Durango [Colorado] Herald-Democrat, Saturday, 25 June 1938, p. 1

BODY FOUND IN SAN JUAN RIVER MAY BE MISSING LOCAL MAN
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Decayed Corpse Found In San Juan River Is Believed to Be That of Charlie Rosecrans Who Disappeared From Durango May 24; No Foul Play Indicated.

      Sheriff John D. Graves of San Juan county, N. M., believes the body of a man which he pulled from the San Juan river Friday afternoon may be that of Charlie Rosecrans, Durango carpenter who has been missing since May 24.
      Positive identification by the sheriff was not possible, he said, because of the decayed condition of the corpse and the lack of clothing on the body.  However, Graves said there was a truss on the body when found, and Rosecrans is said to have purchased such a brace shortly before he disappeared.
      According to the San Juan county sheriff, the body had been discovered in the river at least 10 days ago by Navajo Indians who were afraid to report the finding.  They, however, told an “educated” Navajo and he finally reported to the sheriff.
      Heading a party from Aztec, Sheriff Graves Friday afternoon drove to the spot about five miles west of the “hogback” between Farmington and Shiprock, and removed the body from the river.  Graves said the body was lodged in a big cottonwood tree which had toppled into the river and floated down.  Behind the corpse a bunch of driftwood had piled up, so that the body could not have broken away from its resting place.
      Upon examination at a Farmington mortuary, it was found that the top of the head had been lacerated to the extent that nothing but the scalp remained.  The sheriff said it was not possible to determine whether foul play had caused the man’s death.
      Undersheriff Clarence C. Handley and relatives of the missing Durango man drove to Farmington late this morning to examine the body for identification purposes.

Durango [Colorado] Herald-Democrat, Saturday, 25 June 1938, p. 1

AUTOPSY REVEALS NO FOUL PLAY IN ROSECRANS DEATH
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      Montezuma County Coroner J. W. Ertel said this afternoon that the autopsy performed on the body of Charles Rosecrans, Durango carpenter, this morning revealed no signs of foul play.  The only finding was that Rosecrans met his death by drowning.
      The autopsy was performed by Dr. E. E. Johnson at Cortez, on the request of Assistant District Attorney E. Ellison Hatfield.
      The body of Rosecrans was found Friday afternoon by Sheriff John D. Graves of Aztec after some Navajo Indians had disclosed its location in the San Juan River, some 70 miles from Durango.  The accepted theory is that Rosecrans fell into the Animas river on May 24.

Durango [Colorado] Herald-Democrat, Tuesday, 28 June 1938, p. 1

CHARLES L. ROSECRANS.

      Funeral services for Charles L. Rosecrans, of Durango, who passed away May 24, were held at Cortez Monday afternoon, from the Ertel mortuary.  Interment was in the Cortez cemetery.
      Charles Lamerton Rosecrans was born July 11, 1869, at Eldora [sic.], Iowa.  When 18 years old, he went from McCook, Nebr., to Texas, working in Texas and Oklahoma for several years.  In January of 1896 he was married to Mary Alice Rhine of Oklahoma City.  To that union three children were born.  Mrs. Rosecrans died in November, 1904.
      On Feb. 1, 1906, he was married to Ida May Butler of Welston, Okla.  Two sons were born to this union.  The family lived in Cortez for some time, where Mr. Rosecrans operated a hotel.  After a two-year stay in California, he returned to Cortez and bought and subdivided the Rosecrans addition, which he later sold.
      The past 10 years he had lived in Durango, where he was employed by the Federal Lumber company.
      He is survived by two daughters, Mrs. Opal Mayn, of Durango, and Mrs. Verna Horn of Winfield, Kans.; one son, Carl B. Rosecrans, of Cortez; three brothers, one of St. Joseph, Mo., E. A. Rosecrans of Pratt, Kans., and E. G. Rosecrans, of Augusta, Kans.

Return to Mary Alice Rhine bio page.

