Talk:Adam God (evangelist)

Ministry

The Beginning

• As the story goes, a meteor landed near Sharp's farm in Woodward County, Oklahoma, prompting a sudden conversion.
• "METEOR A MESSENGER OF THE WRATH OF HEAVEN", The Tribune (Hicksville, Ohio): 3, 7 January 1909, https://www.newspapers.com/newspage/35339902/  [details]

Oklahoma City (1905-1906)

• "HOLY ROLLERS ARE KICKING - CLAIM THEY ARE VICTIMS OF THE OKLAHOMA POLICE - SAY THEY ARE MARTYRS", Morning Tulsa Daily World (Tulsa, Ok.): 4, 4 August 1906, https://www.newspapers.com/newspage/77734749/ 
• "HOLY ROLLERS ARE DISTURBING PEACE - JAMES SHARP, WHO CLAIMS TO BE GOD, IS CAUSING THE TROUBLE", Shawnee News (Shawnee, Ok.) 9 (253): 1, 9 August 1906, http://gateway.okhistory.org/ark:/67531/metadc136386/m1/1/ 
• "'ADAM' AND FLOCK MARCH TO COAST - Tired Children in Motley Crowd that Follows James F. Sharp", Minneapolis Journal (Minneapolis, Mn.): 2, 22 August 1906, http://chroniclingamerica.loc.gov/lccn/sn83045366/1906-08-22/ed-1/seq-2/ 
• "As Crazy as Doukhobors", The River Press (Fort Menton, Mont.) 26 (46): 1, 5 September 1906, http://chroniclingamerica.loc.gov/lccn/sn85053157/1906-09-05/ed-1/seq-1/ 
• "SEEK EDEN ON THE PACIFIC - Self-Styled Adam Leads Band of Half Clad Followers", Chickasha Daily Express (Chickasha, Indian Territory) 7 (236): 6, 25 September 1906, http://chroniclingamerica.loc.gov/lccn/sn86090528/1906-09-25/ed-1/seq-6/ 

• (During his murder trial, Sharp reported he had been mentored by John Adkins (Aitken) during his group's time at Oklahoma City. Morning Tulsa Daily World, above, mentions Aitken died while in the asylum at Norman; later reports suggest this to be false, that he was released in 1906, then re-arrested after rejoining the Sharp camp.)

Colorado (1907)

• "I Shall Dress Only in Fig Leaf as I did in the Garden of Eden", Indianapolis Star (Indianapolis, Ind.): 55, 10 February 1907, https://www.newspapers.com/newspage/118683603/ 

Canada (1908)

• Barry, Bill, The Adamite Invasion, virtualsk.com, http://www.virtualsk.com/current_issue/adamite.html  — [Attempted join up with Doukhobors in Manitoba, but were rebuffed.]
• "Appendix C. Annual Report of Superintendent G. E. Sanders, D.S.O., Regina", Sessional Papers, First Session of the Eleventh Parliament of the Dominion of Canada, Session 1909, 16, 1909, p. 42-43, https://archive.org/details/n16sessionalpaper43canauoft  — [official Mounted Police report of the events to the Canadian parliament]

Sharpe's letter to the Mounted Police: "To save bloodshed, use some judgment; if you are determined to take me dead or alive, I would rather you would shoot me from ambush and not shoot any of my followers, and then you would not be taking chances of getting shot. I will never give up alive. If I have to continue being among sinful men I had rather die; none can say that Jesus is the Christ only by the Holy Ghost. The spirit came to Christ in the shape of a dove and it came to me in the shape of a lion; as it is written I would be like a lion among the Gentiles, according to the Scriptures; I would be raised up of your brethren. I don't want to kill; I want to do good. David and Jesus Christ is one. When the Doukhobors receive me, then the Lord will prove me, and your eyes can open wide."

• MacBeth, R. G. (1922), "On Land and Sea", Policing the Plains: Being the Real-Life Record of the Famous Royal North-West Mounted Police, London, New York, Toronto: Hodder and Stoughton, Ltd., p. 248-249, https://archive.org/details/policingplainsbe00macbuoft  — [briefly details the incursion into Canada, conflict with Mounted Police]
• Johnson, Gilbert (1970), "The Adamites", Saskatchewan History 23 (2): 70-74 

Kansas City and the "Adam God" Riot (1908)

Detailed coverage: http://www.vintagekansascity.com/100yearsago/labels/Fourth%20street

