USA > New Mexico > History of New Mexico : its resources and people, Volume I > Part 71
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Samuel Vann, past grand master of the Grand Lodge of New Mexico, was born in England February 15, 1854. In youth he learned the jeweler's
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trade. Coming to America in the spring of 1881, he was engaged at his trade in Pennsylvania, Connecticut and Illinois until he came to Albu- querque, February 12, 1892. In 1893 he opened a jewelry store in that city, which he afterward combined with a general drug business. His son, S. G. Vann, has been his partner since June, 1900. Mr. Vann was made an Odd Fellow in the Manchester, England, Unity in 1875; was initiated into the Independent Order at Rockford, Ill., in 1886; became a charter member of Harmony Lodge No. 17, in which he has filled all the . chairs; was grand master of the Grand Lodge in 1899; was grand repre- sentative in 1904 and 1905, and is now D. D. G. S. of the encampment branch for New Mexico South. He was the first captain of the old Can- ton, now extinct, and is a member of the local encampment.
The late Charles G. Cruickshank, M. D., of San Marcial, was one of the most prominent Odd Fellows in New Mexico, and served as grand master of the Grand Lodge. A more detailed reference to his association with affairs in the Territory will be found in the chapter devoted to the medical profession.
A. P. Hogle was one of the most active members of the order in the Territory, and filled the office of grand treasurer of the Grand Lodge. He was born November 29, 1835, and died July 1, 1905.
B. A. Sleyster, general agent for the National Fire Insurance Com- pany of Hartford, the Atlas Assurance Company of London and the German-American Insurance Company of New York, and manager of the Albuquerque interests of Oliver E. Cromwell, is now (1906) deputy grand master of the Grand Lodge of New Mexico, and logically the next grand master.
A native of Rotterdam, Holland, he was born April 3, 1862, and at the age of fourteen years came to the United States with his parents, liv- ing in Albany, New York, until 1878. From that year until September, 1883, he was a resident of Texas, and in the latter year he removed to Albuquerque, where, until 1896, he was employed by Jesse M. Wheelock general agent for several fire insurance companies, succeeding him in business upon the latter's removal from the city in that year.
Mr. Sleyster was made an Odd Fellow in 1888 in Albuquerque Lodge No. I, in which he has filled all the chairs. He has also occupied all the offices in the local encampment, was a member of the old Canton and is a member of the Rebekah Lodge. In January, 1904, by the special order of Dr. C. G. Cruickshank, grand master, he conducted the consolidation of Albuquerque Lodge No. I, and Harmony Lodge No. 17, the new lodge taking the name of Harmony Lodge No. I, and he was elected its first noble grand.
In the Grand Lodge of New Mexico he first served for several years as official instructor. In 1904 he was elected grand warden, in 1905 was promoted to the office of deputy grand master, and at the session at Deming in October, 1906, will undoubtedly be elected grand master. Mr. Sleyster is also a member of Temple Lodge, A. F. & A. M., and the Albu- querque Lodge of Elks.
N. E. Stevens, of Albuquerque, past grand master of the Grand Lodge of Odd Fellows, was born at Norway, Oxford county, Maine, December I, 1846. Removing to Pennsylvania in his youth, in early manhood he be- came an Odd Fellow, being initiated into the order February 28, 1868,
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in Coalmont Lodge No. 568, at Coalmont, Pennsylvania. In 1870 he removed to Leavenworth, Kansas, where he resided for seventeen years. In 1887 he came to Albuquerque, and since that year has made this city his home. He is now general agent for the Southwestern Building & Loan Association.
