THE CAST OF CHARACTERS
Maud Hurt

If any of the Holy Rollers could be said to have been a bit off, it would be Maud Hurt. Twenty-three in 1903, five-foot-two, with jet black hair, large, expressive and deep blue eyes, Maud was said by Salem’s Daily Capitol Journal to be a “comely looking woman” who talked “very intelligently.”

She was also a “very peculiar girl and hard to understand long before the days of Creffieldism”--or so said her father, O. V. Hurt. He had always assumed her odd manner was somehow the result of the severe typhoid and scarlet fevers she had suffered from as a child. No matter, he still adored her. O. V. adored all of his children. His was “a happy family” he said, “of which love was the keystone.”

“My daughter had always been of a very religious turn of mind,” O. V. said, and “whenever a new religion was presented she invariably put all her soul into the teaching.” Religious turn of mind sounded better than religious fanatic--which she clearly was. At the age of eight--the age of eight!--she was already referred to as “a child wonder” at religious work, an “energetic worker at revival meetings, going among the congregations and pleading with friends and acquaintances to seek the salvation so freely offered.”

“Her chief aim was to become as nearly perfect as a Christian could be,” a friend of hers said. And she wasn’t one of those Christians who preached salvation, and then sinned on the side. “All her life Maud Hurt was kindly and generous, with an even temper and a good disposition,” her friend said. Maud took the teachings of Christianity to heart and led a truly Christian life, always helping those in need. For instance, she could often be found in the homes of people who were ill, caring for their children, doing their wash, and helping with other chores.

When she was fourteen she joined the Salvation Army because she believed it would give her more opportunities to perform good works. But soon after meeting Creffield she left the Army because it was “teaching the Bible in a narrow manner” and she didn’t like its methods for collecting donations.

“It is not right to hold ice cream socials and other special gatherings where money is taken,” Creffield had told her. Might as well be holding out a tin cup while quaffing a few at the saloon or hooting at a burlesque show.

Wanting to insure a place on the Holy Roll in Heaven for her family, Maud invited them all to come camping with Creffield. Her father, head salesman at Kline’s Mercantile, stayed at home, but her mother, Sarah Hurt (neé Starr) went, as did her sister, Mae. Mae was sixteen and five years earlier had won a “fine guitar” for having the nation’s second highest sales rate of The War Cry, the Salvation Army’s newspaper.

Maud was engaged to James Berry. James didn’t camp camp with the Holy Rollers, but, mostly out of curiosity, visited frequently. James, twenty-four, the son of a United Brethren minister, was a successful businessman who owned the Bicycle Hospital, a bicycle store and repair shop with the best selection of bicycles in Corvallis. Initially he was rather taken with Creffield’s ideas and lent him money to get his church rolling.

Maud Hurt's Commitment & Asylum Records

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Photos on the right are stills from How the Fire Fell, Edward P. Davee’s movie based on the Holy Rollers.

Most were taken by Destiny Lane.
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Maren McGuire as Maud Hurt

Maren McGuire as Maud Hurt Creffield

Maren McGuire as Maud Hurt Creffield

Maren McGuire as Maud Hurt Creffield

Maren McGuire