-
Holy Rollers: Murder and
Madness in Oregon's Love Cult
-
by
-
T. McCracken and Robert B.
Blodgett
-
CHAPTER
FIVE
-
-
¥µ
-
My burdened
heart was sad and sore;
-
The things
that charmed me charmed me no
more;
-
The pleasures
that I once enjoyed Have left a sting,--my peace
destroyed.
-
I wandered
very far away; In Egypt I'll no longer
stay,
-
My Father's
house has and to spare; He offers still to me my
share.
-
Coming home,
yes, coming home, To Father's house I'm coming
home;
-
Jesus calls,
I'm coming home, To Father's house, no more to
roam.
-
From the
Reverend Knapp's Bible Songs of Salvation and
Victory
-
¥µ
-
 Step
three in starting a new church: Have one's followers obey
one implicitly. That's what Creffield did.
-
- This isn't as hard as it
sounds. At this point in starting a new church, even
someone who began with the intention of duping people is
probably beginning to believe his own message. All
these other people believe I am a special messenger from
God--if not His exclusive messenger--so maybe I am. And
if I am really God's exclusive messenger, that surely
must mean I am in possession of special insights that
ordinary mortals lack. So why shouldn't I be telling
people how to live their lives? I know better than they
do.
-
- Joshua [as the flock
now called Creffield] knew better than God's Anointed
[as the flock now called themselves]--or so he
and God's Anointed thought.
- They believed he had
been given "the authority to regulate the details of
their daily life"--even small details. For example, he
said that to lead a holy life, they must never use
candles or other forms of artificial light--"everything
except the light of day was eschewed."
-
- As on Smith Island,
Joshua said that it was necessary for them to frequently
roll about the floor until their sins had been atoned
for--and he alone would know when that was. And so God's
Anointed obeyed, rolling and praying so loudly that
neighbors said the noise could be heard a quarter of a
mile away from the Hurts' house.
-
 "When
they got together for the religious services, all would
lie on the floor," O. V. Hurt said. "Creffield would walk
among them and sometimes he would roll about, too. While
lying this way they were supposed to receive messages
from God. Creffield would keep telling them to pray and
shout with all their might or God would smite them. . . .-
-
- "He would keep telling
them that God would smite them unless they did as he
said. He claimed to be the Savior. I have known Creffield
to keep them rolling about on the floor in this manner
for from twelve to twenty four hours at one
time."
-
- Joshua established rules
about how God's Anointed were to eat, how they were to
sleep, practically how they were to think. In order to
eat, Joshua had to "sanctify" all that was consumed by
God's Anointed by touching it with his hands. This
sanctification made what had been unfit, fit for
consumption. For almost a week all he would sanctify was
bread and water--so, according to Joshua, they would know
hunger.
-
- Then he sanctified
nothing, not even bread and water: "And he caused it to
be proclaimed and published through Nineveh, by the
decree of the king and his nobles, saying Let neither man
nor beast, herd nor flock taste any thing; let them not
feed, nor drink water."--Jonah 3:7. Joshua said he had
been directed to tell them that they that were to fast,
or he would be taken away from them.
Joshua ruled that men,
women and children were all to sleep together on the
floor in the same room while wearing little clothing.
They were to do this so, according to Joshua, they would
know cold.
-
- Joshua established rules
about whom they could communicate with. If someone wasn't
one of God's Anointed, refused to accept the "spirit,"
Joshua told them to have no dealings with "the
infidels"--even if the infidels were members of their own
families. "Those of your own household may fight you,"
Joshua warned. "When you get baptized with fire your
friends become few."
-
- The flock may have been
half starved, cold, and estranged from their families,
but they were God's Anointed. They were special. Their
names were inscribed on a Holy Roll in Heaven. Could
naysayers say the same?
-
- Which brought up the
problem of O. V. Hurt. He refused to join Joshua's
church, but living in his home, God's Anointed were
having regular dealings with him. They now referred to
him as the "Black Devil," and repeatedly warned him that
God would "smite" him unless he made peace with God.