His identification with Odd Fellowship has been of a most important character. Mr. Stevens demitted to Old Albuquerque Lodge No. I, I. O. O. F., upon removing to New Mexico, and when Harmony Lodge No. 17 was organized he entered the new lodge. Since the merging of the two under the name of Harmony Lodge No. I, he has been a member of the latter, in which he has filled all of the chairs. In 1894 he was elected grand master of the Grand Lodge of New Mexico, serving two years, and in 1897 was chosen grand representative to the Sovereign Grand Lodge, serving two years. In March, 1902, he was appointed grand secretary, to fill an unexpired term, and afterward filled that office for two full terms by election. He is also a member of the local encampment, in which he has filled all the chairs, and was a member of the Canton, now defunct. In Masonry he is a member of Temple Lodge, A. F. & A. M., and Rio Grande Chapter, R. A. M., and he is also connected with the Benevolent and Protective Order of Elks. Mr. Stevens has taken an active interest in local public affairs and has served two terms in the city council and one term on the school board.
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KNIGHTS OF PYTHIAS HISTORY.
The first subordinate lodge of the Knights of Pythias in New Mexico was Eldorado Lodge No. 1, which was instituted at Las Vegas October 20, 1880, by George W. Prichard, deputy supreme chancellor for New Mexico. It had nine charter members. This was the only lodge of the order in the Territory until May 7, 1881, when Santa Fe Lodge No. 2 was organized at Santa Fé. On June 24. 1881, Rio Grande Lodge No. 3 was instituted at Socorro, with about twenty-five charter members. Since then one hundred and seventv-nine names have been on the rolls. The Knights of Pythias hall was purchased in 1901.
As the towns located along the line of the newly opened Atlantic & Pacific railroad developed, applications for the founding of new lodges continued to be made. Twenty-seven members of the order applied for and received a charter for Mineral Lodge No. 4. which was instituted June 19, 1882. Germania Lodge No. 6, of Santa Fé. was first organized as German Lodge, but afterward changed its ritual from the German language to the English. It was instituted January 20, 1883, but after- ward merged with Santa Fé Lodge No. 2.
These were the only subordinate lodges in the Territory when the Grand Lodge of New Mexico was organized in the hall of Mineral Lodge at Albuquerque, October 8 and 9. 1884, by the past chancellors of these lodges. The grand lodge was instituted pursuant to a call issued by Deputy Supreme Chancellor George W. Prichard. The convention was called to order by E. L. Bartlett, past grand chancellor and past supreme representative, appointed by special commission of John Van Valkenburg. supreme chancellor of the world. The past chancellors who were found to be entitled to take part in the organization of the grand lodge were:
Eldorado Lodge No. 1. Cassius C. Gise, Michael S. Hart ; Santa Fé Lodge No. 2. Walter V. Hayt. William M. Berger. Charles F. Easlev, E. L. Bartlett : Rio Grande Lodge No. 2. Fred A. Thompson, James L. Leavitt, George W. Fox. Millard W. Browne. John M. Shaw, E. W. Eaton ; Mineral Lodge No. 4. Tesse M. Wheelock, Thomas F. Phelan, F. Lowenthal. Charles Moorehead, Z. T. Phillips: Germania Lodge No. 6, C. F. A. Fischer, Iulius H. Gerdes. A. M. Dettelbach.
The organization of the grand lodge was perfected October 9 by the election of the following :
Grand chancellor. Walter V. Havt; grand vice-chancellor. Jesse M. Wheelock; grand prelate, Michael S. Hart; grand keeper of records and seal, C. F. A. Fischer: grand master at arms. Charles Moorehead; grand inner guard. James L. Leavitt ; grand outer guard, F. Lowenthal.
