May 10, 1906: Shows No Emotion At Husband’s Grave

 

Seattle Post Intelligencer 5/10/1906 p.1

Shows No Emotion At Husband’s Grave

 

Calm and immovable, with the same confidence that she has shown in her husband since he was killed by George Mitchel, Mrs. Creffield stood at the edge of his grave in Lakeview cemetery yesterday morning. there was little sorrow that the man who had been the leader of her sect and her husband was being consigned to earth.

 

Her belief that within four days “Joshua,” as she calls him, will arise from the dead, kept back the tears.

 

“I know he will arise. They can’t kill him,” she said as she left the cemetery with the police matron. Mrs. Creffield, the police matron and the undertaker’s employees were the only persons who attended the burial. She wished no service.

 

On the advice of the prosecuting attorney, Mrs. Kelley, the police matron, will keep the woman from talking to anyone about the case.

 

Seattle Star 5/10/1906 p1

Offers of Aid For Mitchell Are Pouring In

Attorney Says That Local Business Men Are Volunteering To Give Financial Assistance to Slayer of Creffield--Many Letters Received.

 

A number of prominent business men of this city have offered financial aid to help free young George Mitchell, who on last Monday morning shot and killed Edmund Creffield, the self-styled “apostle” and Joshua.

 

These offers have been received by the attorneys who have been retained to fight Mitchell’s battle in the courts, Morris, Southard and Shipley.

 

OFFERS OF ASSISTANCE

“Yes,” Mr. Morris said today, “we have been visited by a number of the most prominent people in the city who have offered to pay the expenses of fighting Mitchell’s case in the courts. I am not at liberty to divulge any names, of course.

 

“From every section of Oregon and Washington we are receiving letters expressing sympathy with the slayer of Creffield and stating that substantial aid would be tendered in case it was needed.

 

“The reasons which actuate these proffers, are of course understood by all. I do not care to say anything as to the legal phase of the case.”

 

The statement that Mitchell’s two sisters, Esther Mitchell and Mrs. B. Starr, are in Seattle, is denied by Mitchell’s attorneys. So far as can be learned, neither of the women has been near this city. Mrs. Starr is believed to be near Newport, on the Oregon Coast, and Esther Mitchell, according to Mrs. Creffield, is staying with Frank Hurt’s family at Corvallis.

 

O. V. Hurt, Mrs. Creffield’s father, will return to Seattle again during the coming week. He will probably be entrusted with a substantial purse for Mitchell’s defense, subscribed to by the people of Corvallis and vicinity. These people express their approval of the method taken in removing Creffield, and if their feelings are properly interpreted by Mr. Hurt, they will go to any length in order to insure the young man immunity for the deed.

 

KEPT IN SECLUSION

 

Mrs. Creffield, wife of the slain Holy Roller leader, is kept in seclusion at the police matron’s and is prevented from talking to reporters by orders issued from the prosecuting attorney’s office.

 

It has now been decided by the prosecuting attorney to arraign Mitchell as early as possible. He will not be given a preliminary hearing, but the papers will be filed direct to the superior court. Mitchell and his attorneys will appear in court when he is arraigned and the hearing is to be set early in June in the criminal department the earliest possible date at which a jury can be secured.

 

Morning Oregonian (Portland) 5/10/1906 p6

Manning Upholds Him

District Attorney Would Testify for Mitchell. Writes Seattle Prosecutor In Regard to Killing of Holy Roller Creffield.

 

District Attorney John Manning has requested of the Prosecuting Attorney of King County, Washington, that he be subpoenaed as a witness when George Mitchell is brought to trial on the charge of killing Franz Edmund Creffield. District Attorney Manning, with many others in Oregon, believes that Creffield met his deserts when he was put out of the way by Mitchell, and is willing to testify before a jury that the shooting was justifiable. His letter to the Prosecuting Attorney Follows:

Portland, Or., May 8.--Kenneth Mackintosh, Prosecuting Attorney, Seattle, Wash.--Dear Sir:

I notice by the press that there was a man killed in your city the other day by name, Creffield, of religion, Holy Roller, so I hasten to say to you that I have had a great deal to do with this man Creffield, in his lifetime, and the outrageous crimes committed by this brute, in this state, on simple-minded girls and women were many. I had him arrested for the crime of adultery, committed with Mrs. Starr, sister of George Mitchell, the man who killed him. He was convicted, sentenced, and served a term of two years in the penitentiary at Salem, Or.

 

Creffield broke up many families in Oregon by leading them astray on his fake religion. I investigated many, many charges against him while he was on his Holy Rolling tour in Oregon, the character of which were perfectly awful, in so far as being low, degenerate and brutal, and if permitted, I would like an opportunity to testify before the grand jury, before Mitchell is indicted, or the trial court, as to the low degenerate character of this man, and the outrages and brutalities practiced by him, in Oregon, upon ignorant and unsophisticated girls.

