The "A Visit To Lancaster In The Sixties: Part I - the 1960s" Story

Foreword:  Sitting in the lobby of the Lancaster Historical Society building along President Avenue in Lancaster, Pennsylvania talking with a fellow whom I hadn't seen since my college years at Millersville State Teacher's College.  I was about to leave the museum when I looked across the lobby and there was Leroy Hopkins; or should I say Dr. Leroy Hopkins.  We met in the mid-1960s when we both were undergraduates at Millersville.  We were both commuters and ate lunch together at the "Rat Race" which was an upstairs restaurant in the middle of the campus.  Played a few games of pool and darts with him during our couple of years meeting for lunch.  Dr. Hopkins is now retired from Millersville University where he was the chair of the Language department.  We had an interesting conversation and in about 20 minutes his ride arrived and we wished each other a good-bye.  My meeting was an added surprise to my visit to see the current exhibition at LancasterHistory which is titled "Lancaster in the Sixties."  It features displays from the 1660s, 1760s, 1860s and 1960s.  I spent the best part of an afternoon or so walking through the exhibition, taking photographs of some of my favorite memories, hoping to share them with you today.  The following story will take you back in history over 450 years to a time, or should I say times, when life was quite a bit different than what it is today.  Hope I have selected a few items that will be of interest to you.

It was an ordinary day.  Standing in front of the display that features stories of the city of Lancaster, Pennsylvania in the 1960s.  The 1960’s in Lancaster featured a revolution in woman’s rights, rock and roll music, equal rights for Black Americans, the Viet Nam War and urban renewal.  Woman’s roles in society were rapidly changing in the 1960s with the National Organization for Women being established in 1966 to support and reinforce women’s rights.  Also championed were women’s health issues and reproductive rights.  With that came a greater access to higher education for all women.  Millersville State Teacher’s College, where I had gone to school in the early 1960s had already become coeducational in the previous century, but Ivy League colleges as well as our local Franklin & Marshall College went coed.  In 1968 the president of F&M, Keith Spaulding, created a task force to explore coeducation.  The following year, when nearly half the students enrolled in colleges and universities across the nation were women, F&M admitted its first female students. In the summer of 1963 Black Americans marched for equal rights.  In Lancaster’s Rocky Springs Amusement Park, were Black residents were not allowed to swim in the pool, a protest with more than 60 people, black and white, marched outside the park carrying signs and American flags. On December 1, 1969 the Selective Service System of the United States conducted two lotteries to determine the order of call to military service.  As I looked over the display of Viet Nam memoribilitia, I saw a familiar face in Tom Heckles who I knew from St. James Episcopal Church.  He was in the service during the Viet Nam War and photos of him were part of the diaplay in the museum.  The following are just a few photos showing life in the 1960s in Lancaster County, PA.

PS - Tomorrow will feature stories from the 1660s, 1760s and the 1860s.

"We've Gone Co-Ed" poster from 1969.  Students in
this poster portray the various reactions to
Franklin & Marshall College going co-ed.
Click on images to enlarge them.  

This is an advertisement that appeared in Time Magazine, May 23, 1969
advertising the Franklin & Marshall College is now open to women.

Co-ed class members look at the poster on a tree on the campus of Franklin & Marshall.

March on Washington, August 28, 1963.  As women found their public voices,
they joined protest movements across the nation from free speech to ant-war to
Civil Rights.  Pictured here is Betty Tompkins who championed many causes
during her life.  This photograph shows Betty at the Martin Luther King Jr.s
March on Washington.  Mrs. Tompkins, as I knew her, was a member of St. James
Episcopal Church and knew my parents very well.  I was good friends with
her son who sang in the church choir with me.  

Black and whites both marched in front of Rocky Springs Amusement Park
in 1963 to protest that Blacks were not allowed to swim in their public pool.

This Emmy Award was presented to The Radio Corporation
of America (RCA) for developing the innovative "image orthicon
tube" to improve broadcast of images.  This technology was used widely
in TV broadcasts throughout the 20th century.  It was also used by NASA
to capture images of space during the "Space Race" of the 1960s.
RCA was located in Lancaster, PA, about six blocks from my home
in nearby Grand View Heights.

These Jungle Boots and Combat Helmet belonged to Dr. C. Darrell Lane who joined the U.S. Army
in 1963, and volunteered to go to Vietnam in June of 1968.  He was a Major in the Army Medical
Corps.  His young family stayed behind in nearby Bowmansville, PA while he spent a year serving
in Vietnam where he was stationed in Saigon.