The subordinate lodges instituted since the organization of the grand lodge are as follows :
Harmony Lodge No. 6, Raton. November II, 1884: Lincoln Lodge
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No. 7. August II, 1886 (defunct) ; Black Range Lodge No. 8, Kingston, August 30, 1886 (merged with Sierra Lodge No. 19, Hillsboro, as Sierra Lodge No. 8); Baxter Lodge No. 9, White Oaks, Decem- ber 17, 1886; Montezuma Lodge No. 10, Albuquerque, February 22, 1887 (merged with Mineral Lodge No. 4, taking the name of the latter) ; R. E. Cowan Lodge No. 1I, Blossburg, October 1, 1887 (defunct) ; Silver City Lodge No. 12, December 15, 1887; Gallup Lodge No. 13, March 22, 1888; Carthage Lodge No. 14, April 18, 1888 (moved to Madrid) ; Vesper Lodge No. 15, Cerrillos, January 22, 1890 (merged with No. 14 at Madrid) ; Spring River Lodge No. 16, Roswell, June 25, 1890 (defunct) ; Justus H. Rathbone Lodge No. 17, San Marcial, August 30, 1890; Magdalena Lodge No. 18, December 20, 1890; Sierra Lodge No. 19, Hillsboro, May 1, 1891 (merged with Black Range Lodge No. 8 under the name of the latter) ; Deming Lodge No. 20, July 20, 1891 ; Eddy Lodge No. 21, Carlsbad, January 12, 1893; Columbus Lodge No. 22, Roswell, March 9, 1893 (defunct) ; Pyramid Lodge No. 23, Lordsburg, July 4, 1896; Chama Lodge No. 24, August 31, 1898, Alamogordo Lodge No. 7, March 17, 1900 (took the number of Lin- coln Lodge) ; Montezuma Lodge No. 10, Elizabethtown, February 17, 1900 (took the name and number of Montezuma Lodge of Albuquerque) ; Cloverdale Lodge No. 11, Clarkville, June 6, 1900 (took the number of R. E. Cowan Lodge) ; Triangle Lodge No. 16, Clayton, October 13, 1900 (took the number of Spring River Lodge) ; Damon Lodge No. 15, Ros- well, August 25, 1900 (took the place of Columbus Lodge and Spring River Lodge, with the number of the Cerrillos Lodge, which had merged with No. 14) ; Myrtle Lodge No. 19, Capitan, January 5, 1901 (took the number of Sierra Lodge) ; Santa Fé Trail Lodge No. 22, Springer, May 8, 1901 (took the number of Columbus Lodge) ; William Mckinley Lodge No. 25, Nogal, July 4, 1902 (consolidated with Magdalena Lodge No. 18) ; Blossburg Lodge No. 26, July 21, 1902 (defunct) ; Artesia Lodge No. 27, June 30, 1905; Tucumcari Lodge No. 29, July 10, 1905; Capulin Lodge No. 28, Folsom, March 25, 1905. Dawson City Lodge No. 30 was insti- tuted on March 10, 1906, by Julius Uhlfelder, grand chancellor, at Daw- son, Colfax county, with forty-three charter members. Lakewood Lodge No. 31 was instituted on May 16. 1906, by J. B. Harvey, special deputy grand chancellor, at Lakewood, Eddy county, with sixteen charter members. A complete list of the grand chancellors and grand keepers of the records and seal of the grand lodge follows :
Grand chancellors: 1884, Walter V. Hayt; 1885, Millard W. Browne; 1886, Charles F. Easley: 1887, Frank W. Barton; 1888, A. C. Briggs ; 1889, F. C. Marstolf; 1890, William M. Berger; 1891, James J. Leeson ; 1892-3, Harry W. Lucas; 1894, W. F. Kuchenbecker; 1895, Clarence E. Perry : 1896, Robert Mckinley; 1897, L. A. Skelly; 1898, E. L. Browne; 1899-1900, C. C. Clark; 1901, William Kilpatrick; 1902, B. F. Adams ; 1903, P. B. Heather ; 1904, E. W. Clapp; 1905, Julius Uhlfelder.
Grand keepers of the records and seal: 1884, C. F. A. Fischer ; 1885, Z. T. Phillips; 1886, A. C. Briggs; 1887, William F. Dobbin ; 1888-9, A. M. Dettelbach : 1890, Harry W. Lucas ; 1891-2, F. L. Harrison ; 1893-4, Clarence E. Perry ; 1895, S. M. Saltmarsh; 1896, N. F. Irish; 1897-98, B. F. Adams : 1899-1905, Clarence E. Perry.
