The Custom of “Pounding”

A headline in an 1882 newspaper read, “A Man and his Wife Pounded.” A reader of today would interpret this as an act of violence, but it was actually an act of benevolence. In June 1882, the newspaper reported that the village of New Kingston “was alive with excitement” because William Bishop and his wife were going to be pounded.

Several months previously, Mr. Bishop was thrown from a truck on the Cumberland Valley Railroad and had his shoulder dislocated. Evidently, he had been unable to work since then. So, on the evening of June 26, 1882, a number of persons entered Bishop’s house and gave him and his wife a thorough pounding. Each person present gave from one to fifty pounds, and “a stocking full of a hard substance was thrown at Bishop…which knocked all the talk out of him and nearly took his breath.” The perpetrators left after about an hour and their pounding amounted to “$41.56 in hard cash and other necessary housekeeping items” amounting to $60 to $65.¹

The custom of pounding was usually done to ministers, often at Christmas time, or when a new minister arrived. Several newspaper items describe the event. In December 1892, the members of the Mt. Zion United Brethren Church near Mt. Holly pounded and robed their pastor, and “he was sent home with a light heart but a heavy buggy.”² The Sunday School of the Mt. Pleasant United Brethren Church at Hays Grove “pounded” and “robed” Rev. J. W. Grimm and sent him home with “a liberal donation of groceries, etc. and a beautiful fur lap robe.”³

Purported to have its origin with the Quakers, the tradition of “pounding” is still carried on today by some Christian organizations in the southern and western parts of the United States.