Quickel Church in Conewago Township, built in 1857 and scene of human stampede during a 1907 funeral. (Courtesy, Norma Bear Gates)
The shooting deaths of the Hoover teens causes an overflow turn out for their funeral at Zion View's Quickel Church. (For more on those deaths, click here.)
And more misfortune.
According to "Never to be Forgotten:" ...
During the service, someone hears a cracking noise, a woman screams and a wild stampede toward the exits results in about 40 injuries. Many of the injured are children.The Revs. George W. Enders and Adam Stump shout for caution but go unheard or unheeded. The church's windows are close to the ground so an easy retreat is possible.
"Instead of this there were masses of screaming women and children at the windows, all trying to get out first," a newspaper reported. "Men shoved their way over and past the frail women. Some of the latter were simply forced out of the openings, while numbers of little children were thown out bodily."
To buy time for the crowd to calm down, the pastors decide to bury the bodies and then conduct the funeral service. A later inspection found that the church was safe.
"It (the stampede) added a dramatic touch to the incidents attending the murder at Pleasureville Saturday night," the newspaper observed.
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