Julius Uhlfelder, grand chancellor of the grand lodge, was born at
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Ratisbon, Germany, October 25. 1854, and located in New Mexico, May, 1881, at Albuquerque, where he remained until 1897, with exception of two years, 1892-93, at Las Vegas. Since 1897 he has lived at Elizabeth- town. He began as clerk and bookkeeper, and later merchant.
Mr. Uhlfelder joined Montezuma Lodge No. 10, Knights of Pythias, Albuquerque, in 1887, C. C. of same July 1, 1889. Transferred to Eldo- rado Lodge No. 1 in 1892; transferred to Montezuma Lodge No. 10, Elizabethtown, which he organized, on February 17, 1900. He has filled at different times every office in the subordinate lodges in which he held membership.
He became a member of the Grand Lodge Knights of Pythias of New Mexico September 10, 1890; was elected grand outer guard September 18, 1901 ; grand master at arms, September 18, 1902; grand prelate, September 17, 1903; grand vice-chancellor, September 22, 1904; grand chancellor, September 28, 1905.
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THE LAND OF SHALAM
THE LAND OF SHALAM.
Upon the east bank of the Rio Grande, in the southern part of the Territory, about fifty miles up the river from the city of El Paso, are the remnants of one of the most remarkable colonial undertakings which ever obtained a foothold upon American soil-even the most noteworthy, from some viewpoints, among all the communistic institutions established during the modern history of nations. This unique estate was known as the "Land of Shalam." Its founders were members of a sect calling themselves "Faithists," and their church was called the "Church of the Tae." The history of this utopian venture contains features which appear to be as least coextensive witli, if not beyond, the limits of human credulity.
Less than a quarter of a century has elapsed since the inception of the project. Some time about the year 1881 Dr. John B. Newbrough, of Boston, Massachusetts, a man who had achieved some fame in local spirit- ualistic circles, visited New Mexico, evidently having already mapped out more or less definite plans for the foundation of the colony. After looking over several locations in the Territory, he decided upon the selection re- ferred to-locally known as the Mesilla valley-as the best adapted to his project. At a price which would be regarded as ridiculously low at the present time, he either purchased or secured options upon an extremely fertile, low-lying tract of land, nearly nine hundred acres in extent, located near the site of the town of Doña Ana.
Returning to Boston, he persuaded Andrew M. Howland, a wealthy coffee importer of that city, who, partly through Newbrough's influence, had become profoundly interested in occult science, to enter with him into the foundation of a colony whose fundamental law should be brotherly love and good fellowship of a degree hitherto unknown in Christendom.
Newbrough was a remarkable man in more ways than one. Six feet and four inches in height, weighing two hundred and seventy-five pounds, perfectly proportioned, extremely handsome, highly educated, dignified, cultured, refined and thoroughly distingue in appearance from crown to heel, he wielded a powerful influence over the majority of persons with whom he came in intimate contact.
It would seem that in the case of Howland he exercised some hyp- notic control. At any rate, so strong did he find his influence over the rich merchant to be that he felt convinced that the mind and will of the latter could be made subservient to his own to a degree sufficient to enable him successfully to consummate his utopian plans for a colony in the New Mexican desert, where his own personality would dominate all ; where his wishes, insidiously injected into the body politic, would ulti- mately become law; where he would be lord and king. In short, New- brough was of that type of man commonly regarded in these days as a mountebank.
