Disciples Of Melchizedek

Franz Miller, the hermit of Scarritt's bluff, is an original oíd character, who is living in solitude for the sake of nis own peculiar religión. He calis himself a follower of Melchizedek, the "King of Peace," says the Kansas City World. He was born in Alsace-Lorraine sixty-one years ago. When he was 17 years oíd he carne to the United States and followed the profession of shoemaker uutil the war broke out, when he jolned the Tenth United States infantry regiment at Newport barracks, Kentucky. He fought through the war, and the terrible scènes on the battlefleld led him to thinking. He Imagined he had done wrong, and that repentance would be the only way to salvation. He started to do that by carïying what he called the "black cross" for flfteen years. During this time he was to have no flxed place of abode, to accumulate no property, to make no friends, and to shun mankind. He wandered back and forth across the couatry, and then one night the "spirit" appeared to him while he was walking btween Armourdale and Rosedale. He saw satan, in a great red cloak, standing on the bluff. A moment later the shadow of Melchizedek enveloped him, and Miller knew that he had been promoted to the "red cross" order. He settled down, and ran a shoe shop in Kansas City, near the junction. Then he lived a hermit's life in Ws3ton, Mo., and three years ago he took up nis abode in a cave excavated in the Scarritt bluff. He has lived there since, alone and happy. Sometimes, he says, he earns as much as 15 cents a day by picking rags, and this sum suffices to buy bread and coffee, his chlef articles of sustenance. He says he never begs. The nurses in the Scarritt hospital would provide for him, but he does not accept their hospitality. His aim in life, he says, is to be at peace with the world and atone for his sin in taking part in the war. He never reads the newspapers, because they suggest worldly thoughts to him. If Miller lived in a more civllized way he would be a handsome man. As it is, his iong hair and tangled beard, together with an evident dislike for soap and water, make him look the ideal hermlt.