Saturday, December 6, 2008

Journalist finds danger, love in Isleta

La Historia del Rio Abajo is a monthly column about Valencia County history written by members of the Valencia County Historical Society. It is now in its 10th year, without interruption.

This month's author is a professor of history at the University of New Mexico-Valencia Campus, vice president of the Valencia County Historical Society and president of the Historical Society of New Mexico.

The second in a two-part series, this month's column is largely based on Charles Lummis' journals and memoirs, housed in the Braun Research Library at the Southwest Museum in Pasadena, Calif. Sixteen reels of Lummis' journals are also housed in the University of New Mexico-Valencia Campus library. The best biography on Lummis is Mark Thompson's "American Character" (2001). Other valuable works include Patrick and Betsy Houlihan's "Lummis in the Pueblos" (1986) and an unpublished manuscript by Ted Jojola, "Charles F. Lummis and Isleta Pueblo," found in the Southwest Museum.

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Opinions expressed in this and all columns of La Historia del Rio Abajo are the author's alone and not necessarily those of the Valencia County Historical Society or any other group or individual. Those who wish to comment on this or any column are encouraged to contact the author at rmelzer@unm.edu.

Last week's edition of La Historia del Rio Abajo told of journalist Charles Lummis' first visit to Isleta in 1884. Three years later, he arrived in San Mateo, N.M., as he attempted to recover from a stoke that had left his left arm paralyzed in Los Angeles, Calif.

Fearing for his life after alienating corrupt political leaders in western Valencia County, Lummis had prudently left San Mateo and taken up residence in Isleta by late 1888. The journalist endeared himself to most residents of the pueblo by his generosity, his sincere interest in Indian culture, his acceptance by the influential Abeita family and his assistance in rescuing three dozen Isleta children from the Albuquerque Indian School.

Lummis had settled into his new home and surroundings when his past suddenly caught up with him in a life-threatening event.

Accustomed to writing late into the night, Lummis had left his room for a breath of fresh air at about 1 a.m. on Feb. 14, 1889. While Lummis stood near his door, a lone assassin shot from behind a low adobe wall about 20 yards away.

Wounded in his hand, scalp and cheek, the ambushed victim fell to the ground. Struggling to his feet, Lummis tried to pursue his attacker, but collapsed after a short distance.

Hearing the gun shot, Lummis' neighbors rushed outside and carried their wounded friend to his room. Lummis almost died from a loss of blood. Only a small book of poetry in his shirt pocket had stopped the potentially lethal buckshot's path to his heart.

Lummis' would-be assassin was never discovered, no less arrested and brought to justice. But most agreed that the powerful leaders Lummis had alienated in San Mateo were behind the violence that nearly took the writer's life. Some suspected that the shooter had been brought all the way from Mexico to commit the crime.

Lummis refused to go to Albuquerque for medical attention, preferring the care of his friends in Isleta. He received particular attention from a young woman who had come to teach at the village's day school while living with her sister and brother-in-law, who operated a local trading post.

Twelve years Lummis' junior, Eva "Eve" Frances Douglas of Lime Rock, Conn., was nevertheless attracted by his kindness and talents. Although still married to his first wife, Dorothea, who lived in Los Angeles, Lummis reciprocated Eve's attention. It came as no surprise when Lummis divorced Dorothea and announced his engagement to Eve.

The couple married on March 27, 1891. Ten days later Lummis wrote in his diary, "Estoy enteramente feliz por la primera vez." ("I am entirely happy for the first time.")

The newlyweds set up housekeeping in two rooms Lummis rented from the Abeitas and remodeled for his bride. With little income, they hardly had enough for their next meal. But they did not seem to mind. As Lummis later wrote, "The less Eve and I had, the more we valued."

A new part-time job as Isleta's postmaster and compensation for his poems and articles, published in various magazines and newspapers, helped the couple survive.

To supplement their earnings, "Charlie" and Eve sold thousands of the photographs Lummis had taken in New Mexico, including in Isleta. They also sold Indian handicrafts to a curio dealer in Los Angeles.

Lummis valued not only his new marriage, but also the many lasting friendships he made in New Mexico. His circle of friends widened to include Isleta's French priest, Father Anton Docher, the Hunings of Los Lunas and the most famous anthropologist in New Mexico history, Adolph Bandelier. Lummis visited these and other New Mexicans for days at a time.

