J. Charles Jessup

Through his border blaster radio broadcasts he became well known nationally and at his peak received more than four thousand letters each day, most containing monetary donations.

[1][3] Jessup claimed his gift of healing was bestowed on him after a multi-day session of prayer and fasting that took place in Tampa, Florida, in 1933.

Accordingly, these two groups often joined together in convincing local law enforcement to encourage Jessup to find other communities for his meetings.

[3] In mid 1947 Jessup was in the final planning stages (the idea first occurring to him in 1942) to broadcast sermons on Mexican border blaster radio, eventually utilizing station XERF which was widely heard across North America.

[3][1][4][5] Jessup, his wife and brothers incorporated the Fellowship Revival Association in Fort Worth, Texas, as an umbrella organization for their personal appearances and radio work.

[6] His radio show was highly successful, at his peak he received more than four thousand letters each day, requesting prayer and healing, and usually containing monetary donations.

[3] A 1954 federal grand jury recommended the FBI assist in further investigating Jessup's activities, which included $14,000 a week in bank deposits.

[3][7] Jessup's accounting system was non-existent, and although the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) conducted three formal investigations, he was never convicted, largely because most of the income was in the form of small cash.

[9] As his fame and wealth increased, his fiddle player Murphy "Pee Wee" Maddux (sometimes spelled "Maddox") became his closest associate.

[3] Jessup was arrested, along with his ex-wife Rose and associate Pee Wee Maddux, in 1964 on eleven counts of mail fraud, false statements regarding his divorces and bigamy, which he vigorously denied.

[12] Pee Wee Maddux turned State's witness in 1967, and although he avoided jail time he regretted for years afterwards what he felt was his betrayal of Jessup.

[3] Charles Jessup, believing he would avoid jail time, pled nolo contendere on two charges in March 1968.

[3] He moved to be close to his brother Jimmie in Arlington, Texas, and became a car salesman, eventually purchasing a small dealership.

[3] Jessup spent a great deal of time and money breeding birds for cockfighting, as well as betting on matches, to the point that his family considered it an addiction.

[3] Jessup's program was entitled The Old-fashioned Gospel Program, and featured western swing gospel music presented by the Jessup Brothers, along with frenetic sermons often recorded earlier at his tent revival meetings, interspersed with frequent pleadings for funds presented in a much more low-key fashion.

She claimed that as they exited a theater in Gulfport the Jessup group physically attacked her daughter, and then herself as she attempted to intervene, leaving the claimants irreparably injured.

[22] The suit posited that the Jessups were generating an income of $1,380 per day through their radio program, which was described as a "sham" designed for the personal enrichment of the defendants.

[23] A 1954 Churches of Christ editorial stated that Jessup was considered the leading exponent of "faith-healing", but accused him of fraud and profiting luxuriously from the misery of others.

[24] Although Jessup maintained that his salary was a mere $75 a week, he lived luxuriously and owned several expensive air, land and sea vehicles.