Meanwhile, O. V. tolerated the Holy Rollers' presence in
his home because he loved his wife and children dearly
and hoped that by having them near him--instead of being
off on some island doing God knows what--they might come
to their senses.
-
 He
and Sarah, forty-two, had been married for twenty-three
years. They had met on the Oregon coast, where Sarah had
grown up. When her family, the Starrs, including her
brothers Burgess and Clarence and her sister Georgianah,
had first moved to the coast in 1873, they squatted in an
old Indian hut on the Siletz Indian Reservation. The
Reservation was created at a time when the government was
trying to "civilize" Indians. "Civilized" people were
Christians who tilled the soil, wore cotton or wool
clothing, and spoke English. The government parceled out
reservations among Christian denominations, and the
Methodists--those infidels--were given the Siletz Indian
Reservation.
-
 When
they were first married, O. V. and Sarah lived at the
Starrs' homestead on the Yachats River. It was there that
their three children were born--a forth child, Mary Edna,
had died in infancy. Later the Hurts moved to the
reservation school, where O. V. worked as a teacher and
Sarah as the matron. Because of disharmony among the
Methodists working for the Indian Agency, the Hurts left
the reservation in 1893. They moved to Corvallis where
they had since lived peacefully and happily.
-
- Now, when Sarah Hurt's
brother, Burgess Starr, came to see his wife, Donna, at
the Hurts' home, she refused to so much as shake hands
with him. Joshua had warned her to not touch anyone who
had "relations with the wicked world," even her husband:
"Be ye not unequally yoked together with unbelievers: for
what fellowship hath righteousness with unrighteousness?
and what communion hath light with darkness?"--II
Corinthians 6:14.
-
 At
first, when Warren Hartley went to the Hurts' to try and
persuade his mother and sister, Cora and Sophie, to go
home, they lay on the floor in something like a trance
and showed almost no signs of recognizing him. When they
finally did acknowledge him, they said they weren't about
to leave the "holiest of holies." Warren then wired his
father to return posthaste from the Bohemia Mining
District.
Lewis was aghast when he
heard about the goings-on back home. He'd attended a few
of Creffield's meetings when he'd first started preaching
in Corvallis, but thought the man was harmless--Lewis was
one of those who summed up his opinion by tapping a
finger on his forehead. Why wasn't his wife home taking
care of their their magnificent new ten-room house? This
was 1903 and that's what women were supposed to do in
1903--especially proper women, women who were the wives
of respected men, women of high character and standing,
God-fearing, decent women.
For heaven's sakes, if
Cora was bored and wanted to join some group why didn't
she join one of the many fraternal organizations that
flourished in Corvallis, organizations such as the
Oddfellows, the Masons, the United Workmen, or the Good
Templars? Then again, the Good Templars, a temperance
group, was the only group that accepted women as members.
And how would it have looked if Cora had joined them when
it was known her husband drank--not to excess, mind you,
but still he was known to have a drink or two on
occasion.
-
- When Lewis arrived at
the Hurts' to collect his wife and daughter, Cora told
him to go away. Joshua had enlightened her about
marriage, how it was "unholy," and how "eternal
damnation" was what awaited "wives and children who did
not separate themselves from unbelieving husbands and
parents."
- Lewis could not contain
himself. Were the rumors true? he asked Cora. Were orgies
taking place in the Hurts' home? Cora, who had never lied
to him before, said they were not.
-
- How O. V. Hurt managed
to live in this chaos and still maintain his job for as
long as he did was a marvel to people. It was an
extraordinary man who could come home from work daily,
find twenty-some people rolling about his living room
floor beseeching, "Oh, God, oh, Jesus," and return to
work the next morning as though life at home were normal.
But finally the "Babel of weird sounds" took its
toll.
