May 9, 1906: Oregon Prosecutor Would Aid Mitchell

 

HEADLINES IN DIFFERENT PAPERS FOR THE SAME ARTICLE

 

Seattle Post Intelligencer 5/9/1906 p1

Creffield is to be Buried Today

 

Oregon Daily Journal (Portland) 5/9/1906 p1

Widow Claims Holy Roller Will Arise From Grave

Wife of Dear Leader of the “Holy Rollers” says He Will Arise. Woman/s Father Here. Tells of Power Man Held over Little Band of Followers.

Disciples Confident That Murdered Holy Roller Leader Will be Restored to Life Within Four Days and Vindicate Himself--Body is Buried at Lakeview.

 

Firmly believing that he will arise within the next four days, Mrs. Maude Hurt Creffield will today consign the body of her husband, the self-styled apostle, to his grave in Lake View cemetery. Her belief is sincere, and she is confident that he will not stay long in the ground.

 

Mrs. Creffield says she will defray the cost of a grave, but the coffin in which will be interred the body of the man who was the leader of the “Holy Rollers” will be furnished by the county.

 

There were several followers of the alleged “Joshua” who called at the Bonney-Watson morgue yesterday to view the remains of their leader. All remarked when they viewed the corpse that they believed he would arise from the dead within four days and vindicate himself.

 

FATHER MAKES STATEMENT (Seattle Post Intelligencer)

 

Although V. O. Hurt, who arrived in the city yesterday morning from Corvallis, is the father of Mrs. Creffield and father-in-law of the man who was shot on the streets of the city on Monday morning he states that he intends to do everything in his power to help George Mitchell, who is responsible for the deed, for he considers that he did what he should have.

 

Mr. Hurt called upon his daughter at the city jail upon his arrival and made her as comfortable as possible by the addition of some needed garments and other necessities, and then paid a visit to Mitchell in the county jail. He also left money with the jailers there to be given to young man as it is needed.

 

SHOT FROM BACK [Oregon Daily Journal (Portland)]

 

To a reported for the Post-Intelligencer Mr. Hurt said:

“There is only one thing I regret about the affair, and that is that George did not meet the man face to face when he took his life instead of shooting him in the back. However, there are hundreds of people who know the career of Creffield who will be glad to do all in their power to help the boy secure his freedom, for there was much feeling against the dead man and threats were made long ago that he would be shot.

 

“The wrong that the man did to my family was great and even after all the experience I have had with Creffield it is impossible for me to understand how he could get the followers he did.

 

“He is responsible for my wife’s condition and also my daughters. Both of them have only lately been released from the Oregon asylum for the insane.

 

WAS DRUNKEN TRAMP

 

“When Creffield first made his appearance in this country he was a drunken tramp and in that condition was picked up by the Salvation Army in Seattle.

“From here he went to Oregon and established his church. For a time it was as clean and respectable as any other, but gradually he seemed to be gaining the power he sought and soon had the conditions which existed at the time of his death.

 

“It is almost impossible to believe the power he exerted over some of his followers. They considered him the Son of God and I have heard them state that he walked in a cloud and that it was impossible to kill him. Despite this fact, however, my daughter, his wife, carried a revolver with which to protect him after so many threats had been made to kill him, and she told me today that it was only by chance that she did not have it with her on the day of the murder. She said that if she had, she would have shot Mitchell in his tracks.

 

Not only my daughters and wife have been followers of Creffield, but also my son and his wife. They formerly lived at Lake Washington, but left there to join the colony.

 

DESERTED HER HUSBAND (Seattle Post Intelligencer)

 

“Only a week ago Mrs. Bert Starr, a sister of Mitchell, deserted he husband and three children and walked ninety miles to join the colony, and she is there at this time. I have a letter that was given me by Starr which she wrote on the night she left in which she says that she must go.

 

“The people in Oregon who are acquainted with the affair are deeply in sympathy with Mitchell, and can be relied on to do everything possible to aid in securing his acquittal.

