Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1927-03-07
PASTOR IS BACKED
BY COURTS ORDER
Police Called in fractional
Strife at Bradburn
Memorial Church.

/ LOUIS a. MoSSDurg IS no longer tne
duly. authorized pastor, he failed TO
admit it by word or action.
| There was something in the air" at
| the little church, however. and that
something" was the suspense that
| comes with factional differences,
strained relations and, finally, court
| Intervention, such as have beset the
congregation of the Bradburn Memo
| rial Church OF late.
Ordered to Court Friday.
One of the things which lowered
F, over the heads of the church mem
| bership was a restraining order issued
| Saturday in Equity Court, by which
| ficers are required to show cause on
Friday why they should not be pre-
! vented permanently from 'interfer-
ing" with the peaceable conduct of
the church.
| The situation, up until the time OF
| the issuance of the court order. pre-
scented the anomaly of q church with
| two sets Of officers. each claiming the
| other was without authority, and one
| set Of which has declared" the Rev
| Mr.. Mossburg's pulpit vacant. Lead
| ing the one group Is the pastor. and
| at the head. apparently. OF the OPP
( posing faction, since restrained" Is
| one Edwin C.. Crouch.
Lively Meeting Held.
! Mr.. Crouch. it seems. assumed I'M
disputed leadership of the "opposi-
| ton" at a meeting of the official board
! and membership OF the church last
Wednesday evening. This meeting,
! described in some detail in the com
! plant set fourth to the court, was
exceptionally lively for church
affair. and eliminated in the arrival
of Lieut.. o. T. Davis and a squad of
policemen from No. precinct.
The lieutenant was forced to mount
the pulpit in the midst of a heated
outburst of accusations and recrimina-
tions and appeal to the better senses
of those present to respect the house
of worship.
! 81 am convinced" Lieut.. Davis said
| today, that riot or something would
have happened if we hadn't appeared
when we did. The furore was awful
Even the women seemed to be get
ting ready to join in the fracas."
Account Declared Exaggerated.
| At the home of Rev. Mr. Mossburg il
was claimed today that Lieut.. Davis
account of the controversy was EEK
aggerated," at least insofar as the
activity OF the women was concerned
The dispute over control of the
church had its origin February al
IL meeting of the official board, during
which Mr.. Crouch, John E. Steele anC
Robert E. Maddox were not active
Roberto. Maddox We're ousted from
the board of trustees on the grount
| that they were not active member
of the church. This trio, togethe
with James L. Cloey and Andrew
NJ. Steele, trustees. are named a:
defendants in the court proceeding.
Four Trustees Compliments.
The complainants are four other
members of the board Of trustees,
John r. Taltavull, sr.; Edward Paint
er, William A. Havenner and Earl l.
Schwenk, who say they constitute =
! majority of the board, and 35 mem
| bers of the church. Mr.. Havenner, Mr.
Schwenk and Mr.. Painter were ap
pointed to the board at the February
meeting, the court is told.
There are two versions of what hap
pened at the next meeting of the boarC
and the membership last Wednesday
night. According to the petitioners te
the court, the only action taken was
| the ousting of Mr.. Cloey as treasurer
and the substitution in his place OF
Mr.. Taltavull, sr.
! The court is told that shortly after
the meeting had begun the said
Crouch. without waiting for the
formality of recognition by the pastor
(. who presided as chairman. took the
floor and entered into a verbal TRADE
and accusation against the pastor and
against every one in general who did
not agree with him. and who sup
ported the membership of the church
in reference to ousting him from Office
as a member of the board Of trustees.
Accused of Filibustering.
! He carried on very vehemently
! with same, under objection. for Il
! period Of approximately three hours,
| and when he was asked to deSist from
what was apparently flibustering
proceeding on his part, he repeatedly
declined to do so.
| HE defied the chairman and the
| large majority of the membership
| present He became abusive and viii
| lifying in his remarks at the outset
| of the meeting, so that it appeared
| for a time as though there was going
| to be physical combat and some of
| your petitioners, anticipating possibili-
! ties of such, had previously arranged
! for the presence of or = police Of
/ ficers to be close by the church in
case their services should be required.
Because of the manner and vitu-
! perative speech of said Crouch it was
| found advisable to call the officers into
/ the church, that they might preserve
order during the meeting, which was
done.
'iThey (your petitionerS) further
aver that said Crouch acted unrea-
sonably on the occasion Of this meet
| ing; that it was impossible to stop
him in his conduct. unless there had
been a resort to force, which was, or
course. not to be thought Of in such
a meeting. Crouch, supported by the
defendant Steele, and others of the
! defendants, announced they would not
yield their positions as members of
| the board of trustees and made their
boast that unless they were permitted
to dominate such church organization
there would be no such organization.
as they would ruin the same"
Found Church Closed.
The night following the stormy
meeting outlined was prayer meeting
night, the court is informed, and when
members of the congregation appeared
for the prayer meeting, they found
the church closed and a sign on the
door announcing that the building was
closed by order Of the board of
trustees"
The following day large piece of
crepe was found tied to the door of the
church.
The court is asked to protect Mr..
| Mossburg as pastor Of the church, to
prevent the defendants from hindering
any one from using the church prop
, erty, to restrain them from acting as
a board of trustees, to restrain Steele
from acting as superintendent of the
Sunday school, and to require Mr..
Cloey to make an accounting of funds.
TEACHER ABUSED.