scorched my feet. This was a 
 terrible journey, as the cactus thorns were 
 
■/ 
 
 — 32 — 
 
 thick and I had got them into my feet. My 
 water had run out that I had supplied in 
 my canteen and I could not get any more. 
 I was at this time without water three days 
 and three nights. The suffering that I 
 went through with was more than tongue 
 could tell. I wandered about several days 
 in this condition and at last I was dis- 
 covered from the United States signal box. 
 The men in the service came to my rescue 
 just in time, as I had lain down and had 
 given up all hope. It was at this period 
 that I learned that money was valueless: 
 that if the wealth of the universe had been 
 mine, I would freely have given it for a 
 drink of water. When I arrived at the 
 signal box, I found that I had contracted 
 what they called the salt famine. They 
 were obliged to tie me up to keep me away 
 from the water. I was almost a maniac, 
 
— 33 — 
 
 and all they dared to do was to moisten my 
 tongue with a sponge. While in the desert 
 some very wonderful things occurred to 
 me. I had a vision of the twelve disciples. 
 Their faces appeared as if they were real, 
 and the character of each one, as we read 
 in the Scriptures, was reflected in their 
 countenances. I learned a great deal from 
 this. I saw the face of Thomas, the 
 doubter. I could see the sneer on his face. 
 Next came St. John, the beloved disciple, 
 with his soft, dreamy eyes and clear cut 
 features, with a look of benevolence and 
 love. Trust was displayed in every feature. 
 Next came Peter, with his lack of faith, and 
 Judas, the deceitful one. These were all 
 shown to me in their true character. After 
 I had recovered sufficiently, the signal men 
 took me to a railroad station and sent me 
 to Phoenix, Arizona. I started out from 
 
— 34 — 
 
 there to Albuquerque, New Mexico. I 
 had a hard time after leaving Phoenix. My 
 provisions ran out, hence the beginning of 
 the fast of forty-one days. I only partook 
 of a few glasses of milk. 
 
 In coming into Albuquerque, I went 
 into a Mexican adobe house and asked for 
 a drink of water. While the Mexican 
 woman went to the spring I noticed a 
 child lying on a shake-down in the corner. 
 I went and took up the child in my arms. 
 I did not know that it could not walk. 
 When the mother came in I put the child 
 down and it ran over to its mother. The 
 woman dropped the bucket of water from 
 her hand and ran out of the house shouting 
 that the Messiah had come. My hair and 
 beard had grown very long. I was very 
 thin and careworn from travel and hunger. 
 I looked more like a phantom than a man. 
 
— 35 — 
 
 The news of the child's healing spread 
 like wild-fire and when I arrived in "old 
 town" Albuquerque, which is the Mexican 
 part of the city, the Mayor, Juan Garcia, 
 had me treat several Mexicans and 
 Indians that had heard of the healing of 
 the child. There were about two hundred 
 or more. This was my first public meeting. 
 I was afraid to treat so many for fear the 
 power would not stand by me but they 
 forced me into it. With fear and trembling, 
 I went to work, feeling that the Father 
 was always with me in my time of need. 
 A great many of them were healed. Then 
 the white people came. I had a few short 
 notices in the paper up to that time. 
 Finally, Fitz Mac of the Rocky Mountain 
 News came to see me and found me at J. 
 A. Summer's home, where I ate the hearty 
 
— 36 — 
 
 supper which ended the forty-one days' 
 fast. 
 
 This was about the middle of August, 
 1895. Mr. Fitz Mac thought the meal 
 would kill me after having fasted so long. 
 I left the next day for Denver accompanied 
 by Mr. Ed Fox, an ex-alderman of that 
 city, to gaze once more upon the place that 
 I had left two years previous. 
 
CHAPTER IV. 
 
 On the train from Albuquerque to Den- 
 ver I slept nearly all the way. At Las 
 Vegas, New Mexico, and other towns 
 along the way, there were large crowds 
 of people at the railroad stations to 
 see the healer. I arrived at Denver and 
 stopped at the National Hotel. The people 
 found me out and I had to leave there and 
 went up to Mr. Hauenstein's home, a blind 
 builder in Fairmont Avenue, and there I 
 rested for two weeks. From there I went 
 to Ed L. Fox's home on Witter street, 
 North Denver, and on the 13th day of Sep- 
 tember, 1895, I began the public ministry 
 that the Father had given me to do. I 
 stood on a low platform that had been 
 placed there to raise me above the people. 
 
— 38 — 
 
 I treated all the way from one thousand to 
 four thousand daily. I also blessed hand- 
 kerchiefs that were handed to me and 
 those that came through the mails. 
 
 The wife of Mr. E. Dickinson, general 
 manager of the U. P. R. R., was healed of 
 deafness; for this healing he chartered a 
 special train to go over the road to bring 
 in all the sick of the employes. The 
 crowds were very great every day. The 
 people waited for days to get in line. The 
 city built me a fence three blocks long and 
 a narrow sidewalk to keep them in line. 
 Places were sold in the line for fifty dol- 
 lars. Some people, rather than to wait, 
 would buy one another's places. They 
 would form in line as early as 5 o'clock in 
 the morning. I worked very steady and 
 would sit up until very late at night bless- 
 ing handkerchiefs. My mail was brought 
 
— 39 — 
 
 in a wagon and when I left there were over 
 fifty thousand letters remaining unan- 
 swered. The Fox family were very good 
 to me. I could not have been used better. 
 They got me everything in the shape of 
 eatables and the best of wine was always 
 on the desk. I should not have left so 
 soon, but there were some men that were 
 selling the blessed handkerchiefs. I had 
 heard that they had been arrested and 
 they wanted me for a witness. I did not 
 believe in lawsuits. I did not know but 
 what some of my friends might be impli- 
 cated, so I thought that it would be best 
 to leave there. 
 
 There was a special car on the track 
 ready to take me to Chicago, 111. I did not 
 want that to do the Father's work with, 
 so at 4 o'clock in the morning, November 
 13, 1895, I walked through the crowd and 
 
— 40 — 
 
 took by-roads until I got back to Albu- 
 querque, New Mexico. I only entertained 
 three people while at Mr. Fox's house. 
 Myron Reed was one; Judge Kerr, of 
 Santa Fe, was another, and Mrs. Col. Fisk. 
 Several others tried to come in, but I 
 refused. When I left I pinned a note to 
 the pillow, addressed to Mr. Fox. When 
 I arrived at Albuquerque, a friend gave me 
 the white pony that I called Butte, for he 
 was a beauty, and just as sensible as a 
 human being. 
 
 Butte and I were inseparable friends 
 and he was my only companion. I used to 
 talk to him as if he were a person. I believe 
 he understood me. We ate and slept to- 
 gether ; when they could not accommodate 
 me in the house I would lie in the stall 
 with Butte; before he would lie down he 
 would look for me, then he would lie down 
 
— 41 — 
 
 at the other end of the stall. I often lay 
 close up to his back to keep warm. The 
 poor little fellow never got tired of his task. 
 He carried me thirty and forty miles a day 
 until we got down to Dattil,' New Mexico. 
 In looking for a place to stop we saw a 
 light in the window, that being the only 
 house for miles. The night was very cold. 
 We went to the house, which turned out 
 to be the Hermosillo ranch. Mrs. Ada 
 Morley Jarrett came to the door and let me 
 in. As soon as I got inside she knew me 
 and said: "This is the healer from Den- 
 ver." She had seen me there. This was in 
 January, 1896. I stopped there three 
 months and was well entertained by these 
 people. Mrs. Jarrett and I talked together 
 a great deal, as all I had to do was to play 
 with little Carl Gardner, one of the ranch- 
 men's boy. Butte enjoyed himself im- 
 
— 42 — 
 
 mensely and got quite saucy and fat. He 
 got too proud to have anything to do with 
 me. He thought I had found another com- 
 panion in little Carl. While at this place 
 I dictated a book of my life to Mrs. Jarrett. 
 Afterwards she asked me if she could pub- 
 lish it. It was called "The Life' of the 
 Harp in the Hands of the Harper," but in 
 some respects it was not right. It stated 
 that I begged, but I never did. When I 
 was asked to eat, I ate ; and when not I did 
 without. I left Mrs. Jarrett's in March. 
 The morning I left she said to me : "I ex- 
 pect this is the last breakfast we shall eat 
 together." I had Butte saddled and wait- 
 ing, but did not get started until about 4 
 o'clock that afternoon. Mrs. Jarrett offered 
 me some money but I would not take it 
 and she urged me to wait until the next 
 morning, but I declined. I told her that 
 
— 43 — 
 
 the Father would look after me and bid 
 her good-bye. A short way up the trail 
 and I was out of sight in a few minutes. 
 About four days after, my pony drank 
 some alkali water through the night and 
 died. This was more than I could stand. 
 I did not know what I would do without 
 Butte. I knelt down beside his dead body 
 and prayed to the Father to give Butte 
 back to me. I could not realize that he 
 was dead. My only friend had gone when 
 I lost my pony. He was my honest friend. 
 Ah! bow I wept. I never felt before so 
 much alone. All my suffering was not so 
 great as this. I thought how we had 
 walked together in the wilds; how I had 
 shared my lunches with him; how he had 
 carried me over the mountains and thro* 
 valleys and never tired of his task. I wept 
 by his side until I found that he was really 
 
 y 
 
— 44 — 
 
 dead, so I had to continue my journey 
 alone again. I walked to the nearest rail- 
 road station and the conductor gave me a 
 ride and I got back to El Paso. I kept 
 riding and walking until I got to Wheel- 
 ing, West Virginia ; touching Kansas City, 
 St. Louis and Cincinnati on the way. I 
 wanted to get east, so I did not stop to 
 heal on this trip. 
 
