Creffield and the Holy Rollers made page one headlines from 1903 to 1907. When I was researching Holy Rollers: Murder and Madness in Oregon’s Love Cult I spent months transcribing hundreds of articles. I’m not sure why I was so obsessive. Maybe it was my way of immersing my self into a cult without joining one. Anyway, I’m posting them all for those who are really interested in the story, or are interested the history of journalism, or are interested in how a scandalous story played out in the "media" in a by gone era. Since I no doubt made typos and unconsciously corrected papers' typos, these web pages should not be cited in anything serious (e.g. your dissertation). For such projects they should only be used as starting points and you should refer to the original sources. If you want a shorter version of the story, buy my book. Enjoy.
August 9, 1904: No Flowers For Creffield
Brighid Thomas & Maren McGuire as
Esther Mitchell & Maud Hurt Creffield
Oregon Daily Journal (Portland) 8/9/1904 p2
No Flowers For “Apostle” Creffield
Up to date no women have
called at the county jail with flowers and expressions of sympathy for Edmund
Creffield, self-styled “Joshua,” the high Holy Roller apostle, but one woman
has written him from Montana asserting that while she had been ignorant of the
fact for a long time, she believes she holds to the Holy roller doctrine and
asking for an expression of his views. The apostle is now preparing a concise
exposition of his doctrine for the woman.
He received a communication
this morning from J. Nowak of McMinnville containing a dissertation on the “New
Age.” According to Nowak, the “New Age” is a great spiritual wave, passing over
this earth, sweeping away dogmas, creeds, superstition, selfishness, fear,
prejudice, narrowness.
Creffield divides his time
between reading letters and the Bible. He is cheerful and apparently does not
mind his environment.
Evening Telegram (Portland) Wed 8/10/1904 p14
No One Visits Edmund Creffield
Religious Teacher, With Wide Acquaintance, Is
Forsaken
Once prominent in the
Salvation Army, having many followers in a creed of his own manufacture, and
being generally known throughout the Pacific Northwest, Edmund Creffield, the
leader of the Holy Rollers, is not visited in jail.
Why is it that this man who
has such a wide acquaintance has no friends?
Such is the question being
asked by the county officials at the Sheriff’s office and at the County Jail. Jailer
Grafton is extremely surprised to find that no one calls on him. During the
time he has been in the County Jail--nearly three weeks--he has had but two
callers. The first one was O. V. Hurt, of Corvallis, who took compassion on his
son-in-law, and carried him a Bible the second day he was confined in his cold
cell, much more comfortable, however, than the hole in which he lay for nearly
three months. The other man was an officer in the Salvation Army who called
upon the weakened leader, partly because of pity and partly because of
curiosity.
If any one would call upon
him, the officials think it would probably be some of his followers. But, alas,
it appears that Creffield has no longer any one to lead, as his flock is
broken. Some of his former followers, the young members, have deserted his
religion and now worship with their mothers. These are the young girls who were
sent to the Boys’; and Girls’ Home. For a while the children hung tenaciously
to his creed, but after they had been at the home for awhile they were glad to
follow the religion taught by the officials. They were young, and gradually
grew out of the belief that had been fixed upon their minds by the strange
teachings of their leader, Edmund Creffield, who at that time held his
followers by some strong strange power.
Others have been sent to the
asylum, from where they will probably never return. Creffield seems to have
fallen in the minds of the better class of people, until there is no one to go
and see him.
Evening Telegram (Portland) 8/11/1904
All Victims Of Religion
Creffield Declares His Followers Are Being
Persecuted. Those in Asylum Are Not Crazy, but They Are Misunderstood.
(In a box)
I do not believe it possible
that the followers of Edmund Creffield were hypnotized by him. It was
suggestion rather than hypnotism--the influence of a strong mind over those
mentally weak or susceptible to fanaticism which has caused all the trouble. Just
what manner of man Creffield himself is I do not know, having never met
him.--Dr. Andrew C. Smith, president of the Oregon State Board of Health and
Northern Pacific physician.
---
“My people are being
persecuted: they have been unjustly imprisoned in asylums for the insane,”
responded Creffield, in deep German accents to a question asked him for The
Evening Telegram. They were not given fair trials, and the physicians who
examined them for their sanity were not competent to judge. It is persecution,
20th century persecution, if you will, but persecution just the same. They are
as sane as I am,” and the latest prophet and propounder of new religion the
world has seen turned back to his cell from which he emerged at the call of the
jailer to talk to a reporter.
