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The Salvation Army Opening
Fire in Portland, OR in 1886
- Step one in starting a church:
Convince someone God exists. Easier, capture the
attention of someone who already believes God exists.
Better yet, capture the attention of a whole lot of
people who already believe God exists. That's what Franz
Edmund Creffield did. In 1902 he captured the attention
almost all of Corvallis, Oregon's garrison of Salvation
Soldiers and lured them to his church.
Those not in his church, summed up
their of opinions of Creffield and his creed by tapping a
finger on their foreheads. That was a better reaction
than the Salvation Army received when they "opened fire"
in Portland sixteen years earlier.
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Morning
Oregonian September 30,
1934
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ROCKS, EGGS
AND BLOODSHED EARLY SALVATION FARE
HERE
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Struggles
of Army to Establish Work in Portland One of Stirring
Chapters in Organization's
History.
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by
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Joseph
MacQueen
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________
 When
the neighborhood of Fourth and Burnside was both a
residential and business section the first services of
the Salvation Army in this region were held October 3,
1886, in an old frame structure at 92 B Street, now known
as Burnside, between Fourth and fifth avenues, according
to The Oregonian of October 17 that year, and also
the present Portland commanders of the Salvation Army
unit, Major and Mrs. C. O. Taylor, who came here from San
Diego, Cal.
A religious worker named Robinson, and
employed here as a laborer, determined that the north end
of this city, and especially its sailor population,
required the ministry work of the Salvation Army, and he
wrote voicing his entreaty to Captain Levins, stationed
in San Francisco. Mrs. Stillwell came here and took
charge of the work, assisted by Cadets Bernhardt and
Whittaker.
When street parades began to be held
here, street loungers greeted the Salvation workers with
hostility and bad language and threw rocks and
eggs.
An east side branch of the army was
roughly treated for having broken the city ordinance
which at that time forbade religious meetings in the
streets and street parades without first having secured
city permits.
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Blood was
Shed.
- Salvationists were repeatedly cast
into jail both in Portland and on the east side, and one
east side justice of the peace was quite incensed at the
army, so much so that he handed out severe jail sentences
and rebukes from the bench because of what he called
lawlessness. One Salvation Army worker in the crude east
side jail painted salvation texts on the grimy walls, and
the east side justice so far repented his actions and
language that soon afterward he became a member of the
army.
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- The early Salvation Army hall on the
west side had room for about 400 persons and had sawdust
on the floor, says an account left by Captain R. Stubbs.
a reporter of the Oregonian of those days wrote
that he attended a service of the "band of itinerant
religious enthusiasts known as the Salvation Army" at
first and Washington streets and heard the Salvationists
sing the hymns "I've Been a Bad Boy; I'll Be so No More"
and "We'll Battle for God or We'll Die."
- Sailor boarding-house proprietors
around 1886-87 disliked the army because so many sailors
became converted and hurt their business. One of these
bosses told an Oregonian reporter in October 1886:
"We either have to give up our sailor houses or join the
Salvation Army. If we don't we are ruined."
 Gradually
public hostility against the army died down. Another and
later army headquarters station was opened at Tenth and
Taylor streets. Today the up-to-date Salvation Army
citadel at 527 southwest Ankeny street and Sixth avenue
cost about $60,000. Expenses connected with it are partly
paid for by tithes of its congregation and public
offerings. It is only partly paid for and additional
funds are required.
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- William Booth, called General Booth
and father of the Salvation Army was born in England in
1865 and died in 1912.
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Even
after gaining respectability, the Salvation Army was not
immune to public hostility.
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Corvallis
Times January 7,
1897
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A PIECE OF
HOODLUMISM
- While the Salvation army
was busied with the usual nightly parade on Main street,
the other night, some unknown person emptied on the floor
of the barracks the contents of a bottle of skunk musk.
The musk is supposed to be the same that Barber Case
bought of a country lad, mention of which transaction was
made in the TIMES last issue.
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- When the army with its
congregation arrived at their headquarters to proceed
with the usual nightly meeting, the stench inside the
room was so vile that few people cared to brave it, even
in the hope of securing salvation free. The odor, it is
said, even hangs about and haunts the place to this day,
in spite of the fact that every effort was made to remove
it.
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- By the early 1900s the Salvation
Army had about twenty-five soldiers in Corvallis and ran
regular announcements in the city's papers trying to lure
people to their meetings by promising something more
lurid than a sermon on Salvation.
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Corvallis
Gazette January 5,
1900
- Unearthed! Exposed! Made public!
Terrible tragedy! Full details! Names given! A blood
stained bag! Ghastly contents to be exposed Saturday
night 8 o'clock at the Salvation Army hall, January 6th.
Full particulars of the greatest crime ever made public.
All are welcome.
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 Corvallis
Gazette May 5,
1901
- There is to be a stereopticon
entertainment at the Salvation Army hall next Tuesday
evening. Views of the Galveston horror will be shown with
explanatory notes by Chief Divisional Officer J. W.
Cousins; also illustrated songs by Adjt. Smith of
Portland. Major Harris will conduct services tomorrow and
Sunday at the usual hours.
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Corvallis
Gazette June 20,
1902
- Joe, the Turk, is to be the
attraction at the Salvation Army Hall tonight. He has an
international reputation, having traveled through
England, France, Greece and all over the United States.
He wears a full Turkish costume, and plays the coronet,
clarinet and saxophone. He will exhibit some photographs
of the Armenian massacres.
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And then Edmund Creffield
came to town.
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