 

“One of my objects in coming to the city was to attend to the wants of my daughter, but the principal one is to see what can be done to help Mitchell out of this affair. I shall not ask my daughter to return with me, but she is still my daughter and has a hearty welcome at my home if she cares to return.

 

MRS. STARR’S LETTER [Oregon Daily Journal (Portland)]

 

Hurt brought to Seattle a letter that had been written by Mrs. B. E. Starr of Portland to her husband. Mrs. Starr is the elder sister of Mitchell, Creffield’s slayer. It was through her that Creffield was sent to prison. When he was released Creffield won her over again, and right now Hurt says she and her younger sister are at Waldport, Oregon, where Creffield attempted to reorganize his band. Mrs. Starr deserted her husband and three children, one of whom was but seven months old. She walked 90 miles to Waldport to join Creffield, and then found that Creffield had abandoned his camp, fearing the vengeance of the people. The note to Mrs. Starr’s husband reads as follows:

“I don’t want to leave in the daytime because the children will see me and cry to go with me. I must leave when they’re asleep. I have taken $3.50 of your money. This will not pay all my fare, as I will have to walk 90 miles to Waldport, the place I want to go. Affectionately, DONNER.” (sic).

 

Hurt says on another occasion Mrs. Starr told her husband there was but one man she loved more than he and that was Creffield. When her husband asked, she said Creffield was Christ and she must do his bidding.

 

 

Morning Oregonian (Portland) 5/9/1906 p8

Edmund Creffield

 

Religious outbursts like the one which developed under the influence of Edmund Creffield are cases of atavism. When the swine runs wild he loses that marked and useful tendency to put on fat which he displays in the sumptuous environment of the sty. He becomes lank and lean, his bristles elongate; his tusks grow keen and powerful and his legs sinewy. This is atavism, or reversion to the ancestral type from which the domestic swine has gradually produced by human selection. No species of animals is exempt from the atavistic tendency. It shows most strongly when they escape from human care, but no pains in breeding and nurture will always prevent it. The dog which ran wild in Jack London’s powerful tale exhibited mental atavism in losing one by one the traits which education and kindness had implanted in him and resuming the ancient feelings and habits of his race, and one of the excellencies of this story is that the author makes the vigor of his canine hero increase in the same ration with his wildness. Jack London does not confuse reversion with degeneracy. Degenerate animals are on the road to death, while atavism often involves a revival of virility. It is one of Nature’s methods of saving an over cultivated stock from dissolution.

 

Elizabeth Stuart Phelps remarks in one of those heartrending tales which she produced in her earlier and more genial periods that God makes new Adams every day. The new Adams, human creatures who are markedly unlike either of their parents, are generally produced by crossing widely different stocks, and they are cases of atavism in which the individual harks back in his mental or physical traits to the pristine vigor of the race, with more or less of its pristine savagery. Professor James, of Harvard, writing upon mob violence, has pointed out how strong the tendency is in most of us to revert to ancestral savagery in our feelings. Like Jack London’s dog, we need only some decided impulse in that direction and away goes the veneer of civilization in an instant we stand revealed as a band of howling savages. A magazine story published not long ago had for its central idea the atavistic tendency of a pair of civilized Negroes, man and wife, in San Domingo. They were people of wealth and culture and as religious as most of us, but on certain nights of the year when they heard the tom-tom beaten in a valley not far from their home by some degraded blacks of the neighborhood they sloughed off education, culture and religion like a garment and stripped away in the darkness to join in the licentious orgies of their race.

 

The atavistic tendency is stronger in religion probably than in any other human institution because it deals with the deepest qualities of the soul, with those faculties of our nature which change least from age to age. It is a shallow observation to say that human nature never changes; then men of one century are very different in their feelings, interests, and ambitions from those of another, but there are some passions in us which are substantially the same now as they were when our ancestors were naked savages, and there is no reason to expect that they will ever alter a great deal. These passions pertain to the mysteries of death and the generation of life, and with them it is that religion has its chief concern.

