It isn’t so much that the pastor eloped with the choir girl. Life happens.
What I find interesting is the sternness of the church itself. No church picnics? No celebrations whatsoever?
Life isn’t meant to be lived in such misery.
Warrant Issued For The Arrest Of Eloping Pastor
White Slavery Alleged Against Rev. C. Densel, Who Went Away With Choir Singer
Flock Is Very Austere
Lead Simple Lives — Suits May Bare Other Scandal in Which the Minister Figured
A warrant for the arrest of the Rev. Cornelius Densel, Passaic’s eloping pastor, was issued to-day by United States Commissioner Joseph A. De-Janey at Paterson, on complaint of J.F. Holmes of Newark, the Department of Justice operator who has been investigating the circumstances of Densel’s elopement with Miss Trina Hanenberg, choir singer. Violation of the Mann White Slave law was charged by Holmes. Directly after securing the warrant Holmes left Paterson for Passaic.
The determination of the Federal authorities to prosecute Densel under the Mann act is expected to lead to a revelation of much that passed between the clergyman and a member of his flock which has not yet been brought to light. And if all the facts are not thus laid bare the girl’s suit for $25,000 against Densel and her parents’ joint action for $10,000 against him are expected to complete the record when they go to trial. Miss Hanenberg alleges breach of promise and defamation of character.
The First Netherlands Church of Passaic, of which Densel was pastor for eleven years, is regarded as one of the strictest of the upholders of moral laws. Sunday after Sunday, and at the mid-week prayer meetings, members of the church listened to the expounding of moral law by their pastor, with never a suspicion that he and one of the choir singers had a secret love affair. If Miss Hanenberg gave him the smile of understanding, from choir loft to pulpit, which he asked in one of the letters she has revealed, none of the congregation noted it, apparently. It’s members, conservative to the core in their observance of their church’s teachings, went placidly on their way with no notion that a drama was being enacted before their unseeing eyes.
“We don’t believe in church fairs or church sociables,” said Mrs. R. Donkersloot of No. 275 Autumn Avenue, one of the church members. “Neither do we believe in cards or dancing or theaters, including motion picture shows. We believe in simplicity and modesty. For instance, a girl of twenty should dress and act as a girl of twenty and a woman of forty should not try to make herself appear but twenty years of age.”
Elder Orie Lakefield, when seen at his fish market at No. 930 Main Avenue, declined to discuss the Densel case, but spoke willingly of what his church stands for in the community.
“Our church is very strict regarding the conduct of its members,” he said. “We do not believe in church picnics in the summertime, and we do not have Christmas festivities in the winter. We try to live strictly according to the Scriptures.”
Elder Jacob A. Troast, who lives at No. 54 Prospect Street, said that frivolity and frivolous fashions are frowned upon by his church.
Source: The Evening World. NYC, NY newspaper. January 07, 1921.