 When I got to Wheeling I met with an 
 accident, being hurt in a railway wreck just 
 outside of Parkersburg, the train, running 
 into an open switch. I was unconscious 
 for several hours but experienced no pain, 
 although my left hip was badly broken. 
 My hip being so badly smashed I remained 
 in a hospital at Wheeling for three 
 months. I remained there comfortably 
 until they discovered who I was ; then they 
 turned me out. I made my way down the 
 
— 45 — 
 
 river towards Portsmouth, O., selling- little 
 notions to make a living, I having to walk 
 with crutches. At Portsmouth there had 
 been a church building blown up and I 
 was arrested as a suspect and placed in 
 prison and was kept there for several days. 
 I was taken into the mayor's office and 
 questioned, but rinding nothing against me 
 they let me go. Being thus released they 
 sent me across the river, for fear I would 
 tell some of the citizens about the way I 
 was treated while in their hands. I went 
 from there to Cincinnati, O., and was put 
 in the "Good Samaritan'' hospital. I 
 healed some of the people there and was 
 turned out. Sister Mary Michael, one of 
 the nurses, was very kind to me. She and 
 one of the patients gave me one dollar. So 
 I now went to Paducah, Ky. Here I went 
 to a brick yard, lay down to sleep and to 
 
— 46- 
 
 get warm. I was arrested and got thirty 
 days, being taken for a vagrant, and put to 
 work on the street. One of the newspaper 
 men got me out of jail. My leg at this time 
 was getting stronger and I walked to Ful- 
 ton, Ky. Here I healed some bricklayers 
 that were working there. From here I 
 ■ j went to Jackson, Tenn., and gave a week 
 to healing meetings and hundreds were 
 healed. This was my first public demon- 
 stration after leaving Denver. This was 
 in the fall of 1896. The following Decem- 
 ber I went to Helena, Ark., and while there 
 I got in with a man that had a sail boat and 
 he was going to Cuba. The name of the 
 boat was "Clara." I went with him and 
 we held meetings in all the little towns 
 down the Mississippi river until we came 
 to Greenville, Miss., when we tied up to 
 the banks and in the morning we were high 
 
— 47 — 
 
 and dry and fifty feet from the water, the 
 floods having receded. I met another 
 young man and we held meetings in Green- 
 ville. I left there, walking across the coun- 
 try toward Memphis, Tenn. The water 
 was very deep in some places. While 
 wandering thro' the country we came to a 
 saw mill in the forest. We stopped there 
 for the night, continuing on our journey 
 the next morning. While here in the forest 
 a deer ran out of the woods, came up to 
 me, lapped my hand and then ran his way. 
 
 Our travel through the forest was not 
 very pleasant. We saw large bears and 
 wild cats, but they did not seem to mind 
 us in any way. We arrived in Memphis 
 hungry and footsore. This was during the 
 Mardi Gras, March 1897, an d there were 
 thousands of people in the city. Not caring 
 to attract any attention we took a walk out 
 
— 48 — 
 
 into the country, going to the outskirts of 
 the city we found a beautiful spring to get 
 a drink, but there was no cup. 
 
 I went to a cottage near by and asked a 
 lady to lend me a cup. As she opened the 
 door I saw a man lying on a bed. We went 
 to the spring to quench our thirst. We 
 returned the cup to the lady. I asked her 
 what was the matter with the man. She 
 told me that he had been sick for two years 
 with chronic dysentery and was very low. 
 I told the lady that I could heal him with 
 the power the Father had given me. She 
 invited me into the house and I went to the 
 sick man and asked him to give me his 
 hands and I would treat him. When I said 
 this he looked up into my face and said: 
 "Is this Mr. Schlatter?" I said, yes. He 
 arose up in his bed and looked upon me 
 with an expression that was divine. Then 
 
-4.9- 
 
 he said to me: "What is the matter? 
 Have you come down from the clouds?" 
 I said no, not that I knew of. Then he told 
 me of a gentleman who had just left that 
 was telling about me and that I had healed 
 two of his sisters in Denver ; and if he could 
 see me he knew he would be healed. He 
 had been an old veteran of the Confeder- 
 ate army, losing one of his limbs while in 
 battle. The next morning this man was 
 well and went to Mr. W. M. Akins's resi- 
 dence, at 33 Exchange street, to see me. 
 One would never dreamed that it was the 
 same man of the evening- before. While 
 we were in Memphis the floods came and 
 the river overflowed its banks, making it 
 very wide. It was estimated to be seventy 
 miles wide. White people and negroes 
 were coming into the city, as Memphis was 
 the highest place along the river. I gave 
 
— 50 — 
 
 a public meeting on the square, near a 
 little park. There were - many people 
 healed and the excitement grew to fever 
 heat; the negroes blocked in about me so 
 that the white people could not get to me. 
 The negroes thought the world was com- 
 ing to an end. They shouted and gave 
 praises to God and said "that Christ had 
 come as he had said he would in the 
 clouds." One old colored woman said: 
 "I know that is Him ; He does not look like 
 other white folks. He done come sure as 
 you live." There were such immense 
 crowds of people that it stopped the busi- 
 ness traffic of the city. The mayor rented 
 the Auditorium for me to hold my meeting 
 in. The first healing that occurred here 
 was a child 9 years old that had not spoken 
 since he was two years old. He was 
 healed instantly and spoke. When he spoke 
 
— 51 — 
 
 the people arose in their seats and came 
 forward to the stage to see and talk with 
 the child. People in the gallery were so 
 excited that they slid down the supporting 
 posts. A Mrs. King, who was leader of the 
 Christian Scientists, came forward and pre- 
 sented me with an elegant bouquet of 
 flowers. I did not remain much longer in 
 Memphis, as I had found my mother's 
 whereabouts and wanted to see her, as we 
 had been separated for more than twenty- 
 five years. I found her living four miles 
 from Nashville at a place called Bordeaux, 
 in Tennessee. You can imagine the meet- 
 ing between my mother and me after so 
 long a separation. My mother had been 
 anxiously waiting all these years and had a 
 feeling that I would return to her some 
 day. The meeting with my mother was 
 more than I could bear. I was so overjoyed 
 
— 52 — 
 
 that I could not speak; to think that I 
 should meet my mother again that I had 
 mourned as dead. The Centennial Exposi- 
 tion was going on at this time in Nashville. 
 The promoters wanted me to go inside 
 upon the grounds and hold meetings, but 
 this I refused. They offered me large sums 
 of money to induce me, but I did not feel 
 this way inclined. I continued meetings 
 in the city and the crowds were so great 
 that the police were obliged to keep me 
 moving to different points. For this pur- 
 pose I was given a fine carriage by a Mr. 
 Boning, a friend of my mother. My half- 
 brother, T. W. Martin, acted as driver. We 
 did not remain here long as I felt an in- 
 spiration to go again. 
 
CHAPTER V. 
 
 A physician from Memphis by the name 
 of Benno A. Hollenburg came for me to go 
 with him to Cleveland, Ohio. I was stop- 
 ping with him for a short time and one 
 morning at the breakfast table some gen- 
 tlemen read in the paper of Francis Schlat- 
 ter's polished bones being found in the 
 foot hills of the Sierra Madras of Mexico. 
 
 Dr. Hollenberg said: "Indeed, I was 
 of the opinion that Mr. Schlatter is very 
 much alive. Gentlemen, allow me to intro- 
 duce you to Mr. Schlatter/' That day all 
 the reporters of the daily papers came 
 down to interview me and the story was 
 contradicted in the Associated Press. 
 There were some of the reporters on the 
 papers that were sent to Denver to report 
 
— 54 — 
 
 the work there; that they were well ac- 
 quainted with me. They traced out the 
 story and got all the particulars concern- 
 ing it. There was a party of engineers 
 found some bones of a man in the foot 
 hills of the mountains. As they had not 
 heard of me and did not know where I 
 was they thought I was dead. As they do 
 not get papers very often in that country, 
 they thought this was a fine opportunity to 
 make money. "We will take the bones with 
 a saddle and a little bible into El Paso and 
 tell George W. Stanley of the "El Paso 
 Times" and will make a fortune out of it." 
 They thought they could use these bones 
 as they used the relic of St. Ann's. It first 
 came out in the El Paso Times. 
 