 

The earliest religious rites and ceremonies related directly to these two prime interests of savage man. The symbols which we now revere as memorials of vicarious sacrifice originated in the obscene orgies of phallic worship. Our great ecclesiastical festivals, Christmas, Easter and the like were celebrated when the world was young to mark the rhythmic recurrence of the triumph of life over death, and the gods were best pleased when the devotees abandoned themselves most completely to their passions. From such ignoble beginnings the lofty institution of religion has developed. To these same beginnings it tends to revert in minds which have broken away from established customs. Nearly every great religious revival shows some more or less pronounced symptoms of atavism. There are hysterical cries and groans, weird contortions of the muscles, trances, maniacal excitement, in fact a great many of the phenomena which we know the worshipers manifested in the primitive religious orgies of Asia Minor. In the early camp meetings of the Middle West these atavistic tendencies actually went to the point of positive immorality, or at least they occasioned scandal; but in these later times such excesses are observed only in the exceptionally gross atavisms of such men as Brigham Young, Dowie and Creffield.

 

We account for Edmund Creffield’s baleful influence over his associated by the well-known power of suggestion. Poe in one of his extraordinary tales explains by suggestion the fact that one suicide induces others. It is suggestion that assembles mobs and raises their excitement to the point of frenzy. The same subtle and mysterious influence creates the enthusiasm of political campaigns. If anyone should ask why Creffield’s power or suggestion could be exercised only upon certain men and women, it might be answered that some persons are sensitive to hypnotic influence while others are wholly immune to the influence of the evangelist; some individuals can call spirits from the vast deep, while most of us have no such power. The realm of suggestion is vast, mysterious and dangerous. Of those who venture into it the greater number are wrecked morally if not physically. The whole purpose and effect of civilization is to carry us farther and farther away from its boundaries. The tendency of enlightened religion is to escape from its dire, its demonic influences and take refuge in the calm and safe domain of reason. But occasionally an individual or a number of individuals free themselves from the restraints of civilization and enlightened religion, revert to those savage practices which were invented as our ancestors emerged from their simian state, and we then behold the shameful atavism of the Holy Rollers. Such exhibitions exciting the rational mind pride and fear in equal degree; pride when we estimate the distance the race has traveled from its primitive savagery; fear when we contemplate the possible degradation to which it may descend.

 

 

Seattle Star 5/9/1906 p1

 

“He Is Not Dead But Will Arise.”--Mrs. Edmund Creffield.

 

Firmly believing that he is divine and will arise again immediately, Mrs. Maud Hurt-Creffield today consigned the body of her slain husband to the grave.

“I do not wish any service,” she said. “Why should I have services for him. He is the Joshua of God, and needs no services. He is not dead and will be here again within a few days to confound his enemies and obtain vengeance upon those who have wronged him. He is not dead, but will arise.

 

SHOWS NO EMOTION

 

With the same immobile countenance that she has maintained since the shooting of her husband on Monday morning by George Mitchell, the wife accompanied the coffin containing the body of her husband to Lake View cemetery, where it was interred at 10 o’clock this morning.

 

The only ones present were the wife of the self-styled “apostle’ in charge of the police matron and an employee from the Bonney-Watson company.

 

It was Mrs. Creffield’s wish that the services be quiet. She will not concede that Creffield is dead and that his spirit has fled. Even when gazing upon his features on the slab at the morgue she insisted that the prostrate form was still imbued with life.

 

“AT REST”

 

The casket which contained the remains of the former leader of the famous “Holy Rollers was plain. A silver plate was engraved with the words “At Rest.”

Mrs. Creffield had enough money to pay for interment in Lake View Cemetery, and the county will pay the remaining of the funeral expenses.

