Matewan Oral History Project Collection
Sc2003-135

Tom Blankenship Interview

Paul McAllister: This is the 14th...15th, May 15th, 1990 [1991] and I'm with Mose Alley. Could I have you state your name and birthplace and birthdate and all that for us. (The interview with Mr. Alley was held in the Matewan Development Center (MDC) office.

Moses G. Alley: Name is Alley, Moses G. Alley. The G. is for Gamayo, if you're familiar with the Bible. And I was born right here, this town, May 23rd 1904.

P: Who were your parents'?

M: Parents were Moses G. Alley, I'm named for him, and Martha Ferrell Alley. Martha Ferrell was born here. The Ferrells originally owned Matewan.

P: Did you know your grandfather? Is he F.A.J. Ferrell?

MA: Yes. Yes, I knew Uncle Anse. We called him Anse. Uncle Anse Ferrell owned the land right here where Matewan is.

P: Okay.

MA: I guess he passed on about the time I started. But, I do remember 'im.

P: Did he have a home in Matewan and where would have been?

MA: Uncle Anse? Yes, he lived in a...Warm Hollow. There's a little creek comes into Tug River right here somewhere. And he had a home in the mouth of Warm Hollow. Anse Ferrell.

P: What kind of home was it?

MA: Well, it was originally a log house, but I guess it was since boarded over. Most of the homes here were originally log. But they would put boards on the outside and make a frame house out of 'em.

P: And this house set along a little creek that came out of Warm Hollow?

MA: Pardon?

P: The house was adjacent to the...?

MA: Warm Hollow. Yes sir.

P: I'm trying to think of a current landmark that would locate that house.

M: Well, it's uh...I don't think the old house is standing now, no. But, Warm Hollow is here. The creek or drain ran up to the coal company. They was a coal mine located here at Matewan called Marvin Coal Company, M,A,R,V,I,N, originally. Later, that same coal company went bankrupt and the new company was called Stone Mountain Coal Company. But, it was originally Marvin.

P: Do you know who the owners of Stone Mountain Coal Company were?

MA: Yes, the man who managed it and I guess practically owned was named Williams. Let's see, what was his first name? I can't remember his first name. But, his last name was Williams, that owned the coal mine.

P: Did he live in Matewan?

MA: He lived in Matewan.

P: Was Stone Mountain ever part of the Red Jacket coal company?

MA: Part of the Red Jacket, no it wasn't part of Red Jacket. Red Jacket was a much larger company than this little mine here at Matewan. This little mine never mined more than four or five railroad cars a day. But Red Jacket mined a train load a day. Fifty, seventy-five railroad cars came out of Red Jacket every day.

P: The mine entrance for Stone Mountain, they were up in Warm Hollow?

MA: Say that again.

P: The entrance portals for the Stone Mountain Mining Company, they were in Warm Hollow?

MA: Yes, yes they were.

P: Okay. This Anse Ferrell, was he the same Anse Ferrell that was...they talk about in the Hatfield-McCoy Feud, where they carried Ellison Hatfield to.

MA: I expect Anse Ferrell was the same one. I'm not sure just what episode of the feud that we're talking about. But, Anse Ferrell was the original owner and the incorporated of or incorportor of Matewan. He's a progressive man. And uh...I don't know much about...more to tell you about him. He's a businessman. I guess he had the town surveyed and marked off into town lots, sold the lots to establish Matewan. But, the Town of Matewan is named for a dog that my grandfather owned. The dog named Mate. He was a great big half German Shepherd and half Mountain...what did they called them uh...Cure, half German Shepherd and half Cure...was named Mate. And Mate ran a dog...ran a bear out on the ice at the mouth of Mate Creek, which is right near here, it was frozen over. And the dog tackled the bear, on the ice there and the ice broke and dog and the bear both went down in the river drown. The old man, Anse Ferrell with a gun ready to shoot one of 'em, but he was afraid of killing the dog if he shot the bear. So, they both drown and floated down under the ice. And, he ran down the creek where the river got swifter, the ice was broken, and he saw them float out; the dog and the bear. That was uh...he called that creek, Mate Creek. That was my great grandfather, Richard Ferrell, who owned where Matewan is today.

P: And the town was named after this dog?

MA: The town was named after the dog.

P: And Mate Creek as well?

MA: Mate Creek is named after the dog.

P: Uh-huh. And...

MA: Now, that was shortly after the Revolutionary War, before the Civil War.

P: Okay, and the dog's owner was Richard Ferrell?

MA: Yeah.

P: Had not heard that story before. That's a...

MA: Pardon?

P: I had not heard that story before, that new.

MA: Well, that's a true story.

P: Good, I like that.

MA: I'll bank on it. I heard it from the mouth of the people who acted it out.

P: And where did the idea calling it Matewan come from, the W,A,N?

MA: Well, there's a town in New Jersey called Matteawan, W,A,N. It's still up there. And some of the early people who bought coal in here and help to develop the region were from Matteawan, New Jersey. And so, since the town kinda grew at the mouth of Mate Creek, why some of those early fellas...I can't remember which one did it...said, "let's call this village here, Matewan," from that town up in New Jersey called Matteawan. That's a true story.

