Ted Riccardi - Between the Thames and the Tiber

“This case has haunted me for over thirty years,” he began, “ever since the beginnin’ of my career. I had joined the Union Army when I was eighteen and after service for two years, the Civil War ended, and I was discharged. I then joined the New Mexico police and was assigned then to Las Cruces, a growin’ town in the south of the territory. Lawlessness was rampant. Gangs of outlaws and Indians—mainly Apaches and Comanches—preyed upon the new settlers who came looking to set up small farms and ranches. I was given an area north of the town to patrol, one that had been recently cleaned out of outlaws by the army from Fort Union. So it was pretty peaceful when I began. I rode all day ’cause I liked to be in the saddle, and I stopped at all the new homesteads, makin’ sure that all were happy and content. For three months the work went pretty well. Except for some big family rows, all that I had to contend with was pretty petty.

“One mornin’—must have been now almost thirty years ago—I was ridin’ on some land that belonged to a local rancher named Juan Archuleta. Juan was a friend of mine, about my age—we had grown up together—and he had recently set up a small ranch with a few cattle, no more’n a few hundred head. Because some of his cattle had disappeared as soon as he brought them there, he decided to fence them in. But then he found that the fences had been cut in several places and his cattle run off. After talkin’ it over with him, I decided to inspect the fences myself. Somebody, it seemed, was up to no good. Maybe I could find out who it was.

“I remember that it was the worst weather that anyone could remember. The old timers, both gringos and Mexicans as well as Indians, couldn’t recall a drier spring. It was in fact a drought, the worst in fifty years, they said. There had been no rain for six months, and the melt from the mountain snows was too little to help. It was the month of June, and the water holes and ponds were dryin’ up every where. The grass was brown and dead. I remember thinkin’ that it looked like winter when everythin’ dies, only it was hot, the sun without mercy.

“Anyway, it was about nine in the mornin’ when I set out to check Juan’s fences. I rode for about two hours into the desert. The fences in several places had indeed been cut, not broken, and I saw the tracks of several horses mixed with those of the cattle. Their trail led far to the west. I followed it for a time, then decided that, rather than follow it alone, I would return for help. We had been told at headquarters that there was a good chance that the Beaumont gang, led by Nick Beaumont and Ronald Kincaid, were up from El Paso and rustlin’ all the cattle they could find. Rather than try to take them on alone, I took a shortcut to the southwest back to Las Cruces.

“Then, what happens so often in New Mexico happened. The blue sky suddenly began to disappear and black clouds rolled in on the first cool winds in months. Flashes of lightnin’ lit up the whole sky and there was the loudest thunder I ever heard. I decided to head for cover. In the distance I saw a rocky ridge where I thought I might find shelter. I got my horse to run like the wind and lucky for me, for suddenly we were hit, my horse and I, with huge hailstones that fell everywhere just as we reached the ridge, I mean that hail was somethin’ else again.”

Vasquez stopped for a moment and sipped his tea. “And here, Sherlock, begins the mystery that has been with me since.”

“Pray, continue, Eusebio, we are the willing captives of this drama.”

“Indeed,” said I, mesmerized by our guest and his tale.

“As I approached the ridge, I noticed that it was riddled with small caves, none of which appeared to be very deep but any one sufficient to keep my horse and I out of the storm. I reached the ridge just as the rains poured down on us at their heaviest. I dismounted and led my horse into the nearest cave. We gazed at the rain as it became a torrent, and I thanked the good Lord for this shelter. I sat down near the entrance just out of the rain and took my pistol out of its holster. For I knew from experience that these caves, the likes of which you can find all over New Mexico, often served as dens for a variety of varmints—especially mountain cats, coyotes, and rattlesnakes. I tried to peer into the darkness, but the sky had been too bright and my eyes saw nothin’. I took a drink of water from my flask and held it out in the rain to fill it. As the rain slowed, a cool breeze blew into the cave, and I fell asleep for a time, exhausted by my desperate ride to safety.

“When I awoke, the rains had stopped, and except for a wet spot here or there, you’d never have known that it had rained. They say that water is drier in New Mexico, and maybe it’s so, for you would never have known that there had been such a downpour. The sun told me that it was near four o’clock. I turned toward the inside of the cave. It was about twenty feet deep and I could now see to the back of it. I got up and started to explore it. It was then that I saw, in a far corner, the figure of a man on his knees, his hands tied behind his back to a post. I went over and realized that the shape of a man was all that was left. There was nothing there but skull and bones and the clothes that covered them. He had been shot several times through the head. The skeleton wore the black vestments of a priest. From around his neck hung a gold crucifix and there was a silver ring on the fourth finger of the left hand. From the hands hung a rosary. I noted at the time, and will show you at the appropriate moment, that the rosary was a bit peculiar. The beads appeared not to be made out of glass or metal as usual, but out of some sort of seed or small round pieces of wood. The holes in the skull were the only marks of violence on the remains. But despite the lack of distinguishin’ marks, I realized that I had come upon the corpse of a person who had long before disappeared and whose whereabouts for several years had been unknown. I knew then that I had found the remains of the Italian ascetic and hermit Giovanni Agostini, once a celebrated figure in New Mexico. He had lived on a mountain called Tecolote and such had been his influence among the local people that they changed its name to Hermit’s Peak.

“I left the dead priest where I found him, and returned to report on what I had discovered on my trip. The following day four of us returned to the scene, carefully placed the remains in a rough coffin and returned with them to Las Cruces. An official report, issued after a thorough investigation, declared that indeed Agostini’s remains had been finally found. He had been murdered by assailants unknown. His remains were interred in the cemetery at the great cathedral in Albuquerque. People came from everywhere to show their respect.

“It was just after the funeral ceremony that a very well-to-do gentleman came up to me and said that he wished to speak with me about the deceased. We entered the church and sat down in one of the back pews. He introduced himself as Carlos Romero of Las Vegas, New Mexico. He said that he was the person who had originally brought Father Agostini to the southwest. He had met him on a ship that they both had boarded in Marseilles, bound for Baltimore and New York. He spoke good English. He was impressed with the priest, who told him he wished to spend time alone in spiritual practise. He invited him to his home, and the priest accepted. His ranch, called El Porbenir, was near a suitable mountain—he had climbed it himself many times—and it was from his house that the priest had gone to climb the mountain where he had stayed for several years. He became in a short time a popular figure in the area, known as a miracle worker, and the local people began makin’ the long climb to where the priest stayed. He had found a cave, where he practised his meditation, and he had learned to live off the plants that he found growin’ wild at the summit.