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| Pine Bluff, Arkansas, Circa 1900, two unidentified men Courtesy of the Arkansas State Archives |
Many people have made end-of-the-world predictions over the
years, but in 1903, one young woman prophesied the city of Pine Bluff would
meet its end.
In the spring of 1903, Ellen Burnett Jefferson, a 22-year-old
cook in Pine Bluff, began having strange feelings that something dangerous was
going to happen. “(B)ut I could not tell what it was or where the fear came
from,” she said.
Then, at the beginning of May, her feelings intensified, and
she fell into a trance. Jefferson claimed she had a vision of heaven while in
the trance. She said God told her Pine Bluff was going to be destroyed after 6
p.m. May 29 by a flood and a cyclone because of the city’s wickedness. She also
said God told her to warn the people of Pine Bluff to leave the city or else
perish.
Jefferson opened her home to anyone willing to listen to her
prophecy. Over the course of the next few weeks, Jefferson’s neighbors were
treated to her sermons about the destruction of the town. Many who came to hear
her were convinced, while others remained skeptical. She warned her listeners
that around 6 p.m. on Friday, May 29, a dark cloud would appear on the horizon
and begin to make its way toward the town. At the same time, another dark cloud
would come toward Pine Bluff from the opposite direction. The two clouds would
crash into one another directly over the city causing the death of most of the
city’s inhabitants. Word spread slowly, but people began to listen to her
prediction.
Tensions built over the next week. At 7:38 p.m. May 20, a
few people saw a pigeon land on the big hand of the Jefferson County Courthouse
clock. Immediately, word spread through the crowd on the street that it was
part of Jefferson’s prophesy, which reportedly predicted a white dove would
descend from heaven and land on the clock at exactly that time. The weight of
the pigeon prevented the clock’s hands from continuing to move. R.H. Stearns, a
jewelry store owner, climbed the tower and shooed away the pigeon before
resetting the clock. Jefferson later denied having made such a prophecy, but
the damage was done. Several of those who had been skeptical of Jefferson’s
visions now had proof the woman was a true prophetess.
What had begun as a trickle of people rushing out of town
now became an avalanche. Many homeowners sold their residences for a fraction
of what they were worth in order to afford a quick train ride out of town. The
Pine Bluff Graphic estimated as many as 8,000 Pine Bluff residents left over the
course of a couple of weeks. Mills and factories ground to a halt, and schools
closed because there were not enough teachers. Hotels closed for lack of visitors
and no bellhops to assist the few visitors who dared to come to town.
As Pine Bluff’s citizens continued to leave the city,
Sheriff James Gould served an arrest warrant on Jefferson hoping that silencing
her might help end the hysteria. The sheriff charged her with the crime of
“lunacy” and whisked her away for a mental health evaluation at the state
hospital in Little Rock.
On the morning of May 29, the day Jefferson predicted Pine
Bluff would be destroyed, meteorologists forecasted clouds and a small chance
of rain. Jefferson, who sat in a Little Rock jail cell, declared she had
another vision. This time a storm would wipe out the Pulaski County jail unless
she was freed. When the storm did not appear on time, Jefferson told her
jailers, “It’ll wait until tomorrow now.”
In Pine Bluff, the clouds grew dark as night fell on the
city. Those who remained in Pine Bluff grew more alarmed as the light rain grew
in intensity and developed into a hail storm. By 11 p.m., the storm ended and
all was calm. The Arkansas Gazette mused, “The Pine Bluff cyclone gave a free
concert in the streets and then canceled the date for the big show.”
The next morning, Jefferson’s jailers decided to free Jefferson
and allow her to return to Pine Bluff. When
asked why the cyclone did not materialize, she replied that perhaps there was
enough repentance in the city that it was spared. As she boarded the train,
Sheriff Deputy Barney Stiel warned her “to keep her next vision quiet or the
weather bureau would never give her a job.”
After being ridiculed, Jefferson and her husband left Pine
Bluff and settled in Ruston, Louisiana. It is likely she had become a pariah in
town, especially among those who had sold their property at a severe discount to
escape the destruction she falsely predicted. After her move, Jefferson began
to predict cyclones for Ruston. The people of Ruston, however, decided not to
believe her. Ruston still stands to this day.
For information about the history of Pine Bluff, visit the Arkansas
State Archives at 1 Capitol Mall, Suite 215, or call 501-682-6900.