 

Yesterday several avowed followers of Creffield called at the morgue to gaze upon his face, and they too stated their belief that he would arise within a few days.

 

O. V. Hurt, father of Mrs. Creffield, returned last evening to his home in Corvallis, but is expected to return to Seattle again in time for Mitchell’s trial. Before leaving he called upon his daughter at the police matron’s and told her that she always had a home waiting for her at Corvallis whenever she decided to return.

 

FEARS A SCOLDING

“My daughter seemed to be afraid that I would scold her,” Mr. Hurt said “so I tried to console her as much as possible. she can always come to my home and live if it is her desire. She is my daughter and as such will always find a place there.”

It is the death of Creffield and the method adopted by young Mitchell in bringing about the man’s end Mr. Hurt said:

“There is a general feeling of sympathy with young Mitchell at Corvallis, but I regret that life was taken (text illegible) I feel that a less violent way if (text illegible) treating with the man would have been a blessing. However, Mitchell, I consider, has been an instrument in accomplishing a good deed. I feel that Creffield was a reprobate (text illegible) and I know personally many families which he broke up.

 

WILL RAISE A FUND

 

“Corvallis people, I am convinced will raise a fund for Mitchell when they learn that he is practically without means.”

 

Mr. Hurt left an amount of money with the police matron to provide necessary luxuries for his daughter’s comfort, and at the county jail he gave the officers enough money to purchase anything that Mitchell may require.

 

After the burial of her husband this morning Mrs. Creffield returned with the police matron and refused to say a word. She sat with hardly a change visible in her countenance, her thoughts evidently far away.

 

The prosecuting attorney’s office has issued instructions not to allow anyone to talk to the woman except the people guarding her.

 

SNAPPED SPINAL CORD

 

The results of the autopsy performed at the morgue preceding internment of the dead “Holy Roller” shows the bullet entered at the base of the skull, snapped the spinal cord at the base of the brain, its most vulnerable point, and after breaking the jawbone, lodged near the right side of the neck.

 

“Death could not have been quicker,” said Deputy Coroner Wiltsie, who assisted at the autopsy. “The bullet hit the most vital part in the human frame and Creffield never realized what had occurred. He probably heard the sound of the explosion and dropped before he knew what the trouble was.”

 

EXPECTED AN ATTACK

An investigation has developed the fact that Mrs. Creffield had been expecting someone to try and kill her husband. she had carried a pistol constantly until the very morning that the shooting occurred, when she left the house and forgot the gun. The cartridges for the revolver were found in the woman’s pocket when she was searched by the police and the gun was picked up afterwards in searching the premises the couple occupied at 1116 Fifth Av.

 

WOULD HAVE USED IT

 

“If I had a gun at the time,” said Mrs. Creffield before she was isolated by the prosecuting attorneys orders, “Mitchell would never have escaped death.” To further questioning along this line she refused absolutely to utter a word.

 

Corvallis people will send attorneys to Seattle to assist, if possible, in freeing Mitchell. These attorneys were to have left for this city today.

 

Mitchell himself is taking imprisonment at the county jail calmly. He seems to have no fear of future results and asserts as he has from the first that he is ready to accept the penalty, whatever that may be.

 

DOESN’T SLEEP

 

Mrs. Creffield has not slept since the night of the shooting. Or at least she has been found awake at different hours during the night when the watchers glanced in to see how she was getting along. She also appears to be more nervous than formerly. She takes whatever is given her without any comment.

 

 

Seattle Star 5/9/1906 p1

Why? The Case of George Beede

 

One night last November George Beede shot Ray McDonald through the back because of the latter’s attentions to the former’s wife.

 

For several weeks McDonald lingered between life and death.

Finally he recovered.

 

Beede was place under arrest and, after being confined in the county jail for some time, was admitted to bail.

 

Through the influence of the friends of McDonald, who were anxious to avoid notoriety, and the further influence of friends of Beede, the case against the latter was dismissed, the prosecuting attorney’s office showing now desire to prosecute.