 I never carried a bible; my saddle was 
 not a new one and I never wore under- 
 clothing. Well, from Cleveland I went to 
 
Canton, O., the home of Ex-President Mc- 
 Kinley, where the wonderful healing of 
 Senator T. C. Snyder took place, whose 
 right hip was injured fourteen years before, 
 the right leg having withered and was 
 useless. He was fully restored by one 
 treatment. I held meetings at Canton 
 and the crowds were very great. 
 
 I treated about two thousand people 
 every day; and during the twenty-eight 
 days I was there I blessed fifty thousand 
 people. While in Canton I fasted eighteen 
 days. This was the last fast I have taken, 
 as I do not think now that it is necessary 
 to spiritual development. While in Can- 
 ton I was invited to go to Brady's Lake on 
 Sunday. It was there that Mrs. Margaret 
 Ferris, the widow of the inventor of the 
 famous Ferris wheel, was healed. Mrs. 
 
— 56 — 
 
 Ferris was the first lady that I had met, up 
 to this time, that I thought anything espe- 
 cially of. It so happened that we were to- 
 gether a great deal. It was after the death 
 of her husband and she was troubled in 
 grief. So, I would take her out when I got 
 through with my afternoon meetings. We 
 seemed to become attached to each other 
 and finally we were engaged. I procured 
 a license to marry her and made all the 
 arrangements at Massillon, O., but after 
 thinking it over, knowing it would create 
 too great a sensation at this time, we con- 
 cluded to postpone the wedding until a 
 more quiet time. Mrs. Ferris went to visit 
 some friends. I accidentally went to Pitts- 
 burg, Penn., and went to the Victoria hotel 
 and when I went to register I saw Mrs. 
 Ferris' name on the book. I sent up my 
 card, but she had gone out. I saw her the 
 
— 57 — 
 
 next day and we talked the matter over 
 again and we decided to be married now. I 
 went to get Rev. Frank Taimage but could 
 not find him ; so I went to see Dr. Sproles 
 of Allegheny, Pa. He came to the hotel, 
 but he would not perform the ceremony on 
 account of the prominence of the parties. 
 The newspapers had published a story of 
 an elopement of the healer and Mrs. Ferris. 
 This incident created so much notoriety 
 that we were obliged to postpone it again. 
 
 The Press Association gave me a ban- 
 quet and there were one hundred and fifty 
 newspaper men present from all parts of 
 the east to write up the story of the wed- 
 ding, as they supposed it would be a grand 
 affair, and Mrs. Ferris was worth her mil- 
 lions. We did not attend the banquet but 
 kept in seclusion. Some of the reporters 
 were ambitious enough to seek us. One 
 
— 58 — 
 
 found my room and climbed through the 
 transom. I admired his courage and gave 
 him an interview. He was a young Eng- 
 lishman and had not been in this country 
 long. He was educated for a clergy- 
 man in the Church of England. I told him 
 that I wanted a companion and asked him 
 if he would go with me. He told me 
 that he would as soon as the month was 
 up and he could get some one to rill his 
 position. This gave me faith in him. I 
 could see that he was true to his calling, 
 whatever it might be. While I was in Pitts- 
 burg the crowds were growing larger every 
 day at Canton waiting for me to come 
 back. On going to Canton there were 
 thousands of people waiting to see me. 
 There was not a room available at the 
 hotels or boarding houses. The papers 
 began to publish so much about the heal- 
 
 
 
— 59 — 
 
 ing and the supposed elopement that I con- 
 cluded to leave. In the meantime I had 
 promised to go to Chicago as I had in- 
 tended to hold meetings there. I had made 
 this promise two years previous. To get 
 away from the newspaper men we went to 
 Chicago by boat. At our first meeting we 
 met the gentleman that was instrumental 
 in bringing us there. His name was G. C. 
 McAllister. He was the first one healed. 
 He had Locomotor Ataxia. We opened at 
 Manhattan Beach, Seventy-second street 
 and Bond avenue ; and on Sunday, August 
 29, 1897, it was said that we had forty-five 
 thousand people at the meeting. It was 
 said that if we had them in line they would 
 reach from Manhattan Beach to the City 
 Hall, a distance of nine miles. Through the 
 courtesy of Chief Kepley we were given 
 
— 60 — 
 twenty-three police to take care of the 
 people and prevent crowding. 
 
 The press representatives had a table in 
 front of the platform to watch the proceed- 
 ings and every case of healing was re- 
 corded. The most wonderful case of heal- 
 ing was that of -J. H. Farley, a wholesale 
 merchant of the city, who had been para- 
 lyzed for seven years, not being able to 
 walk or talk. He was instantly healed. The 
 next day I was summoned to appear in 
 court for practicing medicine without a 
 license. I was not practicing medicine. 
 They did this to keep the crowd away. The 
 city prosecuting attorney, Hon. H. S. Tay- 
 lor, and several prominent lawyers of the 
 city, volunteered to defend me from the 
 charges, made by the Board of Health, so 
 the case was dismissed. 
 
 
CHAPTER VI. 
 
 We went to Aurora, 111., for a few days ; 
 then from there to Bowling Green, O., and 
 remained a few days. Then we went to 
 Canton for a rest that I very much needed. 
 I had laid hands on nearly one hundred 
 thousand people from the 28th of July to 
 November 1st, 1897. I left Canton for 
 New Castle, Penn. ; from there to Zanes- 
 ville, O., where the wonderful healing of 
 Laura Dickson, a little girl nine years old, 
 who had been born blind, took place. 
 
 When I went there the people seemed to 
 be against me, but healing the blind child 
 created a furore and everyone was my 
 friend. The blind child instantly received 
 her eyesight. There was a large crowd on 
 the street, the day being very cold, and it 
 was snowing hard. The mother succeeded 
 
— 62 — 
 
 to get to me with the child. I laid my 
 hands on her eyes and she could see. The 
 people tried her in every way, pointing out 
 the houses and what ever was in sight. Of 
 course, the child did not know what to call 
 them, so she named them anything that 
 came into her mind. 
 
 Some very amusing incidents were 
 always taking place. There was a repre- 
 sentative of the local paper present and he 
 was unfortunate enough to be red-headed. 
 One of the reporters asked her what color 
 his hair was. She said it was green. An- 
 other amusing incident that occurred. A 
 lady came edging through the crowd. A 
 g-entleman asked her what she wanted; 
 that she looked healthy enough. She told 
 him that she was not sick, but that she was 
 going up to Schlatter to get a new dispo- 
 sition. Thousands of handkerchiefs were 
 
— 63 — 
 
 sent to me from all parts of the world as 
 the healing was heralded everywhere 
 through the press. I was obliged to stop 
 at Columbus, O., to bless and mail the 
 handkerchiefs. It took me one month's 
 steady work. I now went to Springfield, O. 
 At my first meeting the weather was very 
 cold. It was snowing and blowing terribly. 
 I sat on my platform without an overcoat 
 or hat. As I did not speak a word it took 
 me sometime to gather a crowd, but the 
 people passing by were interested in what 
 would happen. Soon a little boy came 
 along and stood on the corner ; looking into 
 a gentleman's face, he asked what I was 
 doing. He replied by saying: "I guess he 
 is trying to make summer come." This is 
 where the wonderful healing of Mr. J. H. 
 Waldron took place. He had lost the use 
 of one limb, but was instantaneously 
 
 l/ 
 
— 64 — 
 
 healed. He was a state representative of 
 the Rand, McNally map publishers. He 
 lived at Bellefontaine, O. I now went to 
 Piqua, O., for a few days. I was now 
 making haste to go to Atlantic City, N. J. 
 In passing through on the B. & O. R. R. 
 we were requested to stop off at Cumber- 
 land, Md. This is where W. S. Gilbert 
 joined me, that I spoke of in a previous 
 chapter, being the newspaper man that 
 climbed through the transom. I remained 
 in Cumberland for one week. It rained in 
 torrents all the time, but it did not prevent 
 the people from coming to my meetings. 
 For blocks the street was a solid mass of 
 umbrellas. I treated about five thousand 
 people in the rain and I would be wet com- 
 pletely through. We then proceeded to 
 Baltimore, Md., and started a meeting for 
 one week at Gwinn Oak Park. We then 
 
— 65 — 
 
 went to Atlantic City, where I treated 
 several notables, among whom was Prince 
 Albert of Belgium. We remained here for 
 forty-one days, holding our meeting by the 
 seashore, on Ocean Pier. This was in 
 May, during the Spanish and American 
 war and they expected to see a fleet of 
 Spanish warships come up at any moment. 
 It came out in a Philadelphia paper that if 
 they came in sight all they would have to 
 do would be to send Schlatter and he 
 would heal them of any disposition to do 
 harm. 
 
