Murdering Holiness
The Trials of Franz Creffield and George Mitchell
A riveting microhistory and legal examination of the murders and subsequent trials associated with the Holy Roller sect of the Pacific Northwest in the early twentieth century.
Description
Murdering Holiness explores the story of the "Holy
Roller" sect led by Franz Creffield in the early years of the
twentieth century. In the opening chapters, the authors introduce us to
the community of Corvallis, Oregon, where Creffield, a charismatic,
self-styled messiah, taught his followers to forsake their families and
worldly possessions and to seek salvation through him. As his teachings
became more extreme, the local community reacted: Creffield was tarred
and feathered and his followers were incarcerated in the state asylum.
Creffield himself was later imprisoned for adultery, but shortly after
his release he revived the sect. This proved too much for some of the
adherents' families, and in May 1906 George Mitchell, the brother
of two women in the sect, pursued Creffield to Seattle and shot him
dead.