The change in Creffield’s
personal appearance since he came to Portland is great. He has been shorn of
the long whiskers which adorned his face when captured, his head has been
carefully barbered, and he had just emerged from a bath when he gave out the
above statement. His eye has lost none of its brightness, and he still
impresses those whom he meets with that something indefinably mysterious, which
has since he became known as the leader of the “Holy Rollers,” marked him as a
man apart from his fellow-beings and of an almost different sphere.
“PROPHET” WAS “KANGAROOED
Although “kangarooed” by his
fellow prisoners when he entered the jail to await trial on the charge of
adultery, Creffield has inspired a feeling of mixed respect and jocoseness
among them. He is seldom molested, and spends much of his time in reading the
Bible.
He is still in communication
with those of his followers who have escaped the clutches of the law by reason
of their saner actions, if the letter written yesterday by him to a Mrs. Perry
at Gresham, Or., has been allowed to go to its destination by the county
officials. The contents of the letter were not revealed to anybody but the jail
officials, and they refuse to divulge them.
CREFFIELD’S COMMANDMENTS
It contains, however, the ten
articles of his faith. Christ gave to the world ten commandments, and now the
latest propounder of religion, either by accident or design, sends out to those
who suffer for him in silence, or for ought known, continue to practice in
secret the tenets of the new faith, ten articles, embodying the principles of
his religion and explaining what is necessary to become a true follower of the “faith.”
What manner of man Creffield
is nobody really knows. He is called by some of the jailers “the biggest faker
on earth,” and this opinion is shared by many others. There are many who claim
Creffield to be insane along one line and perfectly rational in all others. what
the line of his insanity specialty consists of, nobody has attempted to
explain, but that his queer religion is the result of it is confidently
asserted. Creffield himself denies he is insane; says with conviction that at
the right time the Lord will liberate him, and that he fears not the least the
result of his trial. That he looks upon it as one of the persecutions heaped
upon him to try him as though by fire, there is hardly a doubt.
YET HE IS HUMAN
Yet there is ever present, as
he is watched, that something which, besides being mysterious, gives the keen
observer of human nature and inkling that if the veil were lifted Creffield
would stand revealed as a man as human as the average man of today.
On account of his peculiar
position in the world, the feeling he has inspired in those who see him daily,
and his physical condition, as well as his inclination, he is not put to work,
but is allowed to remain in peace and quiet in his cell. He seldom talks to
visitors, of whom he has had but few--newspaper men and officer of the
Salvation Army.
He rises at 6:30 o’clock in
the morning to partake but lightly of the prison fare, consisting of potatoes,
beef, gravy and coffee for breakfast. During the morning hours he assists in
caring for his cell and reads his Bible. Rarely does he say a word to anybody,
but Jailer Grafton, to whom he has talked more than to any other person since
his capture and incarceration. Jailer Grafton today is probably “closer” to
Creffield than anybody except his followers. To him was confided the letter
Creffield wrote to Mrs. Perry, of Gresham, and to him Creffield has explained
his religion.
PHYSICAL CHANGE GREAT
At noon Creffield, like other
prisoners, is given a light lunch of tea and bread. In the afternoon he
continues reading his Bible, and in the evening he eats a supper composed of
pork and beans and coffee. Regular meals, plain food and plenty of sleep and
rest have wrought a wonderful change in the man, who was taken into the jail
ragged, emaciated, with a head covered with long, unkempt hair and beard, a man
so weak it was necessary to carry him.
“I am feeling all right now,
and will be myself again in a week or so,” he quietly replied to a question
asked him. A peculiar smile expanded slowly across his face as he made the
remark, and without another word he walked into his cell, passing from view of
the inquisitive eyes without.
Corvallis Gazette 8/12/1904 p3
Now that it transpires that
Creffield got his Holy Roller Start in Salem under the eaves of the Journal,
the Democrat takes back everything it has ever said about Corvallis being the
Holy Roller City.
Chapter of Holy Rollers where these articles are some of the sources:
Chapter 11: God Will Plead Creffield's Case
***
August 6, 1904: Creffield Believes in Satan and Eternal Punishment
August 13, 1904: The Holy Rollers And The Man Who Made Them
***
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)