The Great Baptist Church Lockout
When an internal church feud in 1887 led to gas being turned off, keys being withheld, and a locksmith called to secure the pulpit against the congregation's dissenters.
The story, cleaned up
A cleaned-up reading of the newspaper page: spelling and layout repaired, one story lifted off a crowded page. It follows the original closely but it is not a transcription. The original page is below; read it if a detail matters.
The old trouble has broken out in the congregation of the Baptist church of this city, of which Rev. B. B. MacLafferty is pastor. The trouble dates back two or three years, and originated in a misunderstanding over the regulations of the Sunday School. A special requirement for obtaining mission aid is that it shall be the unanimous voice of the congregation. The church was divided, with a large majority favoring the pastor and a respectable minority opposing him.
Charges were finally brought against the disaffected members, and George W. Traver, Myron Ward, and several others were ruled out of the church. During the early part of the affair, there was a hot contest for possession of the church property. At one meeting called by the pastor, the disaffected members answered in strength and took their places in the church. The proceedings developed so much warmth that the gas was suddenly turned off to prevent trouble, and a messenger summoned the City Marshal and police force.
Afterward, when Myron Ward was ruled out of the church, he refused to turn over the keys, which he held as acting janitor. A locksmith was engaged to remove the lock and put another in its place to which the keys in Ward's possession would not fit. The disaffected members have been holding meetings elsewhere and refuse to recognize the action of the pastor, holding their meetings as 'The First Baptist Church of Tacoma.'
“The proceedings developed so much warmth that the gas was suddenly turned off to prevent trouble.”
Church schisms fueled by disagreements over bylaws and leadership are as old as the city itself, mirroring the way modern organizations struggle with power dynamics and 'boycotts.' The loss of a physical space—the locked-out members meeting in homes—highlights the enduring tension between institutional hierarchy and grassroots dissent.
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