Despite the paralysis in his left arm, Lummis enjoyed many outdoor activities. He rode his favorite horse, hunted, trapped, fished and even rolled his own cigarettes with his good right hand. He often hiked for miles, carrying his heavy camera and other photographic equipment.

It was after one such trip with Eve that "the great thing happened" on July 5, 1891. With Eve kneeling beside him, Lummis began stroking her hair--with his formerly paralyzed left hand.

The couple and their friends were overcome with joy. Many in Isleta were convinced that Lummis must have paid a bruja (witch) because he had healed so suddenly.

A second "great thing" happened to the Lummis family a year later when Charles and Eve's first child was born on June 8, 1892. They named the infant girl Dorothea, after Charles' first wife. Neighbors brought gifts of silver, pottery, calico and chocolate.

Doña Marcelina Abeita asked to be the child's madrina (godmother), an offer the new parents accepted readily. In Isleta a madrina fasted for four days while she prayed to be shown her godchild's true Indian name. On the fifth day, the godmother would rise and watch for a sign to indicate what the child's name should be.

After praying for four days, Doña Marcelina awoke on her fifth day of fasting and, seeing the sun rise over the Manzano Mountains, decided that Charles and Eve's daughter should be named Turbesé, meaning sunburst or "sun halo."

Meanwhile, the newborn's father had a large responsibility of his own. A father had to be sure to keep the fire in his fireplace burning for four days and nights. The Isleta Indians believed that if a father let his fire die out at any time in these four days and nights, his child would die before his or her first birthday.

Lummis successfully kept his fire burning all four days and nights. Turbesé survived her first year and, in fact, lived an additional 74.

Eight years after his first visit to Isleta in 1884 and four years after he had first made it his home in 1888, Charles Lummis left the pueblo on Oct. 2, 1892. Lummis had accepted an offer to accompany Adolph Bandelier on an archeological expedition to Bolivia and Peru. Ever the adventurer, Lummis traveled with Bandelier for nearly a year.

Lummis never returned to Isleta to live, but remained in touch with many of his former vecinos (neighbors). After returning from South America and settling with his family in Los Angeles, he was strained by two tragic events.

First, traditionalists at Isleta resented Lummis' inclusion of their ancient stories in his many books and articles. They had shared these stories with a trusted friend in the privacy of their adobe homes. They even accused Lummis of violating their sacred trust.

As a result, several of Lummis' sources in Isleta were summoned by the pueblo's council to explain their indiscretions. Largely based on its experience with Lummis, the council no longer permitted outsiders to rent rooms in the pueblo.

Great tragedy also struck when an older house servant at El Alisal murdered a youth from Isleta named Procopio in August 1907. The two men had been good friends, but violence ensued following a brief argument. The older man, francisco Amate, never forgave himself for Procopio's death; Amate soon died of stomach cancer.

Few Isletans came to work for Lummis after Procopio's murder. and Lummis did not return to Isleta for many years.

Working as an editor, librarian and author, Lummis became nationally famous, although his life was marred with controversy, including a bitter divorce from Eve in 1912 and a disastrous third marriage, to Gertrude Redit, that began in 1915 and ended in 1923.

But Lummis renewed his ties to Isleta late in his life, visiting the pueblo in 1919 and staying in the community for short periods on his last two visits to New Mexico, in 1926 and 1927. As Lummis wrote to his old friend Amado Chaves, "Every year makes Los Angeles crazier and more crowded, but New Mexico is a bit of God's Grace in making a land so spacious (and so dry) that the hand of man shall never destroy it, nor much disfigure."

Lummis' escape from California's craziness in 1927 was to be his last. Diagnosed with brain cancer in November 1927, doctors told him that he had less than a year to live.

His health grew steadily worse. Lummis' friends in Isleta and throughout New Mexico learned the sad news of his death on Nov. 25, 1928. He was 69 years old.

Years later, old wounds had healed and mostly fond memories of Lummis at Isleta remained. Pablo Abeita summarized Lummis' life in the pueblo, writing, "He was so well liked here that he was allowed to set his camera any place he chose. No man can write enough of his good standing in the pueblo of Isleta, and I say elsewhere too."

Charles Lummis could not have asked for a finer epitaph by the people he loved and admired most in the Rio Abajo.

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