The Minister and the Mob
A Marysville clergyman faces a near-drowning at the hands of an angry crowd after attempting to enforce strict Sunday-closing laws against a local baseball game.
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.
Everett — Rev. Covington, pastor of the Methodist Episcopal church in Marysville, narrowly escaped being thrown into the Snohomish River because he caused the arrest of a baseball player for breaking the Sabbath. There was a small-sized riot in Marysville for a time. The trouble grew out of the saloon men's barbecue pulled off on the main street. The church people threatened to have the entire crowd arrested a few days ago but made no move toward breaking up the merriment until the ball game, when Rev. Covington swore out a complaint for the arrest of Howard Johnson, one of the players and a son of a prominent citizen, for violating the Sunday law. Somebody in the crowd called out 'throw him into the river' and an angry mob forced the minister toward the water. The reverend gentleman escaped after some difficulty.
“Somebody in the crowd called out 'throw him into the river' and an angry mob forced the minister toward the water.”
This incident highlights the intense cultural friction of the early 20th century between traditional Sabbatarianism and the emerging culture of Sunday leisure. Today, the local 'Sunday law' fights have shifted to debates over public space usage and late-night noise ordinances, but the underlying tension regarding who 'owns' the character of a town remains.
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