 

The judge of the superior court who formally dismissed the case made the astounding statement that McDonald, instead of Beede, should be on trial and should be sent to the penitentiary, and that Beede had done no more than any man would be justified in doing under similar conditions.

 

THE CASE OF GEORGE MITCHELL

Two days ago George Mitchell shot and killed Frank Edmund Creffield, a notorious religious maniac who had ruined the two sisters of Mitchell and who had broken up homes without number.

 

Citizens of Oregon, usually law-abiding, knew that Mitchell had left home with the firm intention of taking the life of this man Creffield, and these citizens rejoiced when the brief message came to them: “I have got my man; am in jail here.”

Mitchell is still in the county jail in this city. He says he killed Creffield. He says he came to this city for that purpose and he is willing to suffer whatever penalty the law may exact.

 

He has avenged the honor of his sisters, and if a jury of his peers says he must hang, he will, without a murmur, submit to the inevitable.

 

THE PROSECUTING ATTORNEY

 

And the prosecuting attorney of King County, the man who permitted George Beede to go forth without punishment for a crime equal in intent to that of Mitchell’s says that Mitchell must hang.

 

“The slaying of Creffield is the most cold-blooded first degree murder since I have been in office,” says the prosecuting attorney. “I will prosecute Mitchell to the best of my ability, and I believe he will be convicted.

 

But why this sudden desire to enforce the law?

 

Why let George Beede go free?

 

He tried to kill McDonald by sneaking up behind him and putting a bullet in his back.

The gods of luck brought McDonald back to life.

 

Mitchell was surer of his aim and killed his man.

 

Beede had friends and was given freedom.

 

A judge applauded his act.

 

Mitchell has no influential friends in Seattle, and he may hang for his crime.

And the judge who applauded Beede may have to pronounce the death sentence.

 

 

Seattle Star 5/9/1906 p1

Will Try His Best To Hang. Geo. Mitchell

Prosecuting Attorney Mackintosh Says Slaying of Creffield Was the Most Cold Blooded Murder Since He Has Been in Office---Declares Popular Opinion Will Not Be Considered in the Enforcement of the Law---Charge is Filed.

 

“The killing of Creffield by George Mitchell was the most cold blooded case of murder in the first degree that has occurred since I have occupied this office. I will prosecute him, and believe he will be convicted. The popular opinion which opposes the enforcement of the law will not be considered.”

 

This is the statement of Prosecuting Attorney Kenneth Mackintosh, and is echoed by John F. Miller, his chief deputy, who prepared the information which was filed today charging Mitchell with the crime of murder in the first degree.

 

“The law will certainly be enforced,” continued Mr. Mackintosh, “and I see no reason why Mitchell should not be hanged. The law is intended to punish and prevent murder. Mitchell’s deed was committed after weeks of preparation. The law takes no cognizance of the excuse which Mitchell offers. I fail to see why the people of this county should not support their officers in the enforcement of the law.”

 

Regarding the sympathy that has been aroused in Mitchell’s behalf, Mr. Mackintosh said that this is often accorded to desperate men, and cited the heroism with which Harry Tracy and Tom blank, the worst desperadoes in the history of the northwest were regarded. The newspapers that have commended Mitchell for his misdeeds Mr. Mackintosh classed with the muckrakes attacked by President Roosevelt.

 

“Mitchell will be arraigned this week and tried early next month” concluded the prosecuting attorney, “and the law will not be turned aside by any prejudices.”

 

 

HEADLINES IN DIFFERENT PAPERS FOR THE SAME ARTICLE

 

Evening Telegram (Portland) 5/9/1906 p10

Buried Without Ceremony

Mrs. Creffield Believes Holy Roller Will Rise From Grave. No Tears at Burying. Avenger Mitchell Is Permitted by His Attorney to Talk Freely on the Events That Led Up to the Killing.

