Faith healer? Fraud? Or both?

The enigma that was Francis Schlatter emerged in the American West in the late 1800s. In looks, he resembled popular depictions of Jesus, and some said his very touch could heal everything from migraines and arthritis to blindness and cancer. Thousands flocked to him, first in Albuquerque and then in Denver, most hoping to be cured but some intent on exposing a man they were certain was a fake.

Schlatter simply disappeared one night in 1895. Eighteen months later, a skeleton surrounded by his belongings was found on a mountainside in Mexico’s Sierra Madre range. David Wetzel, editor-in-chief of the Colorado Historical Society for 26 years and now a resident of Kansas City, pieces together the enduring mystery in a discussion of his new book.