Cortez [Colorado] Sentinel, Thursday, 30 June 1938, p. 1

Body of C. L. Rosecrans Found in San Juan River
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Body is Recovered After Navajo Indian Reports Seeing it Lodged on Hogback Dam
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DISAPPEARED IN MAY

      The body of C. L. Rosecrans, formerly of Cortez and late of Durango, was recovered from the San Juan river in New Mexico last Friday evening.  His body was found after a Nevajo [sic.] Indian had told of seeing the body lodged on the diversion dam at the Hogback.
      It developed that the Indian had seen the body there ten days before but had been superstitious and failed to report it.  Later he divulged the information to an educated Navajo who notified authorities who conducted the search, finding the body about a half mile below the dam in an eddy.
      The body was badly decomposed, but by the teeth and an abdominal truss, daughters of the deceased were able to identify the body as that of their father.  It was moved to Cortez by the Ertel Funeral Home Saturday.  Sunday an autopsy was performed.  This failed to reveal that death had resulted from other than drowning.  Funeral services were held Monday with burial at Cortez, Rev. Cooke officiating.
      Charles Rosencrans disappeared from his home at Durango, on the bank of the Animas river, the latter part of May.  It was several days later that his family learned he was missing.  A search was conducted along the Animas river for the body, but without results.  It was felt from the start that Mr. Rosecrans had met death in the river, having either fell in or been thrown in.  With almost a month gone, hope was practically abandoned that the body would ever be found.  It was felt that it had drifted into the San Juan river and was probably covered with quicksands.
      Mr. Rosecrans was a resident of Cortez for many years.  He was a good citizen and a builder.  The Rosecrans addition to the town of Cortez is the result of his progressiveness.  He was a man universally respected and final solution of his tragic death casts a pall of sorrow over this community.  Monday, friends of long standing paid their last respects by attending the funeral services here.
      Charlie Lamerton (Pop) Rosecrans was born July 11, 1869, at Eldorn [sic.], Iowa, and he had lived in nine states west of the Mississippi.  At about the age of 18 he moved from McCook, Nebraska, to Yuma, Colorado, where his father entered the mercantile business.  From here he went to Pan Handle, Texas, riding the range for a few years.  Going to Oklahoma on the opening of the Wick-a-poo [sic.] strip, he settled at Welston, near Oklahoma City.  Here he became the first city marshal.
      In January 1896, he married Mary Alice Rhine of that city at Chandler, Oklahoma.  In 1899 he moved with his family to Paonia, Colorado, where he helped in the building of this new town.  In November, 1904, his wife passed away, leaving to his care three small children.  With these children he returned to Oklahoma where the youngest, a boy, Lloyd Landon, passed away, May 1905.
      In February, 1906, he was married to Ida May Butler of Welston.  He again returned to Paonia where two boys were born.  The oldest, Theron B., passed away at seven months of age.
      In the fall of 1910, Mr. Rosecrans moved to Cortez where he had purchased property a few years before.  Here he became Superintendent of construction for the Montezuma Valley Irrigation company, a position he held until the company changed hands in 1920.  In December, 1920, he purchased the Parker Hotel which he ran for five years, and where he installed the first electric lights and steam heat in Cortez.  Selling this property, he decided to try his lot in California, as was the popular thing at that time.  There, he purchased an apartment house at Rialto.  His wife continued to run this for some time.  But not caring for California, Mr. Rosecrans returned to Cortez in less than two years.
      On his return he started the construction of what is known as the Rosecrans addition to Cortez.  In recent years he disposed of these residence houses, keeping only one small home and workshop for himself.  In the last ten years he did quite a lot of construction in and around Durango, making his home there the last two years because of steady employment at the Federal Lumber Company.
      While not a member of a fraternal organization at the time of his death, he maintained a membership in the Modern Woodman for more than 30 years, the I. O. O. F. for some time, and a few years the local chapter of B. P. O. E. in Durango.
      Mrs. Rosecrans passed away at Cortez after an auto accident in 1930.
      Mr. Rosecrans is survived by three brothers:  the eldest a retired commission merchant at St. Joseph, Missouri; E. A. Rosecrans, a lumberman of Augusta, Kansas; two daughters, Opal Mayn of Durango, and Verna Horn of Winfield, Kansas; one son, Carl B. Rosecrans of Cortez; and nine grandchildren.