Murdering Holiness: The Trials of Franz Creffield and George Mitchell by Jim Phillips, Rosemary Gartner

Abstract

stood as a distinct "lowermiddle class" or "petite bourgeoisie." The discussion isquite interesting and challenging toAmerican history scholars. It isdivided between thetextand theeighty pages of endnotes inveryfineprint and buttressedbyvot ing maps and statistics on Portland's occupational structure.There isa good reasonwhy thebook has received a prize from theSocial Science His tory Association. Johnstonclearlywants todelineate a usable past fora new era ofmiddle-class opposition to overweeningbureaucracies and uncontrolled cor porations (one of theblurbs on theback cover is fromRalph Nader). In an erawhen theEnron scandals are stillreverberating throughOregon and the federal government's recent smallpox vaccination program fell flat, people likeLora Little andWilliam U'Ren can seem quite up to date. They also stand, Johnston writes, as additions to a "pantheon of hope" that stretches fromTom Paine to Susan B. Anthony toCesar Chavez ? prettygood company forsome largelyforgotten reformersfromamiddling city in thefarcorner of thenation. Murdering Holiness:TheTrialsof FranzCreffield and GeorgeMitchell By JimPhillips and Rosemary Gartner University ofWashington Press, Seattle, 2003. Illustrations, photographs, notes, bibliography, index. 352 pages. $29.95 paper Reviewed byMark A. Largent University ofPuget Sound, Tacoma, Washington Team researched and written, Jim Phillips and Rosemary Gartner'sMurder ing Holiness isan incrediblydetailed analysis of a small religious sectbased inCorvallis, Oregon, and the events surrounding a pair of murders. Close reading allows the authors to explore broader trends and anxieties and assumptions ofPacificNorthwesterners in theearly twentieth century, effectively making thegenerallyunknown setof eventsawindow into theworkings ofpoli tics, law,and society in early twentieth-century Corvallis, Portland, and Seattle.The book admi rably fulfillstheirgoal of using "a case study to illustratethe ways in which individual aspirations and actions, and broad social processes, inter acted ina particular timeand place" (p. 241). The book examines FranzCreffield'sreligious sect, which was an offshoot and ultimately a re jection ofPortland-based SalvationArmy efforts andwas generally representativeof many aspects of theholy roller movement. Creffieldmoved to Corvallis near theend of 1902andwithin thenext year became thecommunity's principal topic of conversation. Declaring himself a prophet and preaching thatonly thesanctified would be saved when theworld soon ended, Creffield amassed about twodozen followers, many ofwhom were related to one another andmost ofwhom were women. Phillips and Gartner explain thatCreffield's sectatfirst"operatedwell within theboundaries of community toleration," but its members' grow inganti-materialistsentiment?which ultimately led to theirdestruction of members' homes, per sonal property, and perhaps even a pet dog ? enragedCorvallis residentsand led to increasing anxieties about sexual improprieties.The authors argue that local claims about Creffield's sexual improprietieswith women inhis sect were inac curate, giving the impression that theyoffer a generally sympathetic account of the group. Growing animosity toward Creffield's sect led Corvallis residents to resort toa formofvigilan tismgenerallyknown as "white capping."White 148 OHQ vol. 105, NO. 1 cappers borrowed from theregalia and practices ofKu Klux Klansmen todealwith non-conform ists whom the legal systemdid not regulate, tar geting"what communities considered tobemoral transgressions?wifeand child-beating, neglect of family,adultery,... immoralitygenerally,lazi ness, and aberrant religiousbeliefs" (p. 51).Early in 1904, openly and with the general support of the community, a number of Corvallis men ap prehended Creffield and one ofhismale associ ates, marched them to a bridge outside of thecity limits,and tarred and feathered them. Shortly thereafter, Portland officialsarrestedCreffieldand convictedhim of adultery. He was incarcerated in thestatepenitentiary, whilemost members of the sect were institutionalized in the mental asylum. Creffieldwas released in 1905andmoved to Seattle,where he continued his preaching, reas sembledhis community,and called themto move with him to the Waldport area of theOregon coast, west of Corvallis. The residents around Waldport rejected the sect, forcingCreffield to return to Seattle,where there was littleconcern about his group's activities.Throughout his trav els around Washington and Oregon, Creffield was trailed by George Mitchell, the brother of two women in the sect, one of whom had mar riedCreffield. Mitchell hadmade clearhis inten tion tomurder the self-proclaimed prophet, which he did on the corner of First and Cherry streetsinSeattle in May 1906. By shootingCreffield inSeattle,Mitchell ef fectively disconnected theevents inOregon and Oregonians' anxieties about the sect from Creffield'smurder. The extent ofCreffield's al leged sexual improprieties and supposedly con trivedreligious fervor was not immediatelyobvi ous to Puget Sound residents,which allowed ample opportunity for the...