Vol. 1-Interviews-Ferko

DM inter. Mary & Tom Ferko -6- 8/7/72 Tape 6 DM How about transportation did you take a bus into Freeland or did you have your own car then TF At first we took a bus DM Like when Mary would go out shopping TF Then later when my daddy got a car he'd take us DM Well this was after you got married he took you MF Sure DM When did people start to buy cars here TF Around 1930 I guess, from '30 on, we had one since 1923 we had a Model T Ford there was only 3 in Eckley, my father had one, then he got a 1930 Chrysler that was $1120, then he got a 1936 Oldsmobile that was $980 DM I've seen some old adds for cars TF 1936 Chevy was$756 DM What was the first car you bought can you remember that TF It was a 1939 Pontiac, it was a second-hand, then we got a '48 Plymouth, then I got a '56 Dodge then I bought a junk Ford, a '59 Ford that wasn't worth the room it took up DM I was just going to say I can't say much for a '59 Ford TF transmission was makin' noise and the oil in it was like mud all the time MF Then we gave it to my son, he had a Chevy TF Yeh I took the Chevy and traded that in MF Yeh we gave him the Ford because he was tradin it in for a '65 Plymouth TF I took the payments on the Chevy to make the difference DM Well what other luxuries did you have, I notice a lot of people around here go for jewelry and like little ribbons and watches and stuff like that there's a lot of value placed on that kind of thing even in older days

DM inter. Mary & Tom Ferko -7- 8/7/72 Tape 6 TF boys around here, baseball gloves and baseball showes and a sled in the winter DM Sleds in the winter TF Yes that's what all the kids wanted DM Didn't Sophia Coxe give them sometimes TF no not here just over at the Protestant Church MF Yeh she always gave them Christmas presents DM But only the people that belonged to the Presbyterian Church MF Yeh, we never got anything like that DM Just a dollar and a box of candy TF Yeh DM That was kind of unfair, I think, in fact it was unfair TF But she was a good woman you have to give it to her DM Oh yes she gave lots of money away, still doing it TF Yes you take all the people that were out of work in the mines they all got free coal MF Your mother was gettin' it up until when, she gets black lung now from her husband now they stopped givin' her the coal TF Because she's gettin' more money DM What do you mean, stop giving her the coal TF From Mrs. Coxe DM Oh you actually mean the free coal MF Yeh since her husband died she was gettin' coal TF Well a lot of people did after their husbands died MF Since they weren't gettin' black lung or nothin' DM Do she still get the coal MF Now she doesn't because she gets the black lung TF Not anybody here gettin' it anymore

DM inter. Mary & Tom Ferko -8- 8/7/72 Tape 6 DM Because I haven't heard anybody admit that they get free coal yet TF Well they wouldn't MF They wouldn't say it but there was quite a few women here gettin' it DM Well when you guys were, well when Piker was working in the mines did you guys buy your coal MF Yes and when we got a chance we picked it too and and when we could afford it we'd buy it, when we lived at the mountain we use to pick all our coal there because we were right close to the strippin there it was right across the road so we use to pick all our coal down there same thing down there we use to pick coal DM What about the Coal and Iron Police did they ever give you any trouble MF You would just have to watch or they'd catch you DM I don't blame you I'd be out there picking coal too, if I was a coal miner you couldn't get me to buy coal MF When I was home yet livin' up on the Back Street yet after school we always went down on the coal bank back of there and pick coal and take it home and as soon as you seen the cop we'd run and how many times he'd catch they kids and smash the buckets DM Is that how they did it they'd smash their coal buckets, I heard a couple people say and I don't know how true this is but on a couple tapes I heard they said that if you were caught continuously picking coal they would report you and you would either have to move or change your name TF They could put you out of your house if they wanted to because they woned the property DM And then you would have to move and change your name to avoid prosecution MF I don't know about changin' the name but they could put you out of the house if they caught you a couple times like that, but everybody picked coal around here DM Who were the Coal and Iron Police people from the town

DM inter. Mary & Tom Ferko -9- Tape 6 8/7//72 TF Spade Detective Agency was here the biggest part of the time he's still around here DM Who MF Spade Detective Agency, Howard Spade DM If you'd have said Sam Spade I would have wondered TF No he's up here he has, thru Belmont and Kingsly he has guards all around there DM I shouldn't say this with the tape on but I'd go walking in the strippings and I'd be walking around and I'd find these big chunks of coal and I bought them and put them by the fence around our house so that anytime anyone wants some coal that visits us I'll say here, here's a piece of coal for a souvenir Annie Maloney came over and took them all (big laugh from all) MF Well she's one that picks it DM She came over and took everyone of them and I saw her later on breaking it up with a hammer and I said something like, "Annie where did you get the coal," and she said, "Oh I have my places and my ways of gettin' coal," MF Emory Nicholas use to always pick he down the back too DM Oh I know, Emory had a little shanty built to put his ( with is lined out) big chunks of coal in in fact there's still a couple MF Maxie had a brother that was killed he went for coal in back here and he was covered up TF It was this black dirt it's like dead dirt DM The stuff like down here around the curve TF No, no this is different that's silt that comes from the breaker this was regular black dirt and you think you're pickin' and the whole thing comes down MF Right down in the back here DM That's another death in Eckley I didn't hear about MF And Wanda Denion had a brother, he was down on the coal bank crackin' coal and it was lightning and thunderin' and it struck and he was killed

DM inter. Mary & Tom Ferko -10- 8/7/72 Tape 6 DM And the hammer drew the lightning I guess, any other accidents in the coal picking MF My uncle was crushed in the mines TF My uncle was crushed in the mines TF A lot of guys got that DM Well didn't Bruno's daddy die with a thing on the back of his head that come down and hit him in the head, somebody said it, I think it was Mr. Feissner said, they took Bruno's dad out of the mines and there wasn't a mark on him he wasn't even dirty he just got there TF Down there where I worked # 10 a big chunk came down and killed a guy down tehre and he had glasses on and every bone in his body was broke and you know what happened his glasses didn't break and he had the little rimmed glasses too no the kind that you have on just that tiny rim of what you call it every bone in his body was broke when we picked him up but his glasses wasn't broken DM That's the funny thing about Bruno's dad there wasn't any bones broken on him TF And he didn't lose a drop of blood this guy DM I was going to say he must have been like a bag of jelly TF And when we put him on the stretcher any way we put his that's the way he went DM Just like a rag doll TF That's right, I just got home from work and I got called right back DM When you talk to these people around here they never bring that stuff up, until something like this when it just comes up in conversation, you people are really tough, because my father's always worked in a factory which I don't think is any better than working in the mines but he doesn't consider that to be any big thing either, I guess it's what you do TF It's too bad there's no mines open here or I'd take you in and show you DM I would love to go in a mine with somebody like you MF I was in once and I never want to go in again, you think you're gettin' closed in there and this guy he thought he was outside he's so used to it but I don't