On Wednesday,
October 28th, O. V. succumbed to Creffield's will, or saw
the light. He resigned from his position at the
Mercantile, sent a note in with his keys that said he had
"been living in sin" and that hereafter he intended to
devote himself "to the work of God." Signs were posted on
the Hurts' porch and door: "Positively no admittance
except on God's business."
- "Instead of the neatly
dressed man of a few weeks ago," the Telegram reported, "Hurt now wears the poorest kind of clothes,
and his face is partly hidden behind a sprouting beard of
several days' growth. He wears a soft shirt and a slouch
hat, and his general appearance betrays a heavy mental
strain."
-
- "I believe all those who
are followers of our faith are sincere and honest in
their belief ,"O. V. said. "I have not so much faith as
have they, but I justify them in their belief, and trust
that since their views are but slightly in advance of
what has been the foundation of many new sects, they are
not unlike many who have preceded them and are therefore
not justifiably the subject of contempt and ridicule.
They preach the faith of John Wesley. They believe no
more than many another sect has taught, the difference
being that other sects after gaining ground and followers
have begun to pander to the worldly."
-
 The
day after O. V. quit his job, a housecleaning took place
at his home. People in Corvallis usually did a thorough
housecleaning twice a year--once in the spring and once
in the fall. During a typical fall cleaning, people took
their carpets outdoors and beat them with a
carpet-beater. The carpets were then laid back down on a
padding of fresh straw, and tacked to the floor.
Curtains, most of which were white lace hanging on brass
rings from walnut or white poles, were washed, boiled,
blued, and starched. While still damp they were pinned to
a curtain frame to dry. While the curtains dried, the
windows were washed until they sparkled.
-
- Any items one didn't
want, Jake Bloomberg took off one's hands. Jake drove a
team and wagon about the county collecting things for his
junk shop. "Any rags, any bags, any bottles today?" he
would yell as he approached a house. "The junk-man is
coming your way." Outgrown clothing was given to those
with smaller children or made over. Garments no longer
usable were cut into strips, the strips were sewn end to
end, and the long strip was wound into a ball. Balls of
this sort were then given to a woman with a hand loom who
wove them into rugs and carpets. Nothing was ever
wasted.
-
- The Hurts' housecleaning
that fall, though, was in no way typical. On Joshua's
orders, the flock took all of the Hurts' furniture
outside. . . and set it on fire! The flock then took
bric-a-brac, kitchen utensils, mandolins, heirlooms,
photos and other goods received from "carnal" hands, and
put them on the fire.
-
- "When God sets us
a-going, we will be like King Asa," Joshua preached, "cut
down the groves, not stopping at that, but go right up,
with drawn sword, and smash the idols of our own
household, and make the inmates come down, down, down,
until God can lift them up. Hallelujah! This is love
divine. Have you got it? 'Buy the truth, and sell it
not,' says God's Word."
-
- Frank Hurt took his
Cleveland bicycle, the one he rode from Corvallis to
Oregon City in record time, and put it on the fire. He
watched it burn alongside Mae Hurt's fine guitar, the one
she won for once having the nation's second highest sales
of the Salvation Army's War Cry.
-
- Shotguns, dishes, baby
buggies, and a stove were destroyed. Outside, wooden
walks were torn up, and flowers, shrubbery, grapevines,
and fruit trees were uprooted and added to the fire.
Finally, a score of chickens, a cat, and a dog were added
to the fire.
-
- Cora Hartley, and her
daughter, Sophie, went to their house, smashed their
heirloom china, and hauled what possessions they could
manage to the fire at the Hurts'. Not that there was much
left in the Hartleys' new ten-room house. The two women
had already sold most of their valuables and furniture to
raise money for Joshua.
-
- They then stripped
Warren Hartley's place of photographs of his friends and
other goods received from carnal hands, and added them to
the fire at the Hurts'. When Warren discovered this, he
got a gun and started on a "Holy Roller hunt." Had his
friends not intervened, there would have been, he said
"several 'apostles' knocking for admittance at the golden
gate that night."