 After we had been there about ten days 
 the crowds began to gather immensely. 
 On the 3rd of July I treated nine thousand 
 and six people according to actual count.. 
 This was the hardest day's work I ever 
 did. I was kept at it from nine in the morn- 
 ing until ten at night without any inter- 
 
— 66 — 
 
 mission or anything to eat. This was the 
 only time in my life that I was tired after 
 a healing demonstration. After a few min- 
 utes rest a party of gentlemen who had 
 attended a banquet at a summer house on 
 the pier, came to me to be treated. 
 
 They came to be healed of desire of hold- 
 • ing office, as there were senators and con- 
 gressmen among them. One of the party 
 said that all the political aspirations were 
 knocked out of him and he would never 
 run for office again. After a very success- 
 ful season at this delightful seashore, I had 
 a leading to go west again. I arrived in 
 Philadelphia on the evening of the 6th of 
 August and went to the Bingham hotel. I 
 was weary from my work and did not rest 
 very much that night. I had a present 
 ment that something was goingsto happen. 
 Mr. Gilbert was not with me. He stopped 
 
— 67 — 
 
 on the way to attend to some business and 
 intended to come the next day. The next 
 morning I was going down to the Penn- 
 sylvania railroad station to meet some 
 friends. Just as I got to the Public build- 
 ing on Broad and Market street I saw a 
 very large crowd collected. I went to see 
 what was going on, and they had a poor 
 fellow hemmed in whom they had accused 
 of being a Spaniard. I could not stand 
 it to see him misused, so I spoke in his 
 behalf and addressed the crowd in these 
 words: "My friends, do you know that 
 there is one that is above us that marks 
 even the sparrow's fall? He is the God of 
 the Spaniard as well as of the American. 
 We are all a people of one God and we 
 should not be prejudiced against a for- 
 eigner. If any of you had been born 
 in Spain you would have been a 
 
— 68 — 
 
 Spaniard; to oppose any man we put 
 a barrier before us that is a stumbling 
 block to our civilization." At this 
 juncture a large Irish policeman came up 
 to me and said : "You are a Spaniard are 
 ye. I'll take care of ye and put ye where 
 ye won't 'ave anything to do with any more 
 Spaniards. It's meself that knows the 
 loikes of ye's." He took me up to the 
 court and charged me with being a Span- 
 ish spy and they were going to try me for 
 that offense. So they bound me over to 
 court. When the trial came off one of the 
 most prominent attorneys of the city vol- 
 unteered his services to defend me ; during 
 the progress of the trial the building was 
 struck by lightning seven times and there 
 was a fire in the basement My attorney 
 arose and made a short speech to the judge 
 and they asked me why I had made a 
 
 
— 69 — 
 
 speech in defense of a nation that we were 
 at war with. I told them that I thought 
 it was a good opportunity to say a word 
 about the one thing that is and always has 
 been a barrier to civilization, prejudice. I 
 was honorably discharged. The manager 
 of Bradenburg's Museum now offered my 
 manager one thousand dollars a day to 
 appear at their museum. This made me 
 feel indignant that any one should make 
 such a proposition to me and I left him. 
 We now went to Reading, Penn., for a few 
 days and held our meetings at Carsonia 
 Park. The weather was so hot and rainy 
 that we only remained four days, going 
 west again, stopping at Newark, O., three 
 days. From here we went to Mansfield, 
 O. Here a lady was healed instantly who 
 had not walked for 22 years. I treated 
 her about 4 o'clock in the afternoon and 
 
— 70 — 
 
 that evening she walked up stairs to bed. 
 The next day she came down to the meet- 
 ing. The next day I was called to see a 
 young man that they told me was dying. 
 I went to his home and treated him. I 
 raised him. He was well the next day, 
 being fully recovered to health. Owing 
 to these healings the excitement was very 
 great, for they were very prominent people 
 in their city. The people came so fast that 
 it was impossible for me to attend to them 
 and we left, as I was anxious to go south 
 for the winter, for I had a leading to hold 
 meetings in some of the southern cities. 
 
 
CHAPTER VII. 
 
 Our first stop was at Evansville, Ind., 
 where we received a grand welcome from 
 Mayor Akin. The board of aldermen told 
 my manager, Mr. Gilbert, that we could 
 hold our meetings in any part of the city, 
 so we chose the corner of Main street. 
 The news of the work I had done in At- 
 lantic City and Mansfield had reached 
 there ahead of us, and as soon as I took my 
 place upon the box on the corner in one 
 half hour we were greeted by thousands of 
 people. Curiosity seemed to reign and but 
 few came for the blessing, but the next day 
 we were met by a host of people that were 
 seeking health, knowing that man's ex- 
 tremity is God's opportunity. The most 
 remarkable healings that I had achieved 
 
— 72 — 
 
 up to this time were three blind men, all 
 following- each other in line, came up to me 
 for the blessing and they were all instantly 
 healed. They all received their sight. We 
 learned the names of two of them, C. L. 
 Hollis and Fred Munser. Both of them 
 were stone blind for several years. I placed 
 my fingers on Mr. Hollis' eyes and when I 
 removed them he was overjoyed in receiv- 
 ing his sight. "Why, my sight is almost 
 perfect," he said. "I can read the sign on 
 the store there. I never saw better." He 
 went away rejoicing and singing the 
 praises of the man who had given him his 
 sight. This incident and others that fol- 
 lowed created very great excitement and 
 caused a regular furore on the street. The 
 streets were blockaded for blocks away. 
 People were crowding through for blocks 
 away to get up to the platform to receive 
 
— 73 — 
 
 the blessing. I blessed from nine hundred 
 to fifteen hundred daily and nearly all of 
 them were instantly healed. Several of the 
 leading business men of the city assisted 
 my manager in getting the people in line. 
 After two weeks of the most extremely 
 successful meetings I ever held I returned 
 to Nashville, Tenn., to rest for a short 
 time. When leaving a party of friends 
 accompanied us to Chattanooga, where 
 we remained two weeks. We were very 
 much amused at the remarks of the 
 negroes. 
 
 One old negro in the crowd came up to 
 me on crutches, but he did not have faith 
 enough to take a treatment. A colored 
 woman went to him and said : "Why don't 
 you go up to dat dar doctah. He is a 
 hoodoo doctah and will cure you of that 
 misery." "I can't gather my courage, 
 
— 74 — 
 
 sistah. I wish I could, caus I'se suffered 
 powerful." The woman said: "Do go; 
 you know what the Scriptures say about de 
 man dat cured de sick; dat man, sure 
 enough, looks like one of dem dat followed 
 Christ and I believe he is one of dem dat 
 followed, and just to think you have had 
 good religious struction all yo' life. Is you 
 gwine to be like Petah ? That is the wurst 
 of yo' foolish niggahs, yo' haint got no 
 faith." After a great deal of persuasion 
 on the part of the old negress, he came up 
 to be blessed, and he being healed it sur- 
 prised the old negress so much that she 
 started to preach all over the city and sent 
 all who would come to be healed. We left 
 Chattanooga with the blessings of the 
 white and colored people for our success in 
 Atlanta, Ga., which was to be our next 
 stop. The people of that city seemed to be 
 
 
— 75 — 
 
 somewhat skeptical, and we did not have 
 much of a crowd at any of our meetings. 
 Only two healings of any note took place. 
 One was a man by the name of McAfee, 
 who had lost one of his limbs during the 
 civil war and had lost the use of the other 
 one. He was healed standing upon the 
 limb that had been powerless. I gave him 
 a pair of crutches that I had taken from a 
 cripple whom I had healed. He was a 
 well known character about the city, as he 
 used to crawl about on his knees and sell 
 articles to make his living. The other one 
 was Mr. Manley, chief of police, who was 
 healed from a severe case of cancer of the 
 stomach. This was the only city up to this 
 time where I had any trouble with rowdies. 
 One came up and abused us in a shocking 
 manner and said : "If you are divine throw 
 this brick up into the air and cause it to 
 
