I am an admirer of the English philosopher Charles Chaplin, who observed that "Life is a tragedy when seen in close-up, but a comedy in long-shot”. As an example I now present the life of Franz Edmund Creffeld, who began life in 1871 with an extreme long shot in the far off kingdom of Germany.
Franz trained for the priesthood but was then forced to leave Germany and the Catholic Church in order to avoid military service.
He immigrated to the United States, and in 1899 he arrived in the little town of Corvallis, Oregon, wearing the uniform (above) of a lieutenant in the Salvation Army.
Corvallis was (and is) a farming community on the West bank of the Willamette River, about half way between Portland and Eugene. At the turn of the 20th century it was home to nine churches, an Odd Fellows Hall, a Freemasons Lodge and a small core of about 25 adherents to the relatively new Salvation Army.
The organization was revolutionary. William Booth (above, center) , the Army's founder, often became so possessed by "The Spirit" that he writhed on the floor and babbled in tongues. Also the Army was one of the few social or religious organizations at the turn of the century in which woman could hold respected leadership positions.
Despite these socially advanced elements, by 1903 the 29 year old Lt. Creffeld, was finding the strict doctrine and command structure of the Salvation Army to be too restrictive. Franz chose instead to build upon his congregation, which contained a majority of women. And alone in the wilderness he led them off the Salvation Army reservation.
In the summer of 1903, under Franz's direction and in an act of extraordinary sexual independence for the time, the two dozen female members built, with their own hands, a meeting house on Kiger Island, a 2200 acre wooded sanctuary in the Willamette River, just south of Corvallis.
That summer the sect was bursting with curious women and girls drawn to the power of the handsome charismatic Franz Creffeld's preaching and the forbidden hints of feminism. His Salvation Army commanders described Lt. Creeffeld’s adherents as “Come-Outers” but they described themselves as “Holy Rollers”.
Come winter the revolution shifted back to town, into the home and family of prominent local businessman and convert, Mr. O.P. Hunt,, Mrs. Hunt, their sons and daughters - particularly their youngest daughter Maude Hunt (above) . Mr. Hunt hung a sign over his front door: “Positively No Admittance Except on God's Business”. The return to town brought increased scrutiny from the unconverted males of Corvallis, and they did not like what they observed. Even less did they like what they suspected.
Rumors told of nighttime naked rambles in the wilds of Kiger Island. And when the wooden sidewalks around the Hunt home were torn up and burned, along with stacks of furniture and piles of kitchen utensils, all to cleanse the Hunt family's soul of the temptation represented by physical property, one of the local newspapers suggested “…a condition bordering on insanity”.
Franz's flock were encouraged to wear old clothes instead of new. Members were discouraged from having contact with family members who were not Creffeld's followers. Indeed, the now bearded Franz began referring to himself as a prophet. He announced that henceforth he was to be called “Joshua II” It was too much for a good Christian manhood of Corvallis to tolerate.
On the night of 4 January, 1904 a dozen or so self described “white cappers” (adorning themselves in the Klu Klux Klan’s white robes) set upon Franz Creffeld and on Mister Hunt. The pair were dragged to the edge of town. There both men were threatened with tar and feathers. (I doubt they actually applied the treatment since the usual effect of hot tar on human flesh is serious burns, often resulting in the victim’s death. No such injury was recorded by Creffeld.)
More likely Franz was merely roughed up, frightened and then chased into the woods, where later Mrs. Hunt and Maude were able to find and secretly escort the prophet back to their home. Shortly thereafter the town was appeased by news that “Joshua” and young Maude Hunt (above) had been married. The sexual escapades of “Joshua”, real or imagined, would seemed to have been ended.
Still it was clear that the locals had reached some sort of limit. Although there had never been more than 20 adherents to "Joshua/Franz's sect, a half dozen of his young female followers were committed by their parents to the “Boys and Girls Aid Society” - including O.P. Hunt’s son and his new bride. Others were shipped off to relatives out of state. One or two women were even committed to the state lunatic asylum, in Salem.