-
- Una Baldwin, Sarah
Hurt's niece, went to her home and packed her clothing
and other belongings in a trunk. She put it on the porch
for a drayman to have it transported to the Hurts', where
it was to be added to the fire. Word was sent to her
father, Edwin Baldwin, and he arrived in time to prevent
her carnal goods from being taken to the Hurts'. But he
was too late to prevent his daughter's
return.
-
- A second fire was
started at the Starrs'. Their neighbors were awakened by
a bright light and, assuming a house was on fire, jumped
out of bed. When they got outside, they saw it wasn't a
house on fire, but the Starrs' household idols--furniture
and other household goods--going up in
flames.
-
 Everyone
in Creffield's flock now claimed to be in constant
communication with God--not directly in communication
with God, mind you, but in communication with God through
Joshua, God's exclusive messenger on earth. Anyone who
couldn't comprehend such an idea didn't understand
Joshua's great overriding mission--whatever that might
be. He hadn't filled the flock in on all the details yet,
but he would. Soon.
-
- God's Anointed also had
a new prayer, one they prayed silently to themselves: Please, God, don't let Joshua be
wrong.
-
- What fools they would
look like if Creffield was wrong . . . so he couldn't be
wrong. Please, God, don't let Joshua be
wrong.
-
- Creffield no longer had
to press God's Anointed to trust that he was having
one-to-one chats with the Almighty. They provided the
pressure all by themselves. They needed him now as much
as he needed them. Now his goals--whatever those were, he
would tell them soon--became their own.
- Please, God, don't
let Joshua be wrong!
-
- The newspapers had a
grand time with the story. "Rules of etiquette have been
discarded," the Telegram reported. "The members
apparently are drifting back to the mode of existence of
people upon whom the stamp of civilization has not yet
been placed."
-
- "The Indians of the
Quinault Agency are typical 'Holy Rollers,'" the Oregonian quipped. "Under the influence of
religious excitement they roll from side to side until
exhausted. There is no record, however, that they have
broken up their furniture, roasted dogs and cats alive,
or performed other sacrificial rites which lately made
the Corvallis contingent conspicuous as physical
demonstrators of 'religion.' But then the poor Indian is
but recently civilized."
-
 Many
of O. V. Hurt's friends went to his home and pleaded to
see him. Creffield or Brooks, however, met all callers,
and wouldn't let anyone enter the premises. O. V. was
"seeking God," they always said, and could not be
disturbed. They themselves never stayed outside long
because their presence was needed inside to receive the
latest "message from the Holy Ghost."-
- Almost no topics other
than the goings-on at the Hurts' were discussed on the
streets of Corvallis the next day. The walks between the
Hurts' house and Mary's River Bridge were lined with the
curious. There are some estimates that as many as 2,000
of the city's 3,000 citizens came to do a little prurient
prying that day.
-
- What had been whispered
about before was now talked about openly. Were things
other than religious services taking place among the Holy
Rollers? Would Creffield and Brooks, "two huskies" really
live in a locked house with a number of young girls, and
do nothing but pray all day? Was Creffield taking
advantage of the "weak minded"? Was Creffield preaching
more than love--was he preaching "free love"?
-
- And what about Martha,
the baby the Hurts' had recently adopted? Had she really
been burned along with the dog and cat?
¥µ
-
I came to
Jesus long ago all laden down with
sin,
-
I sought Him
long for pard'ning grace, He would not take me
in.
-
At last I
found the reason why as light came more and
more;
-
I had a shelf
with idols on just in behind the
door.
-
That shelf
behind the door--don't use it any
more;
-
But quickly
clean that corner out from ceiling to the
floor;
-
For Jesus
wants His temple clean, He can not bless you
more,
-
Unless you
take those idols out from behind the
door.
-
From the
Reverend Knapp's Bible Songs of Salvation and
Victory
-
¥µ
|
|