This letter was written by Tom Heckles who served with the SeaBees Mobile
Construction Battalion 1 of the United States Navy from 1966-1967 in
Da Nang, Vietnam.  He volunteered for the service.  Tom is a good friend who
also is a member of St. James Episcopal Church.  The photograph below
shows Tom on the right of the photo.

This was the front page of the local newspaper the day after
the draft lottery was held for the first time.

The Beatles and Rolling Stones arrived on American shores in 1964, launching
what became known as the British Invasion.  Stan's Record Bar in downtown Lancaster
was a favorite hangout for me during my college years as I bought many 45s for my
record player.  In 1961 Lancaster TV station WGAL premiered "Dance Party" which
went along with Philadelphia's "Bandstand."  The jitterbug was the big dance craze of the era.
In Lancaster, Roy and Gene Clair had just opened their new business using a PA system they purchased
from their father.  Frankie Valli and the Four Seasons arrived at Franklin & Marshall College
while on tour in 1966 and used The Clair Brothers for their sound.  They became one of
the biggest sound companies in the world.  They now have a huge complex in nearby
Lititz, PA known as "Rock Lititz".  Roy was a classmate of mine at Millerwsville State
Teachers College in the mid-1960s and purchased sound systems for the
stereo units we each had built in the wood shop at the college.

The two above photos show urban renewal in Lancaster, PA in the 1960s.
The mayor's office decided to tear down one of Lancaster's most treasured hotels
and replace it with what was known as the "concrete jungle".  Today, most of the new
buildings in the 100 block of North Queen Street are still an eyesore for the community.

The "Hiding A Horrifying Secret In Plain Sight: Part II" Story

It was an ordinary day.  Still upset after writing my story I posted yesterday.  Just can't understand why the abuse suffered by young children and women for ages and ages has taken so long to be revealed.  I guess being shunned is more than many can handle.  Never having gone through sexual abuse and the after-effects that you would have to go through for the rest of your life makes it harder to understand.  If you read yesterday's story you now know that 75 year old Mr. David Stoltzfus Smucker has been sentenced to 38-75 years in prison.  More or less a life sentence.  But, will he actually serve it in prison like most other sex offenders would do?  Or, will he be able to spend those years in a place called Whispering Hope?  Much has been said about the preferential treatment that Plain Sect people such as the Amish and Mennonites receive after being sentenced for crimes such as sex offenses.  

Main building as you enter Whispering Hope

Whispering Hope is located in Newville which is in Cumberland County, Pennsyl- vania.  It sits at the foothills of state forestland between Carlisle and Shippensburg.  No buildings are visible from the end of the road which leads to the dozens of small cabins or homes in the mental health facility.  Mr. David Stoltzfus Smucker's case, that sent him to prison for life, has brought new attention to how sex crimes in the Amish and Mennonite sects are being handled after the sentencing has taken place.  Are they actually placed in a state prison as they should be or allowed to spend their time in a nice little house up in the woods.  Seems the state has no license for a place called Whispering Hope, but that happens to be where Mr. Smucker had spent the ten months between his arrest and his trial.  Yeah, he did go to jail at first, but soon after, a judge approved a defense request to allow him to stay at Whispering Hope.  That move got an immediate reaction from abuse prevention advocates who felt he was given special treatment because he is Amish.  And, what special treatment did Mr. Stoltzfus give those that he sexually assaulted for probably most of his 75 years.  Whispering Hope was established in 2001 to serve the Old Order Amish.  The statement of purpose for the facility says it is a Christian home with a Bible based counseling program for men who are emotionally disturbed, depressed, having spiritual and marital problems, moral obsessions and mental illnesses.  It is nestled in the middle of farmland and looks like a summer camp with one lodge having a swing.  No children under the age of 18 are to be housed in the facility.  Three months before Mr. Smucker's arrest, he had a stroke which required him to use a wheelchair.  While in prison he fell and injured his hip.  The prison asked if he could be moved.  Is he the first prisoner ever to have fallen and injured his or her hip?  Do they more all people who are hurt or have a stroke?  I doubt it!  And, if he did have to be moved, why not to one of the five locations in Lancaster County?  Seems that Whispering Hope is a mental illness facility as well and could help Mr. Stoltzfus.  But, how about all the people whom he sexually abused?  