— 76 — 
 
 stay there." This was a very uncommon 
 thing, as we generally have perfect still- 
 ness at the demonstration, not even the 
 noise of the horse's feet. The little chil 
 dren that gathered around the platform 
 and the dogs that came with them came 
 up and sat at my feet. We were there 
 during the Jubilee after the Spanish war 
 in December, 1898. We were healing at 
 the time the procession passed the presi- 
 dent's carriage. President McKinley was 
 accompanied by Judge Day, Clark Howell, 
 the managing editor of the Atlanta Consti- 
 tution, and Secretary Cortelyou. The most 
 of these gentlemen were in the carriages 
 and raised their hats as they passed by the 
 healing meeting. We soon went to Mari 
 etta, Ga., arriving there on Christmas day, 
 when a very funny incident occurred. My 
 manager, Mr. Gilbert, happened to be red- 
 
 
headed. The school boys dressed up in red 
 wigs and mustaches to impersonate him 
 and one boy had on a brown wig of long 
 hair and a long beard. They marched 
 around us with tin horns and stood next 
 to us and the boys that were with them 
 formed in line and they went through the 
 motions the same as I. Some of the people 
 that were strangers did not know which 
 was Schlatter, the healer, and his compan- 
 ions, or the boys, the make-up was so per- 
 fect. From here we went to Anniston, 
 Ala., and remained several days. There 
 were several U. S. troops stationed in 
 Anniston and I healed nearly all the sol- 
 diers that were sick at that time. I was 
 now thinking about going north again, but 
 my manager thought we ought to go to 
 Birmingham, as they were expecting us 
 and he did not think it was prudent to 
 
— 78 — 
 
 disappoint them, so I concluded to go, as 
 there had been a message sent in the day 
 before stating that we were coming. We 
 were met by a large crowd at the depot. 
 We went right from the station and healed 
 a lady suffering with rheumatism before we 
 opened the meeting on the street. We 
 opened our meeting at 3 o'clock that after- 
 noon and were greeted by a very large 
 crowd of people and in half an hour the 
 streets were packed. I laid hands on five 
 hundred people at this meeting and the 
 next morning at 10 o'clock I treated over 
 eight hundred, there being many negroes 
 among them. By the time of the afternoon 
 meeting the crowd had increased to im- 
 mense proportions. Many sick people came 
 in on the trains from all points in the 
 south. The blessings of God were show- 
 ered- upon us abundantly. The people were 
 
— 79 — 
 
 very wonderfully healed. The following 
 day we were met by over twenty thousand 
 people. It was impossible for me to treat 
 all that came to be healed. There were 
 many who did not have the courage to 
 come up to me on the street for the bless- 
 ing and they would follow me to the hotel 
 and try to get into my room. In order to 
 get the rest that was absolutely necessary 
 we were obliged to bar the door with a 
 board nailed across. The bolts and locks 
 would not keep the people out, regardless 
 of a large placard placed on the door 
 stating that the healer could not be seen 
 only at the public meetings. After the 
 close of every meeting the carriages were 
 standing in a row for me to go and see 
 those who were too sick to leave their 
 homes. On the fourth day of our stay 
 the city was swarmed with people, street 
 
— 80 — 
 
 venders of all kinds coming in having heard 
 of the crowds that had assembled. The 
 city authorities, knowing that I had been 
 the cause of bringing the crowds into the 
 city, concluded to get me off the streets, 
 so they sent the deputy sheriff to tell me 
 to close my demonstrations. My compan- 
 ion told him that he could do nothing. 
 "When Schlatter has a leading to heal in a 
 city he would not stop until the Father 
 called him away to another city or town. 
 Mr. Schlatter does nothing but good to all. 
 He does not disobey the laws of the coun- 
 try, but respects them, for he knows that 
 justice rules the universe and that justice 
 misplaced is breaking the law. Our mis- 
 sion in your city is to heal the sick and 
 bring prosperity to your citizens as you 
 can see. The railroads are reaping a har- 
 vest; the hotels and boarding houses are 
 
— 81 — 
 
 full. There are several thousand strangers 
 in your city every day. The sick people 
 that the city was obliged to support 
 are being healed and being made self- 
 supporting and then you request me to 
 move on. You can arrest Mr. Schlatter 
 but that will not stop him. He is here to 
 do the bidding of the power over which he 
 has no control." They sent the police to 
 arrest me but they would not do it. They 
 said that they would throw up their jobs 
 first before they would arrest me. Then 
 they concluded to pass an ordinance 
 against the street venders to prevent them 
 selling their wares, Schlatter included. The 
 ordinance was passed and brought the 
 healer under its bans and they requested 
 me to stop my meetings, but I kept on. 
 The mayor sent for my manager to come 
 up to his office. He went and answered his 
 
— 82 — 
 
 questions. He was asked if it was so that 
 we had letters from many prominent men 
 and women in this country. Mr. Gilbert 
 produced some of the letters and he tele- 
 graphed these people and he received a 
 hearty indorsement. The mayor said that 
 this was all good but there had been passed 
 the ordinance prohibiting anything of this 
 nature to go on the street. Mr. Gilbert left 
 him and passed a petition which was signed 
 by the most respected people in the city, 
 among whom was Mr. Woodward, presi- 
 dent of the Woodward Coal, Iron and 
 Coke Co., Mr. Schloss of the Schloss Coal 
 and Iron Furnace Co., the presidents of 
 the First and Second National banks, Ex- 
 Gov. Cobb, the ambassador to Sweden, and 
 many gentlemen of note, and many leading 
 citizens. This was taken to the mayor and 
 he did not know what to think, and he con- 
 
— 83 — 
 
 eluded to come to the meeting. In the 
 meantime I had been taken to Alderman 
 McKnight's house, his wife having been 
 an invalid for two years and could not 
 move in bed. When her husband came 
 home she met him at the door and sat 
 down and ate supper with him for the first 
 time in two years. He immediately went 
 down to the city and called a meeting of 
 the aldermen and told them about the heal- 
 ing of his wife and the ordinance was 
 repealed. The mayor was deaf and he came 
 to have his deafness healed. When he got 
 there Ex-Gov. Cobb had been treated and 
 healed of his rheumatism. The mayor 
 came to my room to be treated and was 
 healed. Now he wanted me to go and heal 
 his sick wife, which I did. After that we 
 could get anything in the city ; the churches 
 and theatres were opened to us. The 
 
— 84 — 
 
 negroes came in hundreds and it was 
 necessary to form a separate line for them. 
 An old black mammy (as they call them in 
 the south) of real African type came up on 
 crutches with a very bad case of inflamma- 
 tory rheumatism. She was healed when 
 she left my hands. She stood in the crowd 
 looking at us in all reverence, trying her 
 limbs that heretofore had been useless so 
 long. The swelling had all gone. She 
 broke forth with a voice peculiar to the 
 southern darkey : "White folks, I don tole 
 yo dat I was gwine to be healed, 'cause the 
 good Lawd done said so and he said dat if 
 we come to him in faith, believing, that 
 anything we ask pertaining to his kingdom 
 should be granted. It was the faith in de 
 Lawd dat healed my crippleness and I is as 
 good as you all. Now de bressed Lawd 
 done made me whole dis minute." With 
 
— 85 — 
 
 this she went dancing the pigeon wing 
 down the street, shouting, "Jerusalem! 
 Birmingham got her furnaces, she got her 
 coal mine and her fine buildings and elec- 
 tric railways, and now, bless God, she got a 
 Jesus." All the negroes joined in to help 
 her praise God for his loving kindness. It 
 was just an old-fashioned negro camp- 
 meeting. Everyone that was at the 
 meeting that day received a blessing and 
 left the meeting full of life and religious 
 fervor. The people said that it was the 
 greatest spiritual awakening that had ever 
 occurred in that part of the country. Many 
 were brought into the knowledge of the 
 truth by seeing the actual demonstration 
 of what Christ taught when he said: 
 "Greater things than these shall ye do for 
 I go unto the Father." 
 
CHAPTER VIII. 
 
 We next found ourselves in Warrior, 
 Alabama, to spend Sunday with the post- 
 master, who came to Birmingham to be 
 healed. The physicians had given him up 
 and had told him that he could not live 
 long. He had given up all hopes until his 
 two daughters came to our meeting and 
 they told their father what they had seen. 
 Both of them took lessons of Mrs. L. V. 
 Comer, who is now my wife. We were 
 greeted at the station with a large gather- 
 ing waiting for me to come, as the work 
 was so widely known. We took dinner with 
 the postmaster. The house was surrounded 
 by thousands of afflicted people. Some 
 were blind, some deaf, some came in rolling 
 chairs and some in carriages. It was a 
 
 
 
— 87 — 
 
 very beautiful place, situated in a valley 
 surrounded by mountains and hills that 
 were covered with evergreens. Some very 
 remarkable healings occurred while here. 
 As we had only come down for a few hours 
 we did not have much time. We were due 
 back in Birmingham in two hours and a 
 half, as there were crowds of people 
 waiting for me to return. I treated people 
 all the way while going to the station and 
 on the platform at the station a most 
 pathetic scene occurred. I was standing 
 on the platform of the train and the train 
 started, when a mother came up with a 
 baby in her arms, pleading for me to 
 shower the blessing of the Father on her 
 child. She came up to the moving train. 
 I took hold of the baby's hands, the mother 
 running to keep up with me. The engineer 
 saw it and stopped the train. I took the 
 
child in my arms and discovered that the 
 child was blind. I placed my hands on its 
 eyes; the little one smiled and I gave it 
 back to its mother and what I saw in her 
 face was more than tongue could tell. The 
 train started and I knew that God was all 
 power and that he would not forsake the 
 faithful. When we returned to Birming- 
 ham we were greeted by a multitude at the 
 depot. They followed us to our place of 
 meeting and many were healed. The next 
 day there were twenty thousand at the 
 meeting. The next day following we went 
 to Nashville, Tenn., which was to be the 
 happiest day of my life. 
 