 

Our officers chased this man all over the state of Oregon, and finally found him hidden under the floor of a house at Corvallis, Or., he having ruined the family and broken up the home.

 

“Now, Mr. Mackintosh, I do not want you to understand that I would not uphold the majesty of law, but when a man infringes upon the common decency of society to the extent that this man did, and there is no statute under which he could be prosecuted, and he has so grossly debauched families, I think the taking of the law in one’s own hands, under such circumstances, to mete out summary justice is almost excusable. Yours very truly,

JOHN MANNING

 

Seattle Post Intelligencer 5/10/1906 p1

Oregon Prosecutor Would Aid Mitchell.

District Attorney Manning Tells Experience With Dead “Holy Roller”. Says Acts Were Awful. Directs Letter to Kenneth Mackintosh in Behalf of Creffield’s Slayer.

 

Prosecuting Attorney Kenneth Mackintosh has received the following letter from District Attorney John Manning, of Portland, in regard to the killing of Franz Edmund Creffield, the leader of the Holy Rollers, in this city a few days ago:

Portland, Or., May 8.--Kenneth Mackintosh, Prosecuting Attorney, Seattle, Wash.--Dear Sir:
I notice by the press that there was a man killed in your city the other day by name, Creffield, of religion, Holy Roller, so I hasten to say to you that I have had a great deal to do with this man Creffield, in his lifetime, and the outrageous crimes committed by this brute, in this state, on simple-minded girls and women were many. I had him arrested for the crime of adultery, committed with Mrs. Starr, sister of George Mitchell, the man who killed him. He was convicted, sentenced, and served a term of two years in the penitentiary at Salem, Or.

 

Creffield broke up many families in Oregon by leading them astray on his fake religion. I investigated many, many charges against him while he was on his Holy Rolling tour in Oregon, the character of which were perfectly awful, in so far as being low, degenerate and brutal, and if permitted, I would like an opportunity to testify before the grand jury, before Mitchell is indicted, or the trial court, as to the low degenerate character of this man, and the outrages and brutalities practiced by him, in Oregon, upon ignorant and unsophisticated girls.

 

Our officers chased this man all over the state of Oregon, and finally found him hidden under the floor of a house at Corvallis, Or., he having ruined the family and broken up the home.

 

“Now, Mr. Mackintosh, I do not want you to understand that I would not uphold the majesty of law, but when a man infringes upon the common decency of society to the extent that this man did, and there is no statute under which he could be prosecuted, and he has so grossly debauched families, I think the taking of the law in one’s own hands, under such circumstances, to mete out summary justice is almost excusable. Yours very truly,
JOHN MANNING.

 

MACKINTOSH TO PROSECUTE

 

When seen in regard to the letter and as to what action he will take in the matter Mr. Mackintosh said:

“I shall answer the letter as civilly as I can under the circumstances, but I consider it the most remarkable thing I ever heard of that a man whose duty it is to prosecute criminals should offer such advice as is contained in his letter. It seems to me that if Creffield was all the Mr. Manning says of him it is peculiar that the authorities did not arrest him and place him in the penitentiary while he was still in that state.

 

“I certainly shall not call Mr. Manning to testify for the state of Washington. If Mitchell wants him he can call him. The letter seems to me to deal in generalities and does not state specific facts. I shall do all in my power to secure a conviction of Mitchell, and will consider that I am doing my duty.

 

 

Seattle Star 5/10/1906 p3

Writes Plea For Mitchell

 

(The usual stuff about Manning’s letter offering help. Next to it is an article … )

Dowieties Come From Australia

 

VANCOUVER, B. C. , May 10--All the way from far off Australia to settle in Zion City at the request of the self-styled apostle, John Alexander Dowie, came a party of 17 Dowieties on the steamer Maheno. They are the advance guard of a large number of converts to Dowieism secured by the shrewd leader of what he terms the Christian Catholic Church of Zion, during his recent sojourn to the Antipodes.

 

The party of Dowieites will go right through to Zion City, where they have been promised free homes and all the land they can cultivate by Elijah. They brought with them all their household belongings.

 

Daily Oregon Statesman (Salem) 5/10/1906 p2

A great number of Lincoln county-ites and residents of Benton county heaved a sigh of relief when they heard that George Mitchell had relieved them of the possible necessity of taking them the life of the Holy Roller. Many have been heard to declare that it was only a matter of time, and a question as to who should do it. Creffield was considered pretty bad rubbish over there, and his death a good riddance to it.