Photograph of the cottages at Whispering Hope

Can they be helped by staying at Whispering Hope?  Evidently they aren't important enough to be placed somewhere that may help them to feel better about themselves.  As I read more in the local paper I read that once a person is sentenced, they are not allowed to go to a place such as Whispering Hope since it is intended as a treatment facility and not a prison.  I only hope that somehow Mr. Smucker's attorneys don't talk the District Attorney into allowing Mr. Smucker to head back to Whispering Hope so he can sit on the swing set and have a good time.  He had plenty of good times it seems and now he has to pay the piper (means to bear the consequences of one's actions).  Let's hope this sentence may make many others that also assault children and women think a bit more before they act.  It was another extraordinary day in the life of an ordinary guy.

The "Hiding A Horrifying Secret In Plain Sight: Part I" Story

It was an ordinary day.  For years I have been writing stories about Lancaster County's Amish and the lives they live.  Today's story may be hard to understand, since the content that you are about to read  is something that even I never knew or suspected.  It is the story of Amish rape, incest and sexual abuse in the Plain community.  All started when I read a story written by Sarah McClure who did a yearlong investigation on the widespread sexual abuse in Amish communities.  Her story began with a phone call from a formerly Amish woman and by the time Sarah was finished with her investigation she had identified 52 official Amish cases of child sexual assault in seven states, including the largest community of Amish in Lancaster County, Pennsylvania.  She first found out about the extent of the problem when she talked with a reporter for Lancaster's newspaper, which at the time was known as the Intelligencer Journal.  She titled her report "Silenced by Shame" which talked about church leaders silencing the voices of abused women and children.  But, it is not only limited to the Amish in Lancaster County, but the Mennonites as well.  Most view both communities as having a wholesome work ethic, humility, gentleness and orderliness, but the abuse that is suffered by primarily the women and children is hard to understand.  Both communities wield an uncompromising belief in the sanctity of marriage, man's authority over women, forgiveness and resolution of conflict with the law.  And, these beliefs are based on Biblical passages, or so they say.  Amish children, both boys and girls, are afraid to talk about what their fathers, hired men, cousins, teachers, brothers, family friends and sometimes even their mothers do to them.  Most, if not all, cases of sex abuse are swept under the rug where they join the many other cases from children and women whose emotional woulds still bleed.  Many that suffer from an assault never say a word because they may be ashamed or embarrassed.  Some try to tell someone, but are ignored or hushed or even punished.  A very few are actually believed which eventually led to Sarah delving into the lives of both the Amish and Mennonites.  I printed out a short summary of the work which Sarah has done and found over the past few years.  It covered 39 pages before my printer spit out the last of the horrible stories.  One of the main problems is those that have suffered have no where to turn.  Church leaders in most cases are farmers who work part-time on a Sunday or Holy Day as the leader, then head back to their farm later the same day.  Many are selected by "drawing straws" to see who it will be.  It may be the same farmer who is violating his wife and children each and every night.  They are not trained to help those in need.  Those such people are known as "Homemade Counselors" and are not equipped or trained to deal with abuse and battering.  Most "Homemade Counselors" are men and will just reaffirm that the woman or child is at fault.  As you see, it makes matters worse.  There have been some changes recently where a "Homemade Counselor" may bring a resistant or habitual sexual offender to the Mental Health/Mental Retardation of Lancaster County facility to talk with a trained professional.  A nearby facility, Philhaven Behavioral Healcare Services is establishing a 24-hour mental health facility that would combine professional services with conservative church input.  There is also a place known as Wellspring Garden Ministries, near White Horse, PA that offers women a safe place.  One support group for Mennonite women with troubled marriages meets monthly where they can share their stories, eat together, pray, laugh and study topics such as forgiveness and finances.  But, when the day is over, they hurry back to the same old stuff at home.  Some of the stories told in those 39 pages of reading material are horrifying.  And, just about every perpetrator is a male who is assaulting their children or his wife or the child of another person.  Lancaster County has an Amish population of about 39,000 members and is the largest Amish settlement in the world.  Lancaster County's District Attorney has started a task force to connect law enforcement, special services and local Amish leaders which has made a big difference.  And, more and more sexual assault victims are willing to talk about their lives with others outside their Amish or Mennonite communities.  But, trouble still remains in both communities.  One Mennonite woman went to a marriage and family therapist for help with her marriage.  She took out a protection from abuse order against her husband.  Shortly after, another man, whom she barely knew, followed her around a local grocery store telling her she needed to submit to her husband and not ruin the marriage.  At church a former friend avoided her.  Nasty notes appeared at her door and silent phone calls woke her at night.  Her phone line was cut, her mailbox smashed and people shook their fists at her when they passed by her home.  She dared to buck the system!  What she did was break the code of silence which in some cases is punishable by excommunication or shunning.  Shunned members in the Amish and Mennonite faith are not allowed to eat at the same table as their family and may not take communion.  Then, to get back in the church they must confess their transgression in front of the church.  Those of us who are not Amish or Mennonite don't realize what happens inside the homes of those we look at as being so different.  A few days ago, David Stoltzfus Smucker, a 75 year old Amish man, was sentenced to 38 to 76 years in prison at the Lancaster County Courthouse.  He was brought into the the courthouse in a wheelchair.  The courtroom was filled to capacity with his wife of 50 years and family and community members.  He had plead no contest to sexual assault of four young girls.  The four victims have been removed from their homes and placed in separate households throughout the county.  The girls can no longer go to  school or church since they have disclosed they have "acted out sexually."  The trauma suffered by these girls may be invisible to all, but it will never go away.   The families of the victims wanted Mr. Smucker to show remorse, but he showed none.  The only thing he said in the courtroom was "No" when asked by the judge if he wanted to talk with the families.  The judge said that in his 14 years of being on the bench, this is the first time an Amishman didn't admit guilt or ask for forgiveness.  Evidently, some have grown to think that sexual assault of women and children is part of their heritage. He originally was charged with two dozen felonies, but it was reduced to four.  The four girls were between the ages of 4 and 9 years old when they were assaulted.  Three of the girls told the police he told them to keep the incidents a secret.  After his sentencing all he did was look back at the courtroom crowd as his wheelchair was wheeled away.  My story today tells very little of what I had read in the 39 pages of "Silenced By Shame".  If I had chosen to expand on the events published in "Silenced By Shame", it would have taken threefold the amount of space as this story.  Will it ever end?  It was another extraordinary day in the life of an ordinary guy.

