THE CAST OF CHARACTERS

The Mitchell Siblings, George, Perry, Fred & Phoebe

George Mitchell, eighteen in 1903, had doted on his youngest sister, Esther, since their mother had died in 1894 and their father had abandoned them.

After Esther joined the Holy Rollers and told him and his brother, Perry, that they were her brothers “in name only,” George was devastated. “I had my own living to make,” he said, “and you can’t make enough in a lumber mill or a lath factory to give up all your time to such things”--such things as pleading with your bright but deranged sister. He couldn’t eat or sleep. Perry, twenty, told him that if he didn’t quit worrying about Esther, he, “would soon be as nutty as the Holy Rollers” … or his older brother Fred.

Fred, twenty-three in 1903, started acting even more strangely than usual his friends said. He rambled on almost non-stop about God, and then, for no apparent reason, resigned as a motorman for City & Suburban.

The next morning the chambermaid at the Merchants’ Hotel in Portland where Fred was staying, found him lying in a pool of blood, moaning, “I want to die.” He had shot himself in the head with a revolver three or four hours before. The ball went through his scalp and lodged itself under the skin. Fred then fired a shot under his left breast. That ball went under his heart and through his chest.

Asked why he had attempted suicide, Fred spat out, “None of your business. Attend to your own affairs. I’ve troubles of my own.” He was taken to the Good Samaritan Hospital, where it was assumed he would die. But he didn’t.

Phoebe Mitchell signed the papers to have her sister, Esther, committed to the Boys’ and Girls’ Aid Society. Phoebe, twenty-eight in 1903, had followed in her father’s footsteps and joined the Salvation Army and was a Sergeant-Major. Except for field officers, she held the highest position in Portland’s corps.

***

The stills are from How the Fire Fell, Edward P. Davee’s movie based on the book Holy Rollers: Murder and Madness in Oregon's Love Cult.

Most were taken by Destiny Lane.

***

Ed Vilderman, Erin McGarry, Tim Crabtree and Jason Haines as Fred, Phoebe, Perry and George Mitchell

The Cast of Characters

Photos & Bios

Edmund Creffield

The Hurts

Maud Hurt

Esther Mitchell

George Mitchell

Donna & Burgess Starr

Frank & Mollie Hurt

Attie Bray & Rose Seeley

Sophie, Cora & Lewis Hartley

The Police & Lawyers

Trailers for How The Fire Fell

Destiny Lane Photography

Edward P. Davee, Director of How the Fire Fell

Holy Roller Family Trees