The "Rev. Twombley Fights For Law & Order In Lancaster " Story

It was an ordinary day.  Reading a bit more about the history of my church in the city of Lancaster, Pennsylvania, St. James Episcopal.  Came upon an era that seemed to be rather disturbing in the history of the United States as well as in the history of my church.  Dates were roughly 1920 to 1933; a time known as Prohibition in the United States.  For those not knowing what prohibition did, it banned alcohol and for those living in Lancaster County, they didn't take it lightly.  Rev. Clifford Twombley arrived in Lancaster in 1907 to become the pastor of St. James Church.  The church was located at the corner of Duke and Orange Streets in downtown Lancaster.  When he arrived he was shocked at what he saw.  In the years following his arrival in Lancaster he began a study that in 1914 he published.  Not quite sure where it was published, but it evidently didn't sit well with many in the city of Lancaster.  

Rev. Twombley, fighter for good over evil
in Lancaster during Prohibition and beyond.

He told of the 44 houses of prostitution that he had observed within six blocks of Lancaster's city center known as Penn Square.  He also noted that beer was being sold to minors in dance halls around the city and that drunkenness and carousing was dominant.  One of Lancaster's business leaders was seen visiting a brothel on a regular basis on nearby Water Street and the local Fulton Theatre had burlesque shows open on Saturday mornings for both men and boys.  Rev. Twombley initiated a Law and Order Society that lasted into the early 1920s.  It seems that Lancaster was a wild place even before prohibition.  Then on January 29, 1919 Congress ratified the 18th Amendment to our Nation's Constitution which prohibited the sale and distribution of beverages that contained more than 0.5 percent alcohol. Later that year the Volstead Act, or National Prohibition Act, was passed which gave the government the power to enforce the amendment.   The amendment went into effect the following January.  The law was enacted to reduce drunkenness and crime.  But, in Lancaster, it was widely disregarded, thus increasing crime rates in the city.  Cereal beers began to be made which were legal.  They had one-half of one percent which was possible by stopping the fermentation process earlier than usual.  Two local breweries made this beer, but most just disregarded the law and kept to their old ways.  Most local police turned their heads, except one city officer who couldn't be bought.  One night he entered a strange car in Lancaster and his bullet-ridden body was found the next day in Philadelphia.  One local brewery piped their beer using underground pipelines that at one time carried well water.  Another brewery used a heavy-walled rubber hose that was run through the city's sewer system to a local furniture store.  At first the beer came out hot due to steam in the sewer line, but that was solved when a pump forced the beer through at a faster rate.  One city worker reported to authorities that he saw the hose, but was told he never saw it.  As you see, the 18th Amendment did everything but stop the flow of beer.  It led to bootleggers, speakeasies, government corruption and a disregard for law enforcement.  Eventually it was repealed on December 5, 1933 when the 21st Amendment was ratified. As for Rev. Twombley, he was a true gem in Lancaster's history.  He saw the folly of training young people in right and wrong in a church setting and then going into the streets of Lancaster to see the evil that existed at the time.  His Law and Order Society meant business and when he encountered stiff opposition from law breakers, he stuck to his principles.  Lancaster was better for having this man in the community as a driving force to enforce the rules of decency.  His Law and Order Society existed until 1972 even thought he died in 1939.   Today, with the recent law passed to be able to open a local casino in the Lancaster area, many say, "I wonder what Twombley's Law and Order Society would have thought about that."  I don't think they, or he, would approve of it.  It was another extraordinary day in the life of an ordinary guy.