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.

September 21, 1904: Holy Rollers go in and Out of the Asylum

 

Oregon AsylumCorvallis Times 9/21/1904 p3

--Mrs. O. V. Hurt was brought from the asylum Sunday for a week or two at home in the hope that the change may be beneficial. In many respects her condition is improved. In case of continued improvement, she will remain at home.

 

 

Brownsville Times 9/30/1904

Edwin Creffield, the “Holy Roller,” who is serving a two-years sentence in the penitentiary, has been assigned a position in the stove foundry.

 

 

Corvallis Times 10/1/1904 p3

--Mrs. O. V. Hurt was returned to the asylum Wednesday, having been accompanied on the trip by her husband. In some respects her condition is slightly improved, but it was deemed better, on various accounts to take her back to Salem for further treatment.

 

 

Corvallis Gazette 10/4/1904 p3

Mrs. O. V. Hurt was taken back to the asylum at Salem on Wednesday. In some respects her condition is improved, but not as much as was hoped for. For various reasons it was deemed advisable to keep her at the asylum, where she will have good care and special treatment.

 

 

Brownsville Times Fri 10/7/1904 p1

Mrs. O. V. Hurt, the Corvallis victim of Holy Rollerism, has been recommitted to the asylum for the insane at Salem. She is again persisting in doing the insane things which are part of the so-called faith of the followers of Creffield.

 

 

Corvallis Times 10/5/1904 p4

--Mrs. Hartley, one of the unfortunate victims of Creffieldism, disappeared from her home in this city about two o’clock Monday morning. She left a note explaining her purpose not to return. She took along an extra supply of clothing. As soon as she was missed, a search was instituted, and while it was yet in progress at about 10 o’clock that forenoon, she returned home. She had apparently faltered in her purpose, and returned voluntarily.

 

 

Corvallis Gazette 10/7/1904 p5

--Mr. and Mrs. Warren B. Hartley arrived from Bohemia Tuesday, and will remain for a couple of weeks visit with relatives.

--J. K. Berry handles a fine line of guns and ammunition.

--All kinds of repair work done at J. K. Berry’s

 

 

Corvallis Times 10/12/1904 p3

--Maud Hurt has been seriously ill in the asylum at Salem for several days. Her father was called Sunday to the bedside, and has since been in telephonic communication with her physicians. At last accounts she was not improved

.

 

Corvallis Gazette 10/14/1904 p3

O. V. Hurt informs us that while there is no material change in the condition of his daughter, Maud, who is sick in Salem, the physicians regard her condition as somewhat more favorable for her ultimate recovery.

 

Evening Telegram (Portland) Fri 10/14/1904 p12

“Holy Jumper” Has His Wife

California Man Says He Will “Make Some News Soon.”

 

[Telegram Coast Special.]

REDLANDS, Cal., Oct. 14.-- R. B. Hinton arrived in Redlands late yesterday in pursuit of his wife who eloped from Los Angeles in company with a man named Bradford, who is a member of the peculiar sect of religious worshipers known as the “Holy Jumpers.” Hinton’s troubles lead back to last April, when his wife deserted him at Lake Charles, La., to join the “Jumpers.” Hinton tracked he to Los Angeles, and then the couple made peace and lived together for several months.

 

On Tuesday last the woman again ran off with Bradford and came here. Hinton Called at the home of a local “Holy Jumper,” where his wife is stopping, but the door was slammed in his face. For hours afterward he stood in front of the place exhibiting a revolver and swearing vengeance.

 

“I was a fool to let that fellow off with his worthless life when I had him in Los Angeles. He begged so hard for his life that I let him go. I’ll make some news this time,” he said.

 

 

Corvallis Times 10/22/1904

--Maud Hurt is seriously ill in the asylum at Salem. Telephonic word from the bedside to her father Thursday was to the effect that she is not yet out of danger.

 

 

Corvallis Times 11/19/1904

For Cement Sidewalks

And Crossings--No More wooden Walks to be Built in Certain Limits if Ordinance Passes.

