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Reviews
VIGILANTE NEWSPAPERS: A TALE OF SEX, RELIGION, AND MURDER IN THE NORTHWEST
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by Gerald Baldasty
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University of Washington Press, Seattle, 2005.
Illustrations, photographs, notes, bibliography, index. 197 pages. $22.50 paper. |
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| Over-the-top media coverage of sensational murder trials did not begin with O.J. Simpson or even the Lindbergh baby kidnapping. The Pacific Northwest, readers are reminded by Gerald Baldasty, was captivated a century ago by "a tale of sex, religion and murder" that spanned a four-year period and three cities and involved two murders and a suicide. The story centered on a strange, charismatic misfit named Edmund Creffield, who appeared in Corvallis in 1903 and established a cult similar to what was known at the time as "Holy Rollers," so-named for the practice of rolling about on the floor in religious fervor, and sometimes speaking in tongues. |
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The Rollers were an extreme outgrowth of a wave of fundamentalist religion sweeping the country at the time. Creffield's following, never more than two dozen at any one time, was almost exclusively female and soon took on sexual trappings as well as religious fervor. At the same time, Corvallis's competing weekly newspapers, the Gazette and the Times, were both deeply involved in community boosterism, a common practice of small-town newspapers of the day. The town had a new agricultural college and was looking for new residents and businesses, and Creffield was the sort of notoriety newspapers wanted to avoid but could not; he was a compelling story. |
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As Creffield and his followers became more and more bizarre and rumors about the compromising of Creffield's female disciples began to circulate, proper townspeople reacted. On January 4, 1904, they tarred and feathered Creffield and ran him out of town. Among the vigilantes was B.F. Irvine, editor of the Times, who admitted that the law had been broken, but thought a higher cause had been served. Baldasty, professor of communication and adjunct professor of women's studies at the University of Washington, skillfully links newspaper treatment of Creffield and his followers to both the boosterism of the Corvallis press and conventional wisdom regarding the place of women in society. Men were expected to defend weak and naïve women, justifying the vigilante treatment of Creffield. Six cult followers (five were female) were committed to the state mental asylum, and three other women were sent to a private institution in Portland. The Gazette justified the commitments, citing "reckless disregard for decency and the sanctity of the home," and the emotional vulnerability of "sensitive" people (p. 59). |
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The combination of media sensationalism and societal views of women emerged two years later in a larger arena, as Creffield made his way to Seattle with his new wife, Maud Hurt, and another follower, Esther Mitchell. Creffield was then an ex-convict, having served fifteen months in Multnomah County on a charge of committing adultery with a married follower (Esther's sister). Outraged editorials from Corvallis and the Oregonian trailed Creffield after he left Oregon. Baldasty charges the Oregonian with endorsing more vigilante action. "The responsibility for action, the paper said, belonged to the families of the weak women Creffield has misled. The editorial pointedly criticized the men in those families for failing to take decisive action against Creffield" (p. 69). |
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Violence did soon follow. On May 7, 1906, George Mitchell, Esther's brother, shot Creffield dead on the street in Seattle and calmly admitted culpability: "I did only what any true brother would do" (p. 70). The Times and Star, Seattle's afternoon rivals, immediately lionized Mitchell as a real man who stood up for a helpless woman. The case was not one of self-defense — Creffield was unarmed — but, as in the case of the Corvallis vigilantes, was seen as one of a higher calling. Baldasty again cites the combination of a societal view of women as weak and unable to make their own life choices and a newspaper agenda to bring enormous pressure on the case. The newspapers, in a fierce circulation war, pulled out all the stops of sensationalism and bigotry. Not surprisingly, Mitchell was acquitted by a jury. |
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Mitchell did not live to enjoy his freedom. He was shot and killed on a Seattle street a few days later by his sister Esther, aided by Maud Creffield. Less than four months later, Maud committed suicide in the King County jail as she awaited trial. Eight years later, Esther, having served two years in a state mental hospital, also took her own life. Two murders and two suicides later, the case was put to sleep in 1914. By that time, Seattle's newspapers had sobered a bit, realizing they had fueled some of the violence. Views of women's roles in society would not change as quickly. Baldasty's study carefully weaves together societal and media values in the face of dramatic and at times bizarre religious practices. It is good scholarship and a good yarn. |
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| FLOYD J. MCKAY
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| Bellingham, Washington |
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