The "The Mansion @ 700 North Duke" Story

It was an ordinary day.  Standing in front of 700 North Duke Street in Lancaster, Pennsylvania taking a few photographs.  I can remember walking past this house, which my friend and I called the "Mansion", every Monday afternoon throughout the school year for a few years back in the early 1950s while a member of the Cub Scouts.  My friend Dave and I joined the Cub Scouts, since many of our friends from elementary school were also joining.  At the time we didn't realize we were closer to the Scout Pack in the city than the one where all our friends were joining.  

Color picture post card of the Mansion at 700 North Duke Street

 Didn't matter, since we were going to be scouts!  Dave stopped by every Monday after we got home from school and changed into our Scout uniforms, and we would walk the half-dozen blocks to Mrs. Wood's house on Duke Street.  And, on our way we passed "The Mansion."  Often stopped just to look at the huge place.  They had a pool in the back yard, but we never saw anyone swimming in it.  Over the past half-century it seemed to have changed hands many times, with it being law offices today.  

The same view of the Mansion today.

I recently saw an old color post card that featured the mansion and thought it was time for another visit to take a few photo- graphs.  "Googled" the mansion and found it was known as the Henry B. Keiper house when it was built in 1907.  The mansion that stands at the corner of Duke and New Streets in the city of Lancaster, Pennsylvania is now on the Pennsylvania Historical and Museum Commission Cultural Resources Database.  

At one time the Mansion had a pool.  Couldn't see one
when I visited to take a few photographs.

Mr. Keiper was the President of the Champion Blower & Forge Company in Lancaster which was one of Lancaster's largest and most important industrial plants.  During World War I he was promin- ently identified with every patriotic movement, giving free of his time and money.  He helped in the formation of the Lancaster Marine Training Corps and gained the titled of "Major" for his work in its develpment.  

I saw this date displayed on metal work on the Mansion.

It was due to his activities in all local patriotic movements that he became widely known in State Militia circles.  He donated the Stand of Colors to the Lancaster Marine Training Corps at the outbreak of the war.  These flags now stand in St. John's Episcopal Church in downtown Lancaster.  

The garage in the rear of the Mansion is as large as some homes.

He also gave souvenirs to the boys who went from the National Guard into one of the Armed Forces.  He also gave frequently to the Pennsyl- vania Reserve Militia which was the successor to the National Guard.  At one time he had the officers of the Pennsylvania Reserve Militia to his Mansion on North Duke Street.