 

If an ordinance now pending in the city council becomes law no more wooden sidewalks can be constructed within a large area in Corvallis. The ordinance prescribes the materials to be used, both in sidewalks and crossings shall be of Portland cement, sand and gravel of the usual proportions. On Main Street they are to be ten feet wide and on others five and six feet in width. It is understood that the walks around the Farra residence were taken as a mode. The latter are six feet wide on the north side and five on the west. The cost is said to have been $55 for 100 feet of the five-foot walk and $66 per hundred feet for the walk six feet in width.

 

The pending ordinance fixes limits in which the cement pavements are to be used for all renewals, as follows: Beginning at the blacksmith shop east across the street from Wade’s store and thence north on the east side of Main to the corner diagonally across the street from the old Salvation Army Hall, thence west to the J. H. Simpson residence, thence south to Mrs. Burnett’s residence, thence west to the college grounds, thence south to Jefferson street and east along the south side of Jefferson to the B. W. Wilson corner, thence south a block and east along the south side of Adams to the place of beginning.

 

The ordinance has passed the second reading, and will probably come up for final action at the December meeting of the council.

 

 

Corvallis Times 11/26/1904 p3

--Maud Hurt has about recovered from her late serious illness which covered a period of ten weeks. She is restored in mind and Thursday returned to her home in the city. Other Creffield victims at the asylum are much improved and some of them are expected home shortly.

 

 

Corvallis Gazette 12/2/1904 p5

Frank Hurt is expected home this week, and his wife is expected to arrive next week when they will take up housekeeping in Corvallis.

 

 

Corvallis Times 12/10/1904 p2

An Ended Chapter

All the Creffield Victims Restored, and all at Home---Hypnotism did it.

 

Mrs. Frank Hurt and Miss Attie Bray arrived Thursday from Salem and are now at the Hurt home in this city. All the members of the family are again at the fireside, fully restored in mind, and fast regaining bodily strength. Almost the unanimous testimony of each is that in the present reunion there is apparent awakening from a long nightmare a fact that confirms the view that many have long held, that it was hypnotic influence that was responsible for the manifestations of religious zeal during recent months. Those in best position to know are fully convinced this is the correct theory, and those who passed under its influence and suffered from it, were helpless under the will of a mind that in some way held control of their acts. Such things be in the world, and it is not of the remarkable that the influence suggested is responsible for all that has transpired.

 

Of those recently at Salem, Miss Hartley is the only one left at the hospital, and she is expected home before a very long time. All of the others are fully restored, and the end of the unfortunate chapter is here.

 

 

Corvallis Gazette 12/13/1904 p3

The bridge across the gulch opposite the residence of O. V. Hurt in south Corvallis was re-floored and otherwise strengthened last week.

 

 

Corvallis Times 12/17/1904 p4

--Frank Hurt has been seriously ill with appendicitis for several days. He was somewhat improved yesterday, and his physician hoped that the necessity for an operation had been averted.

 

Corvallis Times 2/4/05 p4

--Mrs. J. H. Worell, who has been visiting her sister, Mrs. Charles Everett, left Wednesday for her home in Portland.

 

 

Morning Oregonian (Portland) 3/13/05 p1

Coated With Tar

Holy Roller at Goldendale Suppressed. Ordered To Leave Town. Former Portland Dentist Rouses Wrath of Public. Wild Exhortations of the Free Lance Preacher Had Also Attracted Many Prominent Citizens in His Meetings.”

 

GOLDENDALE, Wash., March 12.--(Special.) Dr. Kaywood, said to formerly have been a dentist at Portland, Or., now a Holy-Roller preacher who has been holding meetings at the Free Methodist Church, was the recipient of a liberal coat of tar and feathers this evening at 7 o’clock. Just after services had commenced a crowd of about ten young men entered the little church on Broadway Street and took the minister out of his pulpit and hustled him out into the street. There they were met by about 40 more men and the preacher was taken on a swift trot to the bridge on Little Klickitat River.