 The Holy Writ says that God created 
 man and woman after his own image, the 
 woman a helpmeet for the man. There is 
 always one woman for every man and that 
 one his affinity who was made for him by 
 
the divine command. I had looked in vain 
 for my other half but I had not met the 
 one who would understand me. The 
 weaving of circumstances plays a great 
 part in all human life, hence all the ambi- 
 tion of man and woman is to meet that one 
 and share their lot together. While holding 
 meetings in Birmingham. Ala., a lady by 
 the name of Mrs. L. V. Comer came to the 
 hotel accompanied by her sister, Mrs. 
 Henry Berry, and a niece. They asked my 
 manager if they could see the healer. In 
 order to protect myself from the multitude 
 I had told Mr. Gilbert not to allow anyone 
 to come in ; but when the ladies came I told 
 him to let them in. Mrs. Comer introduced 
 herself to me and showed me the book of 
 her work; then I knew that this was the 
 woman that the Father had sent me to be 
 the joy of my life. The minute I saw her 
 
— 90 — 
 
 I was transformed. I could see in her the 
 inspiration of my life. It was then that I 
 knew that God moved in a mysterious way 
 to bring about the meeting of souls that 
 were mated in heaven. After she left 
 something seemed to tell me that she was 
 the one to be my wife. I tried to forget it 
 but her presence haunted me and I deter- 
 mined to forget her and banish that idea 
 from my mind, but I could not. I saw her 
 in every face I looked at. I concluded to 
 give in, the Father knew best. I sent for 
 her to come to me as I had some- 
 thing of importance to communicate. 
 When she arrived I was getting ready 
 for my ten o'clock meeting. I told 
 Mr. Gilbert to go and put out the 
 platform and I would be there in a few 
 minutes as I wanted to talk to Mrs. Comer. 
 When he left I did not know what to say 
 
— 91 — 
 
 or how to ask her to become my wife. I 
 was afraid to ask her in the old way for 
 fear she would refuse, so I just said to her : 
 "I am going to make you Mrs. Schlatter; 
 take this and go to the station and buy a 
 ticket and I will meet you at the depot at 
 twelve a. m. Get on another car so the 
 people will not suspect anything, as this is 
 too sacred to me to be written up in the 
 papers. " We met at the station and boarded 
 the train, each in a different part of the car. 
 We were married at Culman, Ala., Jan. 
 31st, 1899, by the Probate Judge; then we 
 proceeded on to Nashville, Tenn. We did 
 not hold any meetings for a few weeks as 
 the weather was very cold. We were in 
 each other's company and never being 
 separated during our honeymoon, which 
 lasted for over a month. We selected for 
 this purpose an ideal spot in a house that 
 
— 92 — 
 
 was in the center of a beautiful park that 
 had been once a lovely place when the 
 South was in its bloom and the people lived 
 in luxury. There were relics of anti-bellum 
 days, being the real old typical plantation, 
 such as we see in traveling- through the 
 South. It was situated on the banks of the 
 Cumberland river. The park had long 
 since gone to ruin but you could see the 
 old gravel roadways, the trimmed cedars 
 that were symmetrical in form, which went 
 to show that at some day there was peace 
 and plenty; but now it had taken on a 
 different form and the flower beds that had 
 been once cultivated and beautiful were 
 evolved into a new condition and different 
 plants had taken the place of the old ones. 
 The old folks had passed away ; the darkies 
 were no longer singing their melodies in 
 the cotton fields. This was indeed a repeti- 
 
tion of what it speaks of in the Bible : "Old 
 things shall pass away and all things 
 become as new." Nature in its course of 
 regeneration had left the mark upon that 
 once happy Southern home, away down in 
 Tennessee. 
 
 The people discovered our resting place 
 and forced us to go into the city to do the 
 Father's work. The hay-market was given 
 to us to hold our meetings and all manner 
 of afflictions were healed, but the most 
 notable case was that of Jehu Ayers of 
 Cheatham, Tenn. This was the most 
 remarkable healing that occurred in that 
 city, he having been paralyzed for seven- 
 teen years and could not move or talk. His 
 daughter came to our meeting as we were 
 distributing the blessed handkerchiefs. She 
 handed me a handkerchief to bless. I gave 
 it to her and told her to put it on the old 
 
— 94 — 
 
 man's spine at the base of the brain. She 
 did so and immediately after placing the 
 handkerchief her father spoke and said: 
 "Take me to the man that blessed the 
 handkerchief.' ' The next day they brought 
 him to me on a bed of straw in the bottom 
 of a wagon. His son-in-law was with him 
 and his dear old faithful wife. We called 
 some men to help him out of the wagon. 
 The poor old man's legs were so weak that 
 they dragged behind him. They had to 
 carry him to the platform. The men held 
 him until I took hold of his hands. Then 
 I told them to let go of him and the old 
 man immediately stood up on his feet. My 
 wife was surprised and began to cry for 
 fear the old man would fall. His faithful 
 wife was in the wagon praying earnestly 
 to God for Jehu to walk again. Her 
 prayers were answered. God heard her 
 
 
— 95 — 
 
 pitiful appeal and the old man walked to 
 the wagon, a distance of about fifty feet 
 and stood up before thousands of people 
 and preached the most pathetic sermon 
 that was ever given, thanking God and the 
 instrument for his wonderful restoration to 
 health. He came again in three days and 
 walked a distance of five blocks and was 
 perfectly well. We remained in Nashville 
 for three months blessing handkerchiefs 
 to send to all parts of the world for the 
 healing of the sick. We left Nashville on 
 the 24th day of June, 1899, and went to 
 Evansville, Ind., where we had held meet- 
 ings the September previous, but only 
 stopped there a short time, and then pro- 
 ceeded to Terre Haute, where the people 
 flocked by thousands. This is where 
 Mr. Joseph A. Gurley, who lives at 
 1625 Oak street, was practically raised 
 
— 96 — 
 
 from the dead. A lady that was 
 visiting the family came down in haste 
 to our boarding house and told us 
 that Mr. Gurley was dying and wanted us 
 to go at once. We rode about a mile in a 
 street car and then had to run for five 
 blocks. It was a very hot July day, the 
 mercury registering 105 in the shade. His 
 wife had gone to the undertaker to make 
 arrangements for his burial, as they could 
 not afford to have him embalmed. When 
 we got to the house he was breathing his 
 last. My wife said: "Don't touch him, 
 Frank, let him die in peace;" but I would 
 not listen to her as I had a presentment to 
 go to the bedside and raise him. I went in 
 and touched him and in five minutes he 
 opened his eyes and the first words he 
 spoke were : "Mr. Schlatter. I want you to 
 go across the street and heal my friend that 
 
 
— 97 — 
 
 has got the rheumatism. When his wife 
 returned he was sitting out on the porch. 
 Smiles now took the place of tears in the 
 once grief-stricken home. 
 
 The next healing was that of Mrs. Ann 
 Shephard of Mulberry street. She was 
 brought to us at our street meeting on a 
 bed in a wagon. She had not walked for 
 twenty years. She was lifted out of the 
 wagon and carried up to us and she was 
 healed instantly and walked back to the 
 wagon. A few days after that her husband 
 announced from our platform that his wife 
 had cooked his supper that night for the 
 first time in twenty long years. 
 
 From Terre Haute we went to Brazil, 
 Ind., and had a very large demonstration; 
 thousands of people gathered and blocked 
 the streets for two blocks each way. We 
 
— 98 — 
 
 called at LaFayette and were the guests 
 of Mr. Lawrence Holmes, and from there 
 we went to Indianapolis for a short time; 
 thence to Ft. Wayne and then to Chicago 
 for a rest. 
 
 We held some meetings on State street 
 in September, 1899, but the multitude 
 was so great that we stopped the street 
 cars in ten minutes' time. They assigned 
 us to Washington and State streets, oppo- 
 site Marshall Field's store. There were 
 hundreds healed. This was my second 
 visit to Chicago. 
 
CHAPTER IX. 
 
 We now went to Kokomo, Ind., and 
 settled for the winter, stopping at the 
 home of George Deffenbaugh, and during 
 this time we went to Marion and sent to 
 the Detroit Free Press and stopped Dr. 
 Charles McClean from using my name. He 
 was going about taking my name, calling 
 himself Schlatter, the healer, to draw a 
 crowd. While we remained in Kokomo 
 the crowds kept coming and I was busy 
 day and night. The 2nd of April, 1900, we 
 went to Parkersburg, W. Va. As I could 
 not stop any longer (I wanted to be about 
 my Father's business) we returned to 
 Kokomo, Ind. My half-brother, T. W. 
 Martin, joined me for the summer. We 
 visited Frankfort, Ind., and Sandusky, O., 
 
 LofC. 
 
