St. Tammany farmer., 1906-09-08

6ooe OBSERVATION-DISCLOSURES
seattle.-1s there another girl on
earth as frtendless as Esther Mitchell.
1S years oil?
Not soul will say kind word for
her. No lawyer will take her case.
Not a newspaper will publish line
In her defense. Not woman will
come forward to cheer her up one
particle.
'And,"s say the men of two states,
Washington and Oregon, 1T serves
her right"
Esther Mitchell killed her brother.
He had just been acquitted on a
charge Of murder himself; he dared
take the life of Joshua Cref1eld,
head Of the sect of Holy Rollers. This
religious pervert, this fanatic, this
arch-conspirator against family and
home, had peculiar fascination over
women. He took wives. away from hus-
bands, mothers away from babies,
sweethearts away from lovers, daugh-
ters away from fathers, sisters away
from brothers.
Creffield took Esther Mitchell away
from her father and her brothers. He
told her that she was to be the mother
of the second Christ. And she be-
1ieved. She left her home; she sat at
the right hand of Crefield at the wild
goings-on of the Holy Rollers. She
forgot everything.
The brother begged her to come
home. She refused. He knew the
fate Of other girls like herself who had
Joined the Holy Rollers. So he saved
her from that fate. He killed Crefheld,
the man who said he was immortal.
And Esther Mitchell killed her bro
ther in the very self-same way be-
cause he killed the man whom she
took to be the personif1cation of God
upon earth, says correspondent of
the New York World. In cold truth,
on the other hand, Satan could have
learned much from Crefleld. And,
for this very reason, the girl who
killed her brother because he killed
the man she believed to be divine has
not a friend on earth.
Once a saIvationist.
Once upon a time Franz Edmund
Crefneld was Salvation Army officer
Three years ago he dropped that and
started q sect of his own. He gath
cred about him a little company of
followers on Kger island, in the Col
umbia river, Oregon. Most of them
came from the town Of Corvallis and
the little hamlets in the neighbor-
hood. Esther Mitchell was then q
slip Of girl, Just Is. She became
one Of his first converts. Her sister,
Mrs. Burgess Starr, also forsook her
husband for the man Crefheld. Maud
Hurt was his third convert, or rather
victim. She married him.
II am to be the father of the sec-
ond Christi" he proclaimed, and they
believed him. s4
More and more the women fiocked
to Cref1eld. Then the law took hand
and he was sent to the penitentiary
for second term. Most of his victims
went insane after that and, one by
one. were sent to asylums and re-
treats. A few recovered. Nothing
daunted. after serving his term Cref-
deld started in again. Once more Mrs.
Starr and Esther Mitchell, now
beautiful girl of Is, came ct his bid
ding They ran away from their
homes to do it.
And George Mitchell, farmer boy
Of 20, made up his mind that he would
save them II he could. Other men
who had suffered in the same way
went with him to find Creffield. They
were armed and they meant to
kill.
George Mitchell was the first to
run down the man. He heard that
this self-styled Joshua" was in Seat
lie. He came here; he found him in
the heart of the town.
There was just one shot. Crefleld
fell dead with bullet through the
middle of his brain. The whole state
was aflame with Joy at the deed. Cit
azens who had suffered at Crefneld's
hands hailed young Mitchell as their
deliverer. Corvallis raised hand.
some fund to defend the young man.
i Honorably Acquitted.
1 The boy was put on trial. His tech
nical defense was emotional insanity.
But his attorneys did not attempt to
disguise the fact that this plea was
simply a. legal loophold. To the IL
Jurors was told the whole sad story Of
the Holy Rollers. They needed no
more. George Mitchell was honorably
acquitted. 1t could not have been 9th
erwise. f8
George Mitchell was hailed as a
hero when he was formally discharged
from custody. He was offered a posi-
tion In Portland, and there he made
up his mind to 90. The three brothers
and Esther were gathered at the sta
ton here in Seattle.