low, degenerate and brutal, and if permitted, I would like an opportunity to testify before the grand jury, before Mitchell is indicted … I think the taking of the law in one’s own hands, under such circumstances, to mete out summary justice is almost excusable.". Mackintosh was appalled by Manning’s suggestion. O.V. Hurt, Creffield's father-in-law, hired one of the best law firms in Seattle to defend George. Numerous witnesses testified to telling George that "free love" took place in 1903. They said they told George that Creffield preached that Christ would be reborn and one of the Brides of Christ would be the new Mary and that he needed to lay his hands upon them and purify them. They said they told George that mothers were debauched in front of their daughters, including Sarah and her then sixteen-year-old daughter, Mae. They said they told George that finally Creffield announced that the new Mary was Esther Mitchell, the then sixteen-year-old sister of George." Many believe that much of the testimony was perjury, a tactic to avoid hearsay and put Creffield on trial. George was found not guilty by reason of insanity and released. Two days later, Esther shot and killed him using a gun Maud bought using their witness fees. O.V. was devastated, but still loved his daughter so he hired the same lawyers who had defended George, to defend her. Before the case went to trial, Maud committed suicide. Esther was found not guilty by reason of insanity and committed to Western State Hospital, an asylum in Steilacoom, Washington. Esther was released from the asylum in 1909. She died by suicide in 1914. See also List of people who have claimed to be Jesus Messiah complex Footnotes Further reading Gerald J. Baldasty, Vigilante Newspapers: A Tale of Sex, Religion, and Murder in the Northwest. Seattle, WA: University of Washington Press, 2005. Linda Crew, Brides of Eden: A True Story Imagined. (Historical fiction.) New York: Harper Collins, 2001. Rosemary Gartner and Jim Phillips, "The Creffield-Mitchell Case, Seattle, 1906: The Unwritten Law in the Pacific Northwest," Pacific Northwest Quarterly, vol. 94, no. 2 (Spring, 2003), pp. 69–82. In JSTOR Theresa McCracken and Robert B. Blodgett, Holy Rollers: Murder and Madness in Oregon's Love Cult. Caldwell, ID: Caxton Press, 2002. Jim Phillips and Rosemary Gartner, Murdering Holiness: The Trials of Franz Creffield and George Mitchell. Vancouver, BC: UBC Press, 2003. Minerva Kiger Reynolds,