So Says Mrs. Creffield, and Her Husband Will Arise From Grave in Four Days. No Tears at Burying--Widow shows No Emotion--Very Few Present at Funeral--Mitchell Talks Freely and is Not Afraid of Results.”

Holy Roller Chief Laid in Lakeview Cemetery, Seattle, Today.

 

Morning Oregonian (Portland) 5/10/1906

Not Dead, She Cries

 

Corvallis Times 5/11/1906

Is Not Dead

 

SEATTLE, Wash, May 9.--(Special)-- Without prayers or hymns, without flowers or mourners, and without services always accorded to the civilized dead, the body of Franz Edmund Creffield, leader of the Holy Rollers, was laid to rest in a grave in Lake View Cemetery this morning. Mrs. Creffield, the widow, requested that there be no minister and no prayers.

 

“My husband, though dead in body now, will arise again as Christ did,” pleaded the misguided woman. “In four days “Joshua” will again be in our midst, and Satan will again be rebuked. My husband cannot be killed. He is not dead now. He is only sleeping. Next Sunday he will arise and become the reincarnation of ‘Elijah the Restorer.’”

 

The people at the morgue did not argue with Mrs. Creffield. They allowed her to have her way. At 10 o’clock this morning Mrs. Creffield, leaning on the arm of Mrs. Kelly, police matron, in whose charge the woman is held awaiting the trial of George Mitchell, the slayer, arrived at the Bonney Watson morgue. She was not dressed in mourning. Her clothes were neat but not fine. They had been brought to her by her father, who arrived from Corvallis yesterday.

 

WIDOW SHOWS NO EMOTION

 

Mrs. Creffield showed no emotion. She walked into the morgue room and for two minutes gazed steadfastly on the body of her husband as it lay dressed only in a white night robe, in a cheap coffin, upon which were the words, “At Rest.”

 

The widow of the man who has broken many hearts, and who was accused of some of the worst crimes ever committed in the name of religion, said nothing as she looked from the inanimate form. She turned away in a moment and was led to a carriage. She climbed in with the assistance of Mrs. Kelly and followed the hearse containing the body of Creffield to Lake View Cemetery, where it was quickly laid away under the ground.

 

FEW AT THE FUNERAL

 

Other than Mrs. Kelly and Mrs. Creffield and the undertakers, no one was at the cemetery. A wooden tablet was placed at the head of the grave. This inscription was painted upon a white background:

FRANZ E. CREFFIELD

Died May 7,/1906, Aged 35 Years.

 

Mrs. Creffield declines to be seen by newspaper men. She is in a highly nervous condition and both at her own request and that of the Prosecuting Attorney, all interviewers are denied.

 

George Mitchell, the Portland man who killed Creffield, has retained W. H. Morris to defend him, and his attorney has not permitted Mitchell to continue his story, but today added in procuring a new interview. This might easily be regarded as a decision that public sentiment should be worked up in Mitchell’s behalf. Today, Mitchell took up his story again, beginning with Creffield’s discharge from the penitentiary.

 

MITCHELL TELLS MORE OF TALE

 

(excerpts from the interview in the Seattle Post Intelligencer 5/10/1906)

 

(At the end of the Corvallis Times article … )

A number of Albany men say they would gladly contribute toward a fund to defend Mitchell, the young avenger, if help is needed for the work of destruction accomplished by Creffield is well known in Albany.

 

Much regret is expressed that the lad did not find his quarry when he was following Mrs. Creffield in Albany a week ago. At that time there were several outraged Corvallis men in Albany, keeping in touch with the deluded wife of the Holy Roller chief in the hope that she would join her husband here. The passenger train in Albany was thoroughly searched that evening, the lad who did the final act in Creffield’s career passing through the coaches looking carefully at every passenger.