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A clearer conception of the brilliant schemes which were being evolved in the fertile brain of this man of expedients may be gleaned by a study of a noteworthy literary production, the authorship of which he modestly acknowledged, though its source he admitted to have been "in- spired." This work, which the writer has examined, is one of the most novel literary creations of the age. It is called by the "instrument" through which it was written :
"OAHSPE; A New Bible, in the words of Jehovah and his Angel Embassadors. A sacred history of the dominions of the higher and lower heavens on the earth for the past twenty-four thousand years, together with a synopsis of the cosmogony of the universe; the creation of the planets ; the creation of man; the unseen worlds; the labor and glory of gods and goddesses in the ethereal heavens. With the new command- ments of Jehovah to man of the present day. With revelations from the second resurrection formed in words in the thirty-third year of the Kosmon era." In the preface to the book it is said of it that "it blows nobody's horn; it makes no leader."
The inspired author of this new revelation evidently was familiar with most of the writings of his earlier predecessors. Having seen in- numerable sects spring up as the result of a "misconstruction, or rather of a diversified construction," of the earlier gospels, the author assures the world that the "Oahspe" presents the "method of proving that in- formation to be true." This new gospel furnishes what its author claims to have considered a plain and unvarnished story of the origin of the Christian Bible. This narrative, in epitome, is as follows :
"Once upon a time" (as fairy tales usually begin) "the world was ruled by a triune composed of Brahma, Buddha and one Looeamong. The devil, entering into the presence of Looeamong, tempted him by showing him what the great power of Brahma and Buddha might accom- plish if combined against him, and induced him to set up a separate king- dom, assuming the new name of Kriste. It came to pass that the followers of Kriste were called Kristeyans.
"Looeamong, now Kriste, through the commander of his forces, Gen- eral Gabriel, captured the opposing gods, together with their entire com- bined command of seven million six hundred thousand angels, and cast them into hell, which already held more than ten million souls who dwelt in chaos and madness. Kriste afterward assembled a number of his most enlightened subjects for the purpose of preparing and adopting a code. At this meeting, according to the 'Oahspe,' there were produced two thousand two hundred and thirty-one books and legendary tales of gods and saviors and great men."
Upon the termination of this great council, which extended over a period of four years and seven months, there had been selected and com- bined much that was good, "worded so as to be well remembered of mortals."
The council, having adopted a code (the Bible), then proceeded to ballot for a god. Thirty-seven candidates for the office entered the field or were put forward by their champions, including Vulcan, Jupiter, Minerva and other well-known gods and goddesses of mythology. On the first ballot Kriste stood twenty-second in the line of preference. The balloting continued one year and five months, at the expiration of which
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time the vote was equally divided among five gods-Kriste, Jove, Mars, Crite and Siva. For seven weeks thereafter each succeeding ballot ex- hibited the same result. At this point in the deadlock, Hataus, who was the chief spokesman for Kriste, or leader of the Kristeyan delegation, proposed to leave the matter of selection to the angels, a plan which was readily accepted by the wornout council. Kriste, who, under his former name of Looeamong, still retained command of the angelic army (for he had prudently declined to surrender the one position until he had been elected to the other), together with his hosts, gave a sign in fire of a cross smeared with blood; whereupon "he was declared elected," and on motion his election was made unanimous.
Following this endeavor to demonstrate that Christianity had its origin in fraud akin to that frequently perpetrated on political undertakings of modern days, the "Oahspe" proceeds to uncover the beanties and sim- plicity of the new faith. It describes the birth of Confucius and the rise of Confucianism, the foundation of Mohammedanism, the discovery of America by Columbus, and finally brings us down to the discovery of the Land of Shalam and the designs of an omniscient power looking toward the settlement of the same.