• "RIOT OF FANATICS CAUSES 2 DEATHS. Five Other Persons Wounded, Two Fatally, When Kansas City Police Fight Religious Band.", Chicago Daily Tribune (Chicago, Il.) 67 (295), 9 December 1908, http://archives.chicagotribune.com/1908/12/09/page/1/article/riot-of-fanatics-causes-2-deaths 
• "OFFICERS HAVE BLOODY BATTLE WITH FANATICS - RELIGIOUS RIOT IN KANSAS CITY FATAL TO FOUR - OVER 100 SHOTS EXCHANGED NEAR CITY HALL", Los Angeles Herald (Los Angeles, Ca.) 36 (69): 1, 9 December 1908, https://cdnc.ucr.edu/cgi-bin/cdnc?a=d&d=LAH19081209.2.10 
• "FATAL FRACAS WITH FANATICS - Spectacular Career of "Adam God" and His Band Ended With a Street Fight in Kansas City", Ocala Evening Star (Ocala, Fl.): 4, 10 December 1908, http://ufdcimages.uflib.ufl.edu/UF/00/07/59/08/01022/0635.pdf 
• "'ADAM GOD' CAPTURED. Found Sleeping Under Haystack — The Fanatic Pratt and Policeman Dead.", New York Times (New York, NY), 11 December 1908 
• ""Adam God" and Wife Held on Murder Charge", Topeka Daily Capital (Topeka, Ka.): 1, 13 December 1908, https://www.newspapers.com/newspage/64172368/ 

The Trial (1909)

• "SLAYER DENOUNCES PRISON EVANGELIST - RIOT LEADER SAYS MINISTER ABUSED HIM - James Sharp, Fanatic on Trial at Kansas City, Makes Charges Which Prove to Be Unfounded", Los Angeles Herald (Los Angeles, Ca.) 36 (238), 27 May 1909, https://cdnc.ucr.edu/cgi-bin/cdnc?a=d&d=LAH19090527.2.74 
• "'ADAM GOD' GUILTY OF MURDER", Chicago Tribune (Chicago, Il.): 69, 30 May 1909, http://archives.chicagotribune.com/1909/05/30/page/69/article/adam-god-guilty-of-murder 
• "RELIGIOUS FANATIC RELIEVES THE LORD OF RESPONSIBILITY - 'Adam God,' Who Led Riot in Which Five Were Killed, Now Admits That He Was Mistaken", Weekly Courier (Fort Collins, Co.) 31 (28), 9 December 1908, https://www.coloradohistoricnewspapers.org/cgi-bin/colorado?a=d&d=TWC19081209.2.135 
• "THE INSANITY OF IDEATION", Oklahoma State Register (Guthrie, Ok.) 17 (41): 4, 17 December 1908, http://gateway.okhistory.org/ark:/67531/metadc112628/m1/4/, ""I am no longer 'Adam God.' I'm just plain James Sharp." This was the statement of James Sharp, leader of the religious fanatics, whose fearful hallucination ended in the bloody battle in Kansas City. "A long time ago I followed a man named Green who told me he was Jesus Christ and that I was his son. We traveled through Oklahoma together, studying deeply the Bible. The more I studied the more I came to know that I was the son of God. Then I believed that all persons who opposed me were enemies of the Creator." 
• "ADAM GOD IS BEING TRIED - DEPOSITION BEING TAKEN IN OKLAHOMA CITY TO PROVE INSANITY - Religious Fanatics Startled Oklahoma by Nude Procession and Then Tried Hard at Ridding Earth of Devil's Chosen in Kansas City", Weekly Oklahoma State Capital (Guthrie, Ok.) 21 (7): 1, 22 May 1909, http://gateway.okhistory.org/ark:/67531/metapth352928/m1/1/ 
• "'ADAM GOD' GETS 25 YEARS IN STATE PRISON - He Killed a Kansas City Policeman in a Religious Riot", Norwich Bulletin (Norwich, Ct.) 51 (128): 1, 31 May 1909, http://chroniclingamerica.loc.gov/lccn/sn82014086/1909-05-31/ed-1/seq-1.pdf 
• "MELISSA SHARP RELEASED", Arkansas City Daily Traveler (Arkansas City, Kan.): 3, 2 November 1909, https://www.newspapers.com/newspage/53466878/ 

Later Years

• "After 45 Trying Years, Missouri Woman Is Still Loyal to Her Husband", Indian Journal (Eufaula, Ok): 7, 11 June 1931, https://www.newspapers.com/newspage/5781253/ 
• "Obituary notice", Joplin Globe (Joplin, Mo.): 7, 12 March 1946, https://www.newspapers.com/newspage/38525088/  [Quote: Sharp died here Friday morning after collapsing Thursday on a downtown street corner where he had danced a jig and proclaimed he would live forever...]