P: Okay. Where did you live when you grew up in Matewan?

MA: Where did I live? Right here in Matewan. I grew up in a little farm right down below here half-a-mile called Alley Farm. And I grew up on Alley Farm and went to school here in Matewan; my first school. My sister was a teacher.

P: What was your sister's name?

MA: Mabel Alley. (She) was the teacher here. And she later married a Norfolk and Railroad Official named John Whitt. John Whitt was the inspector from Bluefield to Williamson. That is, he had that space of track to take care of and he just rode the passenger train up and down the...inspected that section of railroad. What needed to be done, told the track...told the foreman of the railroad sections what to do. His name was John Whitt and he married Mabel Alley, who was a teacher here. Let's see, she...when she first knew John Whitt she was a teacher up at Lynn, which is three for four miles above here. And he would come down on the train and have the train stop and pick her...passenger train...and brought her back down to Matewan. And he married her. And during the flu epidemic of 1917 John Whitt died and Mabel Alley died and their child died within three days of the terrible flu epidemic that they had in this country, at that time, in the teens.

P: Did you have any other brothers and sisters?

MA: Do I have? Yes, I have three or four sisters, they're older than I. All became teachers, taught up and down this railroad here. And I have two younger brothers, one is a doctor, somewhere in Tennessee near Nashville. And a younger brother that's a farmer down in...at Crab Orchard, Tennessee.

P: What were their names?

MA: Pardon?

P: P: What were their names?

MA: The older boy's named Frank or Franklin and the younger one's named Starling. After a star that my father like to look at, I think. So, he named the boy Starling. I think that's the story about it. They're both living; younger than I. But all my sisters are gone except one, Minta, who is uh...somewhere between ninety and a hundred. And she lives in uh...where, Cincinnati (asking wife) Where does Minta live?

Wife speaks: Albuquerque.

MA: Oh yeah, Albuquerque, New Mexico. (Has deceased sister named Edith)

P: You went all the way through High School in Matewan, is that correct?

MA: Pardon?

P: You went to high school in Matewan?

MA: I went to high school, went grades (school) here, went to high school. My sister was a teacher at the grades. And then the high school had four or five teachers. And I went to school. Graduated from this high school. Then went to college at Berea. And I stayed at Berea 'til I got through college. And then, I went to West Virginia University and got a degree up there.

P: What was your degree in?

MA: Law.

Wife speaks: Mose, I think you're preceding yourself just a little bit. You graduated from Berea, and went to law school at U.K. (University of Kentucky).

MA: Yes. I went to law school at U.K.. And I also went a while at Marshall College in Huntington. I got a degree there uh...to teach school. And I taught school right here in this school... right here in this town. I was principal of that school, this high school.

P: When was that?

MA: Oh...'bout 19...somewhere in the twenties, I believe. I can't remember.

P: When did you...

MA: Pardon?

P: When did you start your legal career?

MA: I got through law school at U.K. in 1929, wudn't it? (Speaking to wife)

Wife speaks: No, that was Berea. You finished Berea in '29.

MA: Oh, I finished Berea in '29. So, I taught school awhile and then went to law school. And it must been the '30's...early '30's that I got through law. And I uh...I guess I practiced right here in this town for a little bit. Then, I got a job with an attorney with the Army Corps Engineers. And I was with the Army Engineers for thirty-two years, up and down this valley here, Kentucky River, Big Sandy, we built dams; flood control and navigation dams on the Big Sandy, when I was with the Corps of Engineers.

P: Okay. Can you tell me about your...uh...your family, when you met your wife?

MA: My family? Well, they...my early family on my mother's side were right here, Ferrell Branch here. My mother was a Ferrell. And uh...so, my mother's people were right here from this section. The Alleys...my father grew up six or eight miles down the river here, at the little town called Borderland, West Virginia, Borderland. And, he grew up there and came up in this country. Let's see, what was he doing....he was working at something up here when he met my mother. I guess that's right. Yeah, he was builder, he built some buildings right here in this town in the early days. That's right, Dad was carpenter, builder, contractor and built some buildings right here in this town. Then he married the Ferrell girl. And uh...when the country was covered with large trees...this is before the coal developed...timber was the big business. And Dad got together a crew of men and cut big oak trees, poplar trees, and made a raft, and floated the raft down the Tug Fork into the Ohio, down to Ashland, Kentucky. There they sold the timber to...there were large mills there, lumber mills. And he got enough money to come back here and buy the little farm where I grew up. And many other men did the same thing, cut timber and floated it out and brought back a little money up the creek. The railroad was then going through, that's about 1890. And the Norfolk and Western was building a railroad through here to get the coal, and timber. The three ? took out of here was timber; hugh oak and poplar logs three to five feet thick at the base, hundred feet tall. That was the...that was the industry, timbering. Then some coal barons ? came through from the east, up around Norfolk, Virginia, Roanoke, Virginia and saw a great opportunity to open coal here. And they opened some mines here. Red Jacket was one of the first mines opened here. Other little mine, right here in Matewan, called Mate Creek Coal Company; it was first start...called Marvin Coal Company. And uh...those coal mines brought people in. And the towns developed. Matewan incorporated as a town. My father was the first ...well, he was the incorporator of Matewan. He went to Charleston, I guess, and got a charter for Matewan.