A vase or flower pot displays figures on its side.

 Mr. Keiper eventually had a paralytic attack and died.  He died in 1920 at the age of 62 and is buried in the Woodward Hill Cemetery in Lancaster.  Mr. Henry B. Keiper is best known for inventing the ball-bearing which lead to his wealth.  He is also known for devising a combination tool where he combined a vise, blower, forge, drill and grinder.  But, his big Mansion at 700 North Duke is what I will always remember the most.  It still looks as grand today as it did in the 1950s.  It was another extraordinary day in the life of an ordinary guy.

The side facing North Duke St. list the name of the attorneys that work there.

The sign on East New Street says 700 North Duke.

Ornamentation resembles a face.

A pair of Lions protect this entrance.

The "Trying To Remember Riding The Trolley" Story

Foreword:  Talking with my friend Jere about the trolleys that ran in the city of Lancaster.  I really don't remember ever seeing a trolley car or even the tracks along the streets of the city of Lancaster.  Jere remembers riding on them from time to time until the tracks were finally removed from all the streets in and around Lancaster.  Now, we are only a month difference in age with me being his junior, but I still can't believe I don't remember something as momentous as riding the trolley as a young boy.  We lived a block away from each other while growing up, but never really knew each other until we entered first grade together in 1950.  My story today will give you a look at trolley service in Lancaster County.

It was an ordinary day.  Reading about the stagecoach route that took visitors between the county seat of Lancaster to nearby Millersville.  Up until 1874, the 4.5 miles between the two locations was accomplished by riding the horse drawn stagecoach from downtown Lancaster to Millersville Normal School.  It was the only way for students at Millersville to get back to the city of Lancaster.  Then in 1874 a horse-drawn streetcar, or trolley, service began between these two terminals.  In fact, special arrangements were made at the beginning and end of the school year by adding a baggage car so students could transport their luggage.  

Conductors wait for passengers at South George and
West Frederick in Millersville. Circa 1908. Electirfied line.

The trolley would leave from the Brunswick Hotel in downtown Lancaster and stop at the corner of South George and West Frederick Streets in Millersville.  The trolley cars were stored, serviced and painted a few blocks away on Frederick Street at the trolley car barn.  That building still stands today.  The ride took about 30 minutes.  

Trolleys were stored in this building in Millersville.

In 1891 the line was finally electrified.  Then in 1899 the Conestoga Traction Company, or CTC, began operating throughout the county.  At the peak of its service in 1913, forty trolleys ran through the city of Lancaster while serving 12 million passengers yearly.  Four years later there were 38 different trolley companies that served southeastern Pennsylvania.  The CTC used downtown Lancaster as the hub of seven main routes that traveled throughout the county.  The trolleys were by this time the size of a city bus that traveled to surrounding towns and farm villages using a hub and spoke approach.  More lines were added by building them or buying existing lines from competitors.  By 1908 locations such as Columbia, Strasburg, Adamstown, Blue Ball, Leaman Place and Elizabethtown were all accessible by trolley.  

The trolley routes in Lancaster County.

Eventually the trolley ran through Amish farm country to Coatesville, Quarryville, Pequea, Manheim, Lititz, Ephrara and Terre Hill.  The trolley ran on tracks located along the side of the road where automo- biles ran.  The CTC transported human traffic as well as freight, milk and produce on its many routes.  Special trolley cars, known as "combines" were built to carry passengers and freight together.  One of the most popular trolley lines was the Rocky Springs Park line that carried patrons to the amusement park to the south of the city of Lancaster.  

The trolley station at Rocky Springs Park.

The Rawlinsville line ran only ten days a year to transport people to the annual Christian themed Rawlinsville camp meetings.  There was a junction in Martic Forge, where my future wife lived, where the trolley line split off and climbed 552 feet over 1.25 miles as it left the gorges of the Pequea Creek on its way to Rawlinsville.  

The stone abutment outside of the Martic Forge.

A stone abutment outside of Martic Forge is one of the few remnants of the original trolley line.  The trolley tracks from years ago were much different than the railroad tracks of today.  The tracks were laid in a more "casual" nature which at times caused "seasickness" when the cars swayed back and forth.  The hilly areas of Lancaster County were famous for this effect.  The last car to run from Pequea to Millersville was on October 15, 1930.  

This is the trestle bridge at Martic Forge.  The road to
the left takes you to the house where my wife lived.

