There were 230 murders reported in the entire United States in 1906. Three of them happened within three months in Seattle. This is an editorial calling for gun control was written after that. It could have just as easily been written today.
Seattle Post Intelligencer 7/13/1906 p6
Too Easy to Get Pistols
Seattle has been shamefully
disgraced before the eyes of the country by three murders within a very few
weeks of each other. Each murder was committed with a pistol.
It is a difficult matter to
regulate, it is true, but it should not be impossible to make it more difficult
than it now is for anyone to purchase deadly weapons.
A person determined to
commit murder doubtless will find the means of accomplishing the crime, but if
it is made difficult for such persons to procure revolvers that class of crime
should become less.
One thing needed is a
mandatory ordinance with heavy penalty, providing that no dealer in firearms
shall sell any weapon to any person without ascertaining that person’s name and
address, which shall at once be reported to the chief of police; and that all
persons purchasing firearms shall also procure a license from the city to have
them their possession. No person desiring to make proper use of firearms can
take serious exceptions to some such precautionary provision. It is practically
impossible to procure deadly poisons at a druggist’s without a reputable
physician’s prescription, or other authorization, and a pistol is as deadly as
any poison. The form and prescription of such an ordinance may be left to the
city’s law officers, but a new ordinance is needed at once.
Chapter of Holy Rollers where these articles are some of the sources:
Chapter 21: Yet Another Page One Murder
***
Articles About Edmund Creffield's Murder
Articles About George Mitchell's Murder
Lewis Hartley's bizarre 1906 Divorce Decree where he openly admits trying to kill Creffield
***
Newspaper Articles about Creffield & the Holy Rollers
1897-1903: B.C. (Before Creffield)
October to December 1903:Holy Rollers Burn Furniture & Pets
January to March, 1904: Holy Rollers Tarred and Feathered
April to June 1904: Holy Rollers are Committed to the Asylum
July 1904: Creffield is Found & Arrested
September 1904: Creffield's Trial
April 1906: Men are Gunning For Creffield
May 1906: Creffield is Murdered, Murderer is Considered a Hero
May 1906: Holy Rollers Found Starving Near Heceta Head
June 1906: George Mitchell's Trial Begins
July 1906: Hurt Testifies of Debauched Wife and Debased Sisters
July 1906: Esther Mitchell Kills Her Brother
August to October 1906: Seattle Prepares for another Big Trial
November 1906: Maud Hurt Creffield Commits Suicide
April 1909-August 1914: Esther Leaves the Asylum
1953 Stewart Holbrook's Murder Without Tears
1951Startling Detective Magazine, Nemesis of the Nudist High Priest
***
Chapters from
Holy Rollers: Murder & Madness in Oregon's Love Cult
Part 1: The Seduction
Chapter 1: Trust Me, Brothers And Sisters
(Life Before Creffield [B.C.])
Chapter 2: God, Save Us From Compromising Preachers
(Creffield's Preachings)
Chapter 3: The Flock
(Profiles of the Holy Rollers Were)
Chapter 4: The Holy Rollers
(Things Start to Get Wild on on Kiger Island)
Chapter 5: Housecleaning
(There's a Sacrificial Bonfire)
Chapter 6: Community Concerns
(Officers Visit)
Chapter 7: Esther, The Chosen One
(Creffield Plans to Marry 16-Year- Old)
Chapter 8: Tar and Feathers
(The Men of Corvallis Act)
Chapter 9: Sane People Don’t Go Bareheaded
(Holy Rollers are Committed to the Asylum)
Chapter 10: More Beast Than Man
( Creffield is Arrested)
Chapter 11: God Will Plead Creffield's Case
(Creffield in Court)
Chapter 12: Scandal
(Shocking Testimony at the Trial)
Chapter 13: Calm Before the Storm
(The Holy Rollers Resume their Lives)
Chapter 14: Giving Up The Ghost
(Men are Gunning for Creffield)
Part Two: The People V. Creffield
Chapter 16: The Widow Creffield
Chapter 19: An Inherited Streak of Insanity
Part Three: The Madness
Chapter 23: Seeking Reconciliation
Chapter 24: Another Holy Roller Page One Murder
Chapter 25: What Can Papa Do For You?
Chapter 26: Human Life is Too Cheap In This Community
Chapter 30: The Final Chapter
(What Happened to Everyone Afterwards)
The Epilogue
(Heaven's Gate)