Wife speaks: Logan, Logan.

MA: Logan? Yes, Logan was the nearest big place from Charleston. Anyhow, the charter for the town of Matewan was got by my father.

P: Do you know what year that was in?

MA: Pardon?

P: Do you know what year?

MA: I'd say that was 1890. I'd think about 1890.

P: When did you meet your wife?

MA: My wife? Which one, I've had two or three. (Wife and two daughters laughing) The mother of these girls...I met her at Berea didn't I? (asking family)

Wife speaks: Yes.

MA: Yeah, she went to school at Berea. She was from Jackson County Kentucky, McKee (sp?). And, we went to school there, graduated from college. Then we came up here to teach, we taught here.

Wife speaks: And got married.

MA: And got married, yeah. And these gals here are her children, they're not mine. (Family laughing)

Wife speak: Careful now.

MA: And we lived here fer twenty, thirty years. And she died here. And uh...I taught school here in the Matewan school for a while. Then I went to University of Kentucky and studied law. And uh...came back here practiced law for twenty-five, thirty years, I think. And uh...I've here ever since, off and on.

P: Off and on, huh? There's a few people I'd like to see if you remember and tell me something about them. Do you remember R. W. Buskirk?

MA: Very well! Bob Buskirk, little short fellow with a little mustache. I's just a little boy. But he built the Buskirk building here. Is that it? Somewhere along here. He built the Buskirk building. And Greenway Hatfield, about the same time, who is a sheriff, head politician...and he built this Greenway Hatfield Building, that I later on...I guess the rents in this building...is this the Greenway Hatfield Building?...the rents in this building paid for the building. I don't think I paid much for it, twelve or fifteen thousand dollars. But uh...it rented well, there was store buildings along here and two floors up there of apartments, twenty-five to fifty dollars an apartment a month. I guess the cheapest one was about twenty-four dollars. The most expensive one was about fifty. And they paid for the building, over a period of six or eight years. I didn't have any money to start with. I haven't got any now. Mary's got it all. (Family laughing)

P: What kind of stores were in the building?

MA: Just about what's here now. They's grocery store, cleaning and pressing place.

Wife speaks: Do you remember the name of it?

MA: Yeah, my brother-in-law, Bill Dial, run the grocery store awhile. It's called Matewan Grocery, I guess it was. Uh...I can't think of what else was here, but there was two or three business places.

Wife speaks: A cleaners.

MA: What?

Wife speaks: Cleaning company, cleaning.

MA: Yes, cleaning and pressing. That was owned by Stuart. Stuart Dry Cleaners.....had a place right here.

Wife speaks: And a little restaurant.

Daughter speaks: The Knotty Pine Restaurant.

MA: What?

Daughter speaks: The Knotty Pine Restaurant.

Wife speaks: Restaurant, eating place.

MA: Yes, yes, that's right. That's before you girls came along, wudn't it. (They respond, No.) No! You remember that?

P: Do you remember ever having any fire in this....(building)

MA: Yes, we had one bad fire here once, just about burnt up the town. But it didn't burn the Buskirk Building and the Hatfield Building. But it burnt most of the frame buildings along there, and it burnt them up. It burnt up half the town. I just can remember that so, that must have been about 1910, '15.

P: What else do you remember about Bob Buskirk?

MA: Bob Buskirk was a good man. He made his money selling liquor. Had a big saloon. Built the Buskirk building. And built the bridge across...they had a bridge across the river to uh...Kentucky And he developed a little town over there called Buskirk. I guess it's still over there. Right opposite Matewan called Buskirk. And Bob Buskirk was the owner originally, sold lots and built houses. And built this big Buskirk building here in town. Sold liquor. Otherwise was a pretty good man. He was a good man! Helped a lot of people. But he made it on liquor. Uh...lets see, West Virginia went dry, voted liquor out about nineteen and what ten? And Kentucky or Pike County was still wet. Kentucky was what they called local option, the county could stay wet or dry. And Pike County stayed wet, still wet. And uh...so people wanted liquor went across the river there to Buskirk. Buskirk had a big saloon there. And uh...so everybody at Matewan went...he built a bridge so you could get across, a nice bridge over to Buskirk, from Matewan to Buskirk.

P: Do you remember Cable Testerman.

MA: Yes, I remember Cable Testerman. He uh...he had a jewelry store. He was a jeweler, town jeweler. And uh...he was the mayor of Matewan and good man. (Cable) Believed in development and prosperity. And, let's see, he was killed at the Matewan battle they had here. Cable Testerman was shot and killed along with several other people. I's just a boy at that time, but I remember it.

P: Where were you at the time?

MA: Down home, just a half a mile from here on the Alley Farm. Dad was afraid to let me come up here, afraid I get shot, and he wudn't come up here. During that few days. It's a bad.....

Wife speaks: Mose, tell 'em about Minta being here when...

MA: What?

Wife speaks: Tell 'em about Minta being here in