— 100 — 
 
 and gave our demonstration at Rye Beach. 
 We enjoyed ourselves here, living in a tent 
 for a time, and then we went to Chicago 
 and rested for a month. We started out 
 again, going to Youngstown, O., Pitts- 
 burg and Johnstown, Pa., and then to 
 Washington, D. C, and Williamsport, Pa., 
 and from there to New York City, where 
 I started an Institute for healing at 807 
 Lexington avenue, with the same Dr. 
 Benno A. Hallenburg that was with me in 
 Cleveland, O. This was in February, 1901, V 
 and later we were located at 335 West • 
 Central Park, where we treated nearly all 
 of the Fifth avenue millionaires. We tried 
 to get Central Park for our open air meet- 
 ings, but were not allowed the privilege. I 
 became restless again and sold out my 
 beautiful home, which nearly broke my 
 wife's heart, but the Father did not want 
 
— 101 — 
 
 me to settled down. He had something 
 else for me to do. I went to Baltimore, 
 Md., and my wife went to Washington, 
 where my step-son was attending school. 
 She remained here as she could not go 
 with me, as I had another leading to walk 
 through the country again and heal where- 
 ever I was led. This journey lasted for 
 fourteen months, but I was treated well by 
 everyone I came in contact with and I 
 healed many. I walked through the states 
 of Maryland and Virginia, and while at 
 Troy, Va., I blessed a handkerchief that 
 was sent to King Edward. I went to 
 Staunton and followed the line of the 
 Chesapeake and Ohio railroad to Hunt- 
 ington, W. Va. From there I went a part 
 of the way by boat to St. Louis, stayed 
 three days, then went to Till City, Ind., to 
 treat a lady who could not come to me as 
 
— 102 — 
 
 she was bedridden. Her husband heard 
 that I was at St. Louis and came after me. 
 He begged me so hard that I had a leading 
 to go. A gentleman by the name of Robert 
 Clum, who had seen me in Kokomo, lived 
 at Hawesville, Ky., just across the river, 
 came for me to go and see a lady that had 
 not walked for many years. She had told 
 him that if she could see me she knew 
 that she could walk again. It was her only 
 hope. I went to see her. I had not treated 
 her yet, but was going in the door when 
 she arose from her chair that she had sat in 
 for twenty-five years, and walked over to 
 me and shook hands with me. It says in the 
 Bible that in that day you shall look upon 
 them and they shall be healed. This was a 
 manifestation of that prophesy; that day 
 had come. In the meantime my wife had 
 gone to California and I was on the way to 
 
— 103 — 
 
 meet her, but I received a telegram from 
 her that she was in Denver, at Mrs. Fox's 
 house, where I had been a guest while 
 giving my demonstrations in that city. She 
 went there to tell my friends that I was 
 coming back and to find out the feeling 
 against me, as there was a summons out 
 for me to appear in court as a witness 
 against the men who were selling the hand- 
 kerchiefs they said had been blessed by me. 
 This was the real cause of my leaving 
 Denver November 13th, 1895. I told them 
 I should be there for sixty days and my 
 time would have been up the next day. My 
 wife learned that the case had been settled 
 and now we are going back again. I shall 
 have a wife by my side. We have been 
 invited back to the home of my former 
 hostess, Mrs. Ed. L. Fox. 
 
— 104— 
 
 After my wife returned, she met me in 
 Greenville, O. I had cut my hair and 
 shaved my beard. She did not know me, 
 as it changed me so much. After spending 
 a short time together at Miamisburg, my 
 wife went to Chicago, being called there by 
 a telegram to attend a very sick family, 
 and I joined her a week later and we were 
 the guests of C. H. Besly of Edison Park, 
 111. From there my wife went to Kalama- 
 zoo, Mich., where I joined her in about 
 ten days. This was the first place that I 
 had ever been led to speak. I delivered 
 two lectures at the Auditorium, one of 
 them on Sunday, Dec. 21st, and the other 
 on the following Sunday, Dec. 28th, 1902 
 were on Evolution. When I left Denver 
 I told them that the next time I came I 
 would talk. From Kalamazoo we went to 
 Dowagiac and remained about a month. 
 
— 105 — 
 
 doing a great work in healing. It was 
 while in Dowagiac that I was induced to 
 write this book. I sincerely hope my poor 
 attempt at writing and any errors that 
 should occur, you must consider that the 
 writer is not a classical scholar, but has 
 been willing to follow the footsteps of the 
 lowly Nazarene. Whither he goeth I will 
 follow. 
 
 Yours in truth, 
 
 FRANCIS SCHLATTER. 
 
Letter from Senator T. C. Snyder. 
 
 Canton, Ohio., September 10, 1897. 
 Francis Schlatter, 
 
 Windsor Park, 111. 
 Dear Sir and Friend: — Yours of 9th 
 inst., by your secretary, received. Accept 
 my sincere congratulations on your 
 acquittal. It should, and I believe will, 
 prevent such arrests in the future, so far as 
 you are concerned. I approve of laws to 
 protect the people against "quacks" but 
 deprecate interference with the practice of 
 a healer whose treatment is always harm- 
 less and free, particularly by one who cures 
 so many and benefits others. The powers 
 with which you are endowed should in fair- 
 ness be acknowledged by all, and scouted 
 by none. That such powers can not be 
 understood does not disprove their exist- 
 
— 107 — 
 
 ence. The facts of your success you are 
 entitled to, whether others can understand 
 or not. It is ungenerous and irrational to 
 disbelieve, much more to deny, for the only 
 reason that we cannot understand. 
 
 Hoping for your success and happiness, 
 Sincerely yours, 
 
 T. C. SNYDER, 
 Senator, and President Canton Steel 
 Roofing Co. 
 
 P. S. — From a conversation I had on 
 Monday last with President McKinley, I 
 am convinced that he believes in your 
 power. He is too honest to doubt after the 
 evidence he hears. He was much pleased 
 and interested in my statement. 
 
 NOTE. — The arrest and acquittal 
 alluded to in Senator Snyder's letter above 
 grew out of an attempted prosecution of 
 
— 108 — 
 
 Mr. Schlatter, by the Chicago Medical 
 Board, for practicing medicine without a 
 license. 
 
 This, in brief, is the history of the man 
 whom as high as 5,000 people in a single 
 day have crowded to see and be touched by 
 in Denver, and other cities throughout this 
 country. How miserable and contemptible 
 a history it will seem to thousands who 
 think the history of John the Baptist, 
 living on locusts and wild honey, with but 
 a mean girdle about his loins, glorious. 
 
 Let us remember that it is we who think 
 Saint John's life of self-surrender glorious, 
 The greater part of his contemporaries — 
 all the prosperous and proud who were 
 interested in preserving the status quo, 
 thought him a contemptible and vicious 
 
— 109 — 
 
 lunatic and they cut his head off to stop the 
 wagging of his trenchant tongue. 
 
 I consider the candor, the interest and 
 the sympathy with which this poor, simple 
 Alsatian has been received in Denver, 
 where his history is known as one of the 
 most remarkable and thought compelling 
 events I have ever witnessed. The Rev. 
 Myron Reed, the most noted pulpit orator 
 of the west, preached a strong and sympa- 
 thetic sermon on the man's character and 
 mission recently in which he said: "We 
 have in our midst today a man whose 
 credentials are as good as those possessed 
 by Jesus of Nazareth before, and when he 
 marched to the Jordan to be baptized by 
 John." 
 
 "He has helped me morally." 
 "He is doing good here, he is calling our 
 attention to the fact that the center and 
 
— 110 — 
 
 source of all life is God. Not a God who a 
 long time ago filled a cistern and then went 
 away, but God a free flowing spring, a 
 present help in every time of need." 
 
/tlm. -W^nve^^^UcAicctt^l 
 
THE STORY AS TOLD BY MRS. 
 COMER-SCHLATTER. 
 
 It was at Buffalo Lithia Springs, Va., 
 that I was awakened to the Spirit of God. 
 It was about three o'clock in the afternoon, 
 July 1 8th, 1.892. I was there for my health, 
 as it was my last resort. I had traveled 
 over the best part of the United States and 
 had been under the care of some of the best 
 physicians. The doctor that I was under 
 at the time, having exhausted all his knowl- 
 edge, discovered that his work and medi- 
 cine had no effect on my condition and he 
 said to me: "I have no hope; I do not 
 think that you can live much longer; not 
 over two or three hours at best." 
 