 

By this time about 100 men and boys had gathered there. The preacher was stripped to the waist and several cans of tar were poured over his shoulders and back. His bald head was also coated and the tar was daubed on his face.

The contents of several sacks containing feathers were then plastered all over him. He was then told that if he did not leave town before 10 o’clock Monday morning he would be lynched.

 

The crowd then left him, but he was soon joined by two members of his flock who escorted him to the residence of I. Hinshaw.

 

The whole affair had been planned so carefully and was executed so quietly that the authorities did not have any chance to act. The preacher went through the ordeal and did not say a word until the job was through with when he said: “Boys, will you allow me to talk to you?”

 

He was promptly informed to shut up or he would be submerged in the icy waters of the Klickitat.

 

The affair has caused great excitement in Goldendale, as many prominent people are mixed up in it. The animosity toward the preacher is caused by the fact that several women who have been attending are on the verge of insanity caused by the preacher’s wild exhortations, and it is also said that he has attacked many prominent people from his pulpit. On the other hand, his meetings have been attended by many prominent citizens.

 

Kaywood, on being interviewed by an Oregonian representative, said that he had no statement to make regarding the affair and that he intended to leave Goldendale tomorrow to conduct meetings elsewhere.

---

A Dr. Kaywood had dental offices in the Hamilton building in Portland about three years ago. He was a young man, and came to this city immediately after graduating from a dental college. While here he did fairly well in his profession, and dentists who recall him say that his character was then considered of the best.

 

 

Morning Oregonian (Portland) 3/15/05 p1

In Coat Of Tar. Dr. Cawood (sic) Preaches to Congregation

In Church After Assault. Buttons His Coat Over the Feathers. He Is Now In Portland. Persecution of Paul, the Apostle, the Theme of His Sermon After the Attack Mad on Him.

 

(In a Box)

PREACHES IN COAT OF TAR AND FEATHERS

 

Shirt-less because he dare not put underwear over the tar and feathers which had been bestowed upon him in Goldendale, but with coat buttoned to the chin, a fringe of down between face and throat, Dr. E. E. Cawood preached to his little congregation on the evening of the assault. for his text he took verses from the seventeenth chapter of the Acts of the Apostles, the theme of his sermon being the persecution which Paul met when preaching at Thessalonica.

 

Dr. Cawood, who arrived in Portland last night, asserts that he will not prosecute his assailants. He remained in Goldendale, he declares, until Monday morning, having completed his new assignment on the preceding Sunday night, and will now attend the mission in Portland.

___

 

Dr. E. E. Cawood, the tarred and feathered preacher from Goldendale, arrived on the boat last night from the Dalles. He left the boat at Vancouver, Wash., and immediately came to the Olive Branch Mission on First Street where a meeting of the elders of the Free Methodist Church was in progress for the purpose of investigating the affair at Goldendale. His wife came from Sunnyside, and amid tears and sobs, she listened to the story of the persecutions as he told it to the faithful few in the mission chapel.

 

“Saturday afternoon three men came to my room an informed me that they had decided to forbid me preaching in the town of Goldendale,” said Dr. Cawood. “One of them was the Prosecuting Attorney of the county, and another was his brother. Both are pillars of the Methodist Episcopal Church, but had never listened to my sermons. They had listened to the talk of the rowdies of the town and had been convinced that several people had got religion in an unorthodox way. This was not according to their method, and they decided to stop me. I paid no heed to their warning, but preached to a crowded house Saturday night and Sunday morning. That afternoon the same crowd waited upon me again, and told me that I should not preach again.

 

PROSECUTING ATTORNEY’S VISIT

 

“Just as I was preparing to go to the church there was a loud rap at the door, and Isaac Henshaw, with whom I was staying, told me the Prosecuting Attorney (Part of the article is cut off)

... his influence over one woman after she had showed unmistakable signs of insanity.

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