The description of the location of the Land of Shalam is noteworthy. "Next south," says the "Oalspe," "lay the kingdom of Himalawowoagana- papa, rich in legends of the people who lived here before the flood; a kingdom of seventy cities and six great canals, coursing east and west, and north and south, from the Ghiee mountains in the east to the West mountain, the Yublahahcolaesavaganawakka, the place of the king of bears, the Eeughehabakax. And to the south, to the middle kingdom, on the deserts of Geobiathhaganeganewohwoh, where the rivers empty not into the sea, but sink into the sand, the Sonogallakaxkax, creating prickly Thuazhoogallakhoomma, shaped like a pear. * * * In the high north lay the kingdom of Olegalla, the land of giants, the place of yellow rocks and high-spouting waters. Olegalla it was who gave away his kingdom, the great city of Powafuchswowitchhahavagganeabba, with the four and twenty tributary cities spread along the valley of Anemoosa- goochakakfuela, with the yellow hair, long hanging down."
Many other lands and cities are described, and the author of the "Oahspe" finally leads his "deciples" to a high point of land and shows them a vast system of irrigation. After describing the main irrigation ditch, he continues :
"There were seven other great canals, named after the kings who built them, and they extended across the plains in many directions, but chiefly east and west, "forming a great network throughout the valley of the Rio Grande. "Betwixt the great kings and their great capitals were a thousand canals, crossing the country in every way," so that "the seas of the north were connected with the seas of the south. In Kanoos the people traveled, and carried the productions of the land in every way."
Howland, though for years a careful business man, worth between a quarter and half a million, had become so thoroughly engrossed in the study of spiritual problems that he was probably incapable of clear-cut reasoning. There is little doubt that his intellectual powers had become weakened sufficiently to render him a comparatively easy victim to the wiles of a masterful and crafty personality like that of Newbrough. Vol. I. 33
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Though apparently remaining in full possession of his mental faculties when considering the ordinary affairs of life, let religious subjects be introduced to him and the true state of his mind became instantly ap- parent. His sincerity of purpose was absolute-there is no doubt of that; so, also, appeared his confidence in Newbrough.
Upon his return to Boston after his tour of investigation in the Rio Grande valley, Newbrough divulged to Howland an outline of his project for the redemption of some portion of the wicked world through the foundation of this colony. Describing to him the revelation which he alleged he had received from the supreme power and intelligence, com- municated either directly or through the medium of some of his invisible and intangible emissaries, relative to a land he should people and a new nation he should establish, Newbrough said that he accepted these divine disclosures in the nature of a command. The Lord knew, he continued, that the man he had selected for this monumental undertaking was handi- capped by reason of lack of worldly funds, and had told him that How- land should become the instrument through which the money necessary to the fulfillment of the mandate from on high was to be provided.
The divine plan, roughly outlined, included the purchase of a tract of land "somewhere out west," free from the trammels of modern civil- ization and false religious ideals, and the establishment of a city which should be the centre of a commonwealth in which all were to be equal, as God intended men to be. One of the great features of the plan-and this appears to have appealed irresistibly to the kind heart and humani- tarian instincts of Howland-was to be a home for infants and young children, where the young life could be perfectly nurtured, free from the contaminating influences of the outer world. Finally, the Oahspe was to be the spiritual and moral guide of the community. Some, or all, of these parts of the great plan were the instruments through which Howland was ultimately induced to embark upon the glittering project-not suspecting that the entire scheme might have had its source solely in the brilliant mind of his trusted friend and spiritual adviser.
Though Newbrough had fully determined that the land in the Mesilla valley which he had secured should be the nucleus of the proposed colo- nial venture, he was cautious enough not to disclose this fact to Howland, though there is little doubt that he could have persuaded the latter to enter upon the undertaking, even after having become aware of this pur- chase, or option. His design appears to have been to create a more pro- found impression by proving to Howland that supernatural forces were at work endeavoring to indicate to this master spirit, without spoken or written instructions, just where this modern paradise, neglected and unde- veloped by man, lay.
To this end Newbrough, chiefly by innuendo, appears to have convinced Howland that he had held communion with the angels, and that through them he had received advice, amounting almost to a definite command, to travel toward the setting sun until the promised land should appear ; and that when the locality was reached he would "feel it in his bones" -- if we may be permitted to reduce his mystic words to more easily compre- hended English.
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