 

Evening Telegram (Portland) 5/9/1906 p1

District Attorney John Manning Would Defend Apostle’s Slayer

In a Letter to Seattle Prosecutor He Says He Is Ready to Appear Before Grand Jury or at Trial in Mitchell’s Behalf. Justifies Killing of Creffield by Brother of His Victim.

 

District Attorney John Manning has addressed a letter to Kenneth Macintosh, Prosecuting Attorney for King County, Wash., in which he virtually says that the killing of Edmund Creffield, the Holy Roller “prophet,” at the hands of George Mitchell is justifiable. The letter informs the Washington prosecutor of the record of shame made by Creffield in Oregon, and makes the proposition that the District Attorney of Multnomah County be permitted to go before the grand jury or on the witness stand in the trial court on behalf of Mitchell.

 

No more valuable witness for the defense could be asked by Mitchell than Manning. In his capacity of District Attorney, Manning investigated the character and practices of Creffield and the disclosures which were laid before the officer were revolting. Many of the details which District Attorney Manning learned were not used in the prosecution of Creffield, as there was sufficient other evidence to send the Holy Roller to the Penitentiary.

 

UNWRITTEN LAW JUSTIFIES MITCHELL

 

If Manning’s offer is accepted by the authorities at Seattle, however, he can unfold a tale of outrage to the grand jury which should convince that body that Mitchell was justified by unwritten law, at least, in his extermination of Creffield. Manning’s information is extensive and of such character that it cannot be described in public prints, but it should have great weight with the grand jury of King County. furthermore, the belief is prevalent that should Manning testify, the officers at Seattle will not only release Mitchell, but will recommend him for a Carnegie medal as a hero. Mr. Manning’s letter follows:

(Manning’s letter)

 

 

Evening Telegram (Portland) 5/9/1906 p10

Hurt Anxious to Clear Mitchell

Father-in-Law of Dead Man Ready to Give Last Dollar in Slayer’s Defense. Declares Proper Course Was Pursued in Taking Off of the Apostle. Still Loves His Daughter, and Says That He Will Provide for Her.

 

“I will spend the last dollar I have in the world to defend George Mitchell if necessary.”

 

O. V. Hurt, father-in-law of Creffield, the “Holy Roller” leader killed by Mitchell, has taken his stand.

 

Mrs. Hurt and Maude Creffield, Hurt’s wife and daughter, were among Creffield’s most enthusiastic followers, but the husband and father does not hesitate to champion the cause of the man who made his daughter a widow. He is convinced that the proper course was pursued by Mitchell. Personally he had not sought the fanatical leader, for he had given his word to his brother and sister in the East that Creffield should not fall by his hand unless fate ordained otherwise.

 

“The followers of Creffield are more to be sympathized with than censured,” declared Mr. Hurt. “It is my belief that each one whom he attracted and compelled to obey his commands complied in the sincere and honest belief that they were doing right, and it never entered their heads that their actions were wrong.

 

“When a man is dead we are supposed to overlook his wickedness and speak in softer tones. Therefore, I dislike saying things of Creffield now which I would not have hesitated to say were he alive. This much of criticism against him I will make--he was a dangerous man to the community. He was dangerous because of his power and because of the ill-use to which he employed it.

 

STILL LOVES HIS DAUGHTER

 

“My daughter Maude is still my daughter and I love her as much as ever. It was a terrible experience for her, since she loved Creffield devotedly and thought his actions were right and proper. worshiping him as she did, her anguish can be imagined when she saw him shot down at her feet. The girl buried Creffield in Seattle alone today. She would permit no one else. I admire her grit. Maud naturally has the sympathy of the people in Seattle, because her plight is sad, but this does not conflict with the denunciation of her late husband. what Maud’s future plans are I do not know. I did not discuss them with her. She may return to our home at Corvallis, or she may not. She wrote to her mother to have me sell out at Corvallis and leave there for she declared that she could never live in that town again, disliking the citizens of Corvallis as she does.