 It was in this condition that I gave up all 
 hope to receive any help from the physical 
 
— 112 — 
 
 side of life. After the physician left the 
 room I offered up a prayer : "O Lord, have 
 mercy on my soul." Just then I felt a con- 
 sciousness; there was something higher 
 and purer than man had yet discovered; a 
 thrill of tender love passed through me and 
 gave me strength to rise from my bed and 
 I dressed myself in a loose gown and 
 walked down the long back veranda and 
 sat down under a beautiful locust tree. 
 Then I began to pray to know if there was 
 a God and if there was ever such a man 
 lived as Jesus Christ, and if he lived today; 
 if so, where is he and what is he? While 
 offering up this prayer, I found myself in a 
 few moments enveloped in perfect dark- 
 ness, and a feeling as though I were being 
 smothered and could not breathe. Then a 
 thought passed through my mind: "This 
 is death." The suffering increased and the 
 
— 113 — 
 
 pain grew intense. While in this painful 
 state of consciousness, I was awakened to 
 the Spirit of God and the pains were 
 instantly transformed into a state of 
 exalted love. I was perfectly thrilled with 
 the consciousness of life ; my soul began to 
 rise and rise until I was perfectly conscious 
 of a beautiful illuminated sun. I could see 
 the rays penetrating through creation and 
 giving life to every being. While in this 
 illuminated state my physical body became 
 perfectly relaxed. I remained in this 
 exalted state until I could understand that 
 the Spirit of God was perfect harmony and 
 that it filled every atom of my body. I felt 
 the presence of a man and turned to look, 
 thinking it was the doctor, and that he had 
 returned to my room and found me away. 
 I looked and saw no man, but heard a voice 
 
— 114 — 
 
 say at my right side : "Act as if I am the 
 Christ." 
 
 I passed then into a state of conscious- 
 ness that could never be spoken in words 
 or written by pen. Just then I arose to 
 return to my room, when I felt that I was 
 being carried by a host of angels. When 
 I arrived at my room I looked into the 
 mirror and saw that my cheeks looked as if 
 they had been painted. My eyes were 
 bright and full of light. I discovered that 
 my body had reflected all that my soul had 
 become conscious of while under the tree. 
 I dressed myself and went into the dining 
 room feeling perfectly well and so happy. 
 I could see the beautiful soul in all the 
 people. All looked so tender and kind, 
 while I was watching the Spirit of God 
 work. The doctor's wife came in. She 
 rushed to my side and asked me what had 
 
— 115 — 
 
 happened. The doctor came and felt of my 
 pulse and wanted to know what .had taken 
 place. I said : "Nothing ; I have only had 
 a little talk with God." The doctor's wife 
 spoke and said : "He made a good job of it ; 
 there is nothing in your face but sunshine 
 and happiness." 
 
 After supper I walked over to the office 
 with the doctor and told him I would take 
 no more electricity. "Why not?" said the 
 doctor. I answered him by saying that I 
 had found the real within. "What you are 
 using is the imitation." I felt that the 
 doctor doubted me and that seemed to 
 make me stronger. I then spoke by say- 
 ing, "The day will come when the paralytic 
 will be healed by the touch, be made to rise 
 and walk instantaneously, in the name of 
 Jesus Christ." "Ah," said the doctor, "the 
 millennium will be here then." I said: "The 
 
— 116 — 
 
 millennium is here now to those who know 
 God." It was one year and a half from that 
 day that the prophesy took place at the 
 Grand Hotel, at Cincinnati, Ohio. It was 
 Mr. Clarence Mcllvain who was given up 
 by Dr. Pendergrass, the disease being 
 Locomotor Ataxia. They had a consulta- 
 tion of four physicians and they all agreed 
 the case was incurable. Afterwards I had 
 a talk with the doctor and he decided to 
 turn the case over to me. I had him walk- 
 ing in twenty minutes. He was restored to 
 perfect health and took his position again 
 as a clerk at the Hotel. This took place 
 in 1894. The next case was a young man 
 of Chicago who had been blind for "two 
 years. The very best physicians had pro- 
 nounced his case hopeless, when his eye- 
 sight was restored August, 1895. It was 
 then that the crowds gathered at Dr. C. I. 
 
— 117 — 
 
 Thatcher's home on Aberdeen street, 
 Chicago, 111. It was then that I became 
 perfectly conscious that I had been born 
 with the gift of healing. It was while I 
 was the guest of Dr. Thatcher that I heard 
 of Mr. Schlatter in Denver, Colo. A lady 
 of Chicago was in Denver at the time he 
 was a guest of Mrs. E. L. Fox, for her 
 health. She tried to get to Mr. Schlatter 
 at the time but the crowd was so great it 
 was impossible to reach him. 
 
 She returned to Chicago and read in the 
 paper of the work I was doing. She came 
 to me and was healed of asthma instantane- 
 ously. She returned next morning to thank 
 me and brought Mr. Schlatter's photo, 
 which she had bought in Denver. The 
 crowd grew so large at Dr. Thatcher's home 
 that I was compelled to get a place with 
 more room, so I went and secured a large 
 
— 118 — 
 
 hall in the Masonic temple, where the peo- 
 ple could be seated. I also had an office, 
 No. 1225, where the people could consult 
 me. It was there that I read so much about 
 Mr, Schlatter. It was in 1896 that I had a 
 leading to go to Washington, D. C. By 
 that time Mr. Schlatter had left Denver. 
 The "Washington Post" in writing up my 
 work, wrote me up as a female rival of 
 Schlatter. It was at one of my meetings 
 that I prophesied that Schlatter would 
 come to the front again and do greater 
 works than he had ever done before. It was 
 in June, 1897, tnat I became president of 
 the non-sectarian and non-partisan con- 
 vention. In August I returned to Chicago 
 and discovered that Mr. Schlatter was at 
 the Manhattan Beach Hotel, where there 
 were over forty-five thousand people 
 gathered to see him. On the following 
 
— 119 — 
 
 Sunday I called to see him, to congratu- 
 late him in his good work, but he had gone. 
 I felt consciously that when the time came, 
 I would meet him. In 1898 I was called 
 south. Mr. Schlatter was then in Birming- 
 ham. I had been reading all the time from 
 1895 to 1898 about his work and he had 
 been reading about mine. It was in Jan- 
 uary that I was invited to go with a com- 
 pany, when I became better acquainted 
 with Mr. Schlatter. It was on Tuesday, 
 the 31st, 1899, that we were married at 
 Culman, Ala. Then we began work 
 together. It was true that my prophesy 
 came to pass that he was to do greater 
 works than he had done in Denver. I saw 
 him raise the dead in Terre Haute, Ind. It 
 was Geo. A. Gurley, 538 Oak street. It was 
 in Brazil, Ind., that I lectured to over five 
 
— 120 — 
 
 thousand people. We continued our work 
 through the country and thousands of 
 people were healed. 
 
 Just a few words more. I wish to say- 
 that I believe in prayer and the spoken 
 word. My favorite chapters in the Bible 
 are the first, fourteenth and seventeenth 
 chapters of St. John. I think that if we 
 read those in sincerity and faith, believing, 
 we will come into the spirit of it and then 
 we will see and understand that all is now 
 fulfilled and present for us to enjoy if we 
 will accept. 
 
 Remember this : If you are not healed 
 the fault does not lie in the healer or in 
 God ; for God is too pure to behold iniquity 
 and he would not have called the healer to 
 be an instrument unless he had known he 
 
— 121 — 
 
 could have used it. It is something in us 
 that we must give up. Jesus Christ, speak- 
 ing of this, said : "Deny thyself and come 
 to the Father," meaning to give up all 
 thoughts and ideas and turn to the Spirit. 
 This I know is a truth for I experienced it 
 when I was healed under the tree at Buffalo 
 Lithia. Our idea of God is not God, for 
 God is greater than any human or mortal 
 idea. 
 
 Paul, speaking of our ideas, called them 
 filthy rags, sounding brass and tinkling 
 cymbals. 
 
 So let us give up our ideas and turn to 
 the true Spirit where we will have one God, 
 one Lord Jesus Christ and one brother- 
 hood of man, and that one God is Infinite 
 Love. 
 
— 122 — 
 
 The book that I am writing will soon be 
 ready for the press and there I will give 
 the deep, spiritual meaning of the Scrips 
 tures as it was given to me in my revela- 
 tion. 
 
 MRS. COMER-SCHLATTER. 
 
"SECRET OF SCHLATTER'S 
 v HEALING REVEALED" v 
 
 THE most complete and 
 concise Book on the 
 subject in existence, giving- 
 a true description of instan- 
 taneous healing, as practiced 
 in all parts of the country. 
 
 By FRANCIS SCHLATTER. 
 Price, Postpaid, 
 
 $1.00. 
 
 Address W. E. WOODARD. 
 
 226 West Vine Street, - - Kalamazoo, Michigan, 
 

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