The Pastor and the Organist
A physical brawl between a clergyman and his church organist raises the question of how to handle insubordination in the pews.
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.
Pastor R.L. Cartwright, of the Christian Church of Milton, Oregon, traveled to Spokane with significant anger directed at his organist, Oti Ingle. Following a dispute over 'Hallowe'en doings' and subsequent disrespect, the pastor allegedly shoved a 'solar plexus blow' into Ingle's anatomy using a paving stone. Ingle attempted to counter with a six-foot pine scantling before the pastor landed more effective hits. After paying city fines for the assault, the pastor issued a statement defending his decision to pursue 'bodily chastisement' when a church member refused to submit to admonition.
“When a church member will not submit to kindly admonitions, can the pastor take a fall out of him?”
While this happened in Spokane rather than Tacoma, it captures the raw, rough-hewn nature of frontier life where even the clergy resolved interpersonal disputes through literal fisticuffs rather than congregational committees.
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