A sullen quite catching of breath settled over the town. But that ended in April of 1904 when the Portland police issued an arrest warrant for Franz on a charge of adultery with a young adherent from that town, Esther Mitchel. The aggrieved party was George Mitchel, Esther's elder brother. George even posted a $150 reward for the arrest of "Joshua".
Franz immediately disappeared, and was not seen again in Corvallis until August, when he was discovered by a young boy. The Prophet Joshua was filthy, nude and starving, hiding beneath the Hunt household.
Arrested and tried in Portland, Franz was found guilty of adultery and sentenced to two years in the state prison.
And it was upon his arrival there, shaved and bathed, that we get our first (and only) clear look at the real Franz Creffeld. He stood five feet six inches tall, and weighed 135 pounds. There is something mystical about his eyes. They were “hypnotic”, glaring defiantly, almost mockingly, into the camera. For the first time you can begin to get a feeling for the power and attraction of this man's lunacy. This was the man all those women were swooning for?
Jail could not restrain or reform Franz Creffeld. He was released, with time off for good behavior, in February of 1906. What he could not know at the time was that he had barely three months left to live.
Out of jail, Franz immediately reconstituted his flock, especially the Hunt family, who sold their property in Corvallis and used the funds to purchase property near the small town of Waldport, where Alsea Bay meets the Pacific Ocean.
The Hunt family had deep roots in Waldport, but even here the bizarre practises of Franz's church caused friction, in particular when a young girl spied several female followers cavorting naked on the beach. And, after one male family member tired to take a shot at him, Franz decided it would be safer to move to the more cosmopolitan Seattle, Washington.
And it was in Seattle, on 7 May, 1906, that Franz (Joshua II) Creffeld and Maude, out for a walk, paused in front of Quick’s Drugstore on First Street. There George Mitchell, convinced his sister Esther had been and was still being violated by the prophet, shot Franz in the back of the head. The prophet died instantly.
George Mitchell was tried in Seattle. His lawyers skillfully put The Prophet's behavior on trial. On 10 July, 1906 the jury came back after deliberating for just an hour and a half. To no one's surprise the verdict was “not guilty”.
After celebrating for three days, George Mitchell was preparing for a reconciliation meeting with his sister Esther at the Seattle train station, when he was gunned down - by his own sister, Esther Mitchell.
She told the first police to arrive, “Of course I killed George. He killed Joshua the Prophet, didn’t he? What else was there for us to do?” The Seattle Police Chief, Charles Wappenstein, complained, “I wish these Oregon people would kill each other on their own side of the river.”
Esther’s use of the word “us” was correct. Maude had bought the gun and Esther had used it.
While awaiting trial for this offense. Maude drank strychnine. Her father, O.V. Hunt, arraigned to have Franz’s body exhumed and reburied next to Maude’s.
At her trial for the murder of her brother, Esther Mitchell was judged to be insane. For three years she survived in the Washington State Asylum at Steilacoom. She was released on 5 April, 1909, and was according to the hospital staff, “thoroughly disgusted with herself”. That diagnosis would appear to have been incorrect. Mr. O.V. Hunt collected Ethe and took her with him back to Waldport. There Esther managed to find some peace, and in 1914 at the age of 26, she married.
But three months later Esther ("X") drank strychnine, just like Maude. It was time for the final fade to black. Except there was to be a sequel.
On 26 March, 1997, outside of San Diego, California, some 40 members of the religious group “Heaven’s Gate”, committed suicide. It was, they believed, the price for a ticket aboard the space ship approaching earth from behind the comet Hale Bop. About twenty of those deluded unfortunates were decedents of the Franz Creffeld’s movement, who had been recruited from Waldport in September of 1975. Final fade to black.
Fade in a title card, which reads; Tom Stoppard, another Englishman wrote, “The bad end unhappily, the good unluckily. That is what tragedy means”.
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