 

“After Creffield was released from the penitentiary at Salem he wrote me several threatening letters, which I promptly burned, to show my contempt for him. In one of these communications he asserted that he had his foot on my neck and would triumph. this one I answered, stating that he would probably find a rope around his own neck in the end.

 

“The newspapers have handled this affair justly and correctly, with one exception. this was when I was saying that a gold medal was to be given George Mitchell for slaying Creffield. I never made such a statement, and the very idea is ridiculous.

 

CREFFIELD TRIED TO CONVERT HURT

 

“Creffield once made an effort to have me join his band. This was months before he developed into the practices he pursued with his followers. I studied his proposition for an entire week, looking at it from every point of view, and then decided that I would have nothing to do with it as his religion was nothing more than hysterical sentiment.  Later, when conditions became serious, my relatives in the East wrote letters week after week, pleading with me not to do anything which would involve me in trouble with the man. I gave assurance that I would not seek Creffield deliberately, but had I ever returned home for dinner and found him in my home, after the exposure of his orgies, I do not know what I would have done. He would have had to take his chances.

 

“Maud is not in jail in Seattle. She is held as a witness, and is in charge of the matron, living at a private house. She suffers no discomfort. I told her distinctly that I was ready to take care of her and do everything possible for her, but at the same time, I would do all in my power to aid and assist George Mitchell.

 

MITCHELL FIRED ON SPUR OF MOMENT

 

“The killing of Creffield was on the spur of the moment. Mitchell passed Maud on the street, but did not see Creffield with her. they had been separated momentarily by the crowd, and Maud did not recognize Mitchell.

 

“George, after proceeding a few steps, turned and saw that Creffield was walking with my daughter, and then immediately fired. Mitchell is an unemotional young man. He is cool and calm under all circumstances, and this is why his aim was so good when he shot. When he gave himself up and made his statement, the officers say there was not even a tremor in his voice.

 

“I believe George will not be dealt severely with. We have engaged lawyers to defend him, and I am ready to aid him to the extent of all my possessions.”

 

 

Evening Telegram (Portland) 5/9/1906 p10

Creffield Was Doomed Man

Half-Dozen Men Declared to Have Been Ready to Slay False Prophet.

 

CORVALLIS, Or., May 9.--Evening Telegrams have sold at a premium in Corvallis for two days. Everybody wanted to learn the particulars of the death of Creffield, the Holy Roller chief.

 

It is difficult for the general public outside of Benton County to realize the strong sentiment against the self-styled “Joshua” among all classes here. Since his incarceration in the state penitentiary, many things have come to light through confessions of former followers never even imagined by those who placed the worst construction on his motives and acts. Believed of his influence, the former infatuated followers of Creffield had regained their reason were discharged from the asylum and had resumed their places in their homes and expressed themselves as done forever with Holy Rollerism.

 

As proof of their entire change of heart they confessed to their husbands and fathers a revolting account of Creffield’s practices. Upon the release of the apostle he went to Los Angeles and began once more to assume control of those who had declared that they were convinced of his hypocrisy.

 

With these confessions fresh in mind, and seeing Creffield again getting his former victims under his control, it is declared that he was doomed to meet death at the hands of any one of half dozen men. Prominent citizens of Corvallis associated by blood ties with his deluded followers, men who have concealed their knowledge as to the bestial practices of the Holy Roller leader, have voluntarily made statements concerning him that would justify his effacement by any lover of purity and virtue.

 

 

Evening Telegram (Portland) Wed 5/9/1906 p10

Fund For Slayer’s Defense

 

CORVALLIS, Or., May 9.-- The report from Seattle that a subscription is to be raised in Corvallis to present George Mitchell with a gold medal for killing Edmund Creffield is denied here. It is, however, probable that a subscription will be raised to secure the services of attorneys to defend him when his case comes to trial. While it is realized that a jury might impose some sentence upon young Mitchell, the circumstances are such that the stigma of murder will never attach itself to him.