As buses began to replace trollies in Lancaster, the Conestoga Traction Company reorganized into the Conestoga Transpor- tation Company. Trolley lines all over the county began to stop service in the 1930s.  By the late 1940s the CTC had only one trolley line running; the line to Rocky Springs Park.  Then on September 21, 1947 that line closed also.  Most trolley cars were burned, but a few still exist in museums with one car that runs a short one-block route every Sunday in the summer in the town of Manheim.  I was 3 years old when the trolley was discontinued, thus my reason for not remembering ever riding on a trolley.  Now, for Jere, his memory is much better than mine...or he's just saying he remembers to get one up on me.  It was another extraordinary day in the life of an ordinary guy

Cattle graze near the trolley tracks in Martic Forge in 1905.

The trolley traveling along the Pequea Creek.

Northbound trolley car loaded with summer passengers in 1907.

Trolley tracks are removed along King Street in downtown Lancaster
on July 14, 1947.  I was approaching my  third birthday at the time.

The trolley cars were pushed off the rails and burned.

This is a 1926 trolley car that is still in use in Manheim, Pennsylvania.
It runs a short one-block route every Sunday from June to September.
The station is located at 210 S. Charlotte Street in Manheim, PA.

This is one more view of the Square in Downtown Lancaster.  This shows buses,
and a trolley car right center.  Notice the traffic tower that is circled next to the
monument in the center of the Square.  It was there from 1929-1943 to help with traffic.

The "A Sad Day For Music In The City Of Lancaster" Story

It was an ordinary day.  Opened the Facebook page titled "Remember When In Lancaster" and began reading the entries for the past few days.  One entry which I came upon was a photograph that read..."Anyone remember the Crystalaires from Lancaster?"  A black and white photograph accompanied the sentence.  The Crystalaries were a group from Lancaster, Pennsylvania and were the hottest act in town back in 1959.

Then on May 25 of that year, while coming home from a gig in nearby Reading, PA, they were involved in a horrendous automobile accident.  The headline in the Lancaster Intelligencer Journal the following morning told the story; "7 In Rock & Roll Combo Catapulted From Car By Crash."  An explosive crash on the Oregon Pike in Manheim Township shortly after midnight killed three members of a teenage rock-and-roll band when they were catapulted from one of the cars.  Four other members of the band were seriously hurt.  The dead were identified as: Kenneth Gray, about 15; Louis Wilson, 19; and Lawrence Speller, 17.  All three suffered fractured skulls and died instantly.  Those injured were Harold Keys, 17; Lewis Burross, 16; Robert Ray; and Ralph Speller, 19.  The driver of the other vehicle, Logan Carpenter 49, had serious lacerations to the head and face.  The boys were driving south on Oregon Road to Lancaster when it went off the side of the road and while the driver was trying to gain control of the car, it went across the road and hit an oncoming car.  Speed was to blame in the accident.  The car exploded and burst into flames.  The promising career of these seven musicians ended in a ball of flames.  The Crystalaires were members of the local Crispus Attucks Recreation Center.  A short time before the accident they had taken first place in the Hempfield Sertoma Club amateur contest.  The manager of the combo was William Zimmerman of 414 N. Queen St.  The evening before the crash they had held a rehearsal at the rear of his home.  They were planning on a benefit dance the following month at the Stahr Armory with the proceeds going to the Lancaster County Society for Crippled Children and Adults.  Kenneth Gray, the youngest member of the band, had recently joined as a vocalist.  19 year old Lewis Wilson was married with three children ages 24 months, 11 months and one week.  Lewis was also a member of the Hamboners which made four appearances on the national amateur television show, The Ted Mack Amateur Hour, in 1953 and 1954.  Ralph Speller would have been eighteen the next month.  On May 29th another headline read "Driver Is 4th To Succumb in Rt. 222 Crash". Harold Keys, 17, died at 5:30 pm.  The fourth death made the accident the worst traffic accident in the past four years in Lancaster County.  Harold was not a member of the Crystalaires, but had volunteered to drive the band to Reading for an audition and to arrange for future bookings.  Harold was a sophomore at Lancaster McCaskey High School and worked part-time at a shoe-shine parlor and sang in the Bethel AME Church choir.  

The Crystalaires

This tragic accident took the lives of a group of talented young musicians.  Earlier in the evening the group had been informed by their manager that King Records, from Cincinnati, Ohio had offered them a record deal and wanted them to come to Chicago to re-cut "Nobody Nowhere" for national release.  In July of 1960, Stan Selfon of Stan's Record Bar in downtown Lancaster released the 2nd version of the tune on Sound Souvenir No. 1.  

Stan's Record Bar in downtown Lancaster, Pennsylvania

The money raised would go to the families of those killed in the accident.  It is not known how many of those recordings may still survive and record collectors drool at the site of one of these rare gems.  The photo that accompanies the released record ( as seen above)  is not the original group which lost most of its members, but the reformed Crystalaires. Only 2 of the latest group were members of the original group.  The two survivors were Robert Ray and Eddie Speller.  The same Eddie Speller who was a member of St. James Episcopal Church and was one of the Three Kings of Orient in the Christmas Pageant every here.  He, along with Dr. James Martin and my dad Paul marched down the aisle singing their respective verses.  And, boy could Eddie sing!  Who knew what might have been, had all of the original members weren't killed that tragic night.  It was another extraordinary day in the life of an ordinary guy.

The "Saving Captain Asgill - One Lucky Guy" Story

Lancaster, Pennsylvania's LNP

It was an ordinary day.  The morning headline on the front page of the "Living" section of my local newspaper looked very familiar.  It read "CAPT. ASGILL's STORY."  Now where did I see that before.  Then it hit me.  A month or so ago I received my Winter 2019 mailing from Lancaster County's Historical Society.  The publication that they send a few times a year to it's members is called "The Journal" and has been published in Lancaster since 1896.  I grabbed my latest mailing and there it was on the cover.  A story titled "Saving Captain Asgill" which was written by local historians Anne Amundsen and Martha Abel.  

Lancaster County Historical Society's
quarterly booklet.

Many times the publication will feature several different stories, but the latest issue is totally dedicated to Captain Asgill.  So...just who is this Captain Asgill?  Asgill was a nineteen year old British army officer who became a prisoner of war following the Revolutionary War battle at Yorktown, Virginia in late 1781.  About half a year later New Jersey militiaman and privateer Joshua Huddy, accused of complicity in the death of a Loyalist farmer is hanged by Loyalist forces.  This didn't sit well with General George Washington who wrote a letter to General Moses Hazen who oversaw the prisoner-of-war barracks in Lancaster, Pennsylvania.  

This long building was used as military
stables during the Revolution.  On the
opposite side of the street stood the
Barracks where British and Hessians
were imprisoned during that period.

Washington asked Hazen to choose a British officer to be executed in retribution for Huddy's death.  The drawing of the name for the execution was done in downtown Lancaster at the Black Bear tavern.  Captain Charles Asgill's name was selected and he was to be hanged in retribution for the death of Huddy.  Asgill was taken to a prisoner-of-war camp in New Jersey where he was kept for months, knowing that at any time he might be hanged.  During that time his mother, as well as the French government, plead with Washington to spare the life of the British officer.  On November 7, 1782, the Continental Congress ordered General George Washington to free the British soldier.  The following month he returned to England.  On November 16, 1786 an article appeared in the New Haven Gazette and Connecticut Magazine.  The article, written by General Washington's aide-de-camp, David Humphreys, defends Washington in his oversight of the treatment given to Captain Asgill while in custody after he was selected to be hanged.  

An artists conception of Lancaster's Market Square in 1782.  #1 is the
Black Bear Tavern, #2 is the former open-air market, #3 is the site
of the front-half of today's Central Markethouse.

Then on December 20, 1786, Asgill wrote a letter to the New-Haven Gazette disputing Humphrey's account of his treatment while in captivity.  Seems that original letter found it way to the trash at the Gazette.  Two years later Asgill is appointed Equerry to King George III's son, the Duke of York, a position he would hold until he died.  In 1797 Charles Asgill is named a brigadier general.  

The following year, during the Irish Rebellion against British rule, Brig. Gen. Asgill spares the life of a condemned Irish prisoner after Asgill's wife pleaded for the prisoner's life to be spared.  She remembered when her husband had the same sentence on his head in America.  On July 23, 1823 Asgill dies and is buried in St. James's Church, Picadilly.  Almost 200 years later, Anne Ammundsen, a resident of Britain, learns she is related to Asgill and begins doing research into his life.  Six years after that she somehow obtains a copy of Captain Asgill's letter he had written to the New-Haven Gazette, but which was never published.  Then in 2011 her article about the Asgill Affair is published in a British history publication.  In May of 2019 she made a visit to Pennsylvania and New Jersey to visit sites related to her late relative, Captain Asgill.  

Photograph of Lancaster's Central Market
which is the red building, direct center.
This would have been the location of the
Black Bear Tavern.

During those visits she worked with local historians, one being Lancaster History library and research assistant Martha Abel.  Finally, after all those years, then Captain Charles Asgill, finally had his letter published...in "The Journal" that I am holding in my hand. Captain Charles Asgill's letter is seven pages long and titled "The Asgill Letter"; and I am sorry to say that it is too lengthy to publish here.  Besides being too lengthy, it is very hard to understand, since the punctation, spelling and readability are very poor.  And, that's after being transcribed by Lancaster History's archives department under the direction of Katie Fichtner.  He does contribute the delay of his execution, and thus his later release, to Sir Guy Carleton who "soothed" General Washington toward the idea of being released.  He pointed out that the 14th Article of the Capitulation says "that no Article of this Capulation made at York Town shall be infringed on pretext of Reprisal."  

Lancaster's center city showing the Court House in
the center of town.  The Black Bear Tavern would
have been to the right of the courthouse.

After making a few other points towards his release he says he will go no further into the discussion of the injustice of my confine- ment.  He complained of many people viewing him who were constantly drinking in a public house.  He thought he should have been placed in a private house in a small village.  And he complains that it took five days before General Washington told him of the letter telling him of his release.  The letter can be found in it's entirety in the Winter 2019 issue of "The Journal of Lancaster County's Historical Society.  You may order a copy, such as I have, by visiting bit.ly/lhjournal.  It was another extraordinary day in the life of an ordinary guy.

The "Bible Production And The Decline of Christianity" Story

It was an ordinary day.  Reviewing some of my notes that I recently scribbled on a note pad during a visit with the assistant minister of Trinity Lutheran Church in downtown Lancaster, Pennsylvania.  We had a very interesting conversation about a few extraordinary manuscripts, if I dare call them that, before I departed his office.  The Christian manuscripts, which I will share with you tomorrow, were amazing, but they made me think of the variety of religions that exist on our globe.  About 83% of the world are faithful followers of one of the classical religions: Baha'i, Buddhism, Christianity, Confucianism, Hinduism, Islam, Jainism, Shinto, Sikhism, Taoism and Zoroastrianism.  These religions are the most prominent spiritual traditions that still exist, and "NO", I did not make any of them up if that's what you're thinking.  About 65% of those living in the United States consider themselves Christians, but sadly that figure was 12% higher ten years ago.  During that same ten year period of time those who consider themselves atheist, agnostic or having no religious affiliation has grown by 9%.  Could it be due to the Catholic Church and the Southern Baptist Convention being plagued with clergy sex-abuse scandals as well as the United Methodist Church and Anabaptist denominations facing a schism over LGBT churchgoers.  And, it seems that more Baby Boomers, Generation X and Millennials are rethinking religion.  A recent telephone survey says that about a quarter of the population in the United States does not value religion as in the past.  Rural America hasn't been affected as much as areas that are more mobile, but what can be done...if anything.  

Another problem that has arisen due to the lack of churchgoers is the production of Bibles.  Seems that the company known as LSC Communications has had to lay off most of its workers in nearby Philadelphia due to the decline in Bible sales.  They have printed more than a billion since they first began production, but the Bible business has gone soft.  The Gideon Bible has been a fixture in many hotels and motels, but with more travelers from non-Christian countries and the decline in U.S. church-going customers, Bibles are not in as much demand as in the past.  Many Baby Boomers drifted away from organized religions and many of their offspring are part of the same movement.  Europe experienced the same drop in religion a century ago and that trend is now part of American society.  I can remember when I wanted to become a member of St. James Church in Lancaster so that I could partake of the bread and wine in communion, I was required to memorize the names of all the books in the Bible.  Why, I'm not sure, but I did it because I wanted to become a member as were my mom and dad.  To this day I can still reel off most of them.  But, people got sick of having to do things such as this, so they strayed away from religion.  Today, many newer members to different religions are growing up in a society that has been more open to LGBT types of concerns.  And, if the church shuns those members of society, the younger members will also leave the church.  Today's churches must come up with a different way to articulate the message of Christianity in a way that makes sense to all.  I, for one, believe that will happen, but how long will it take?  Only God knows.  It was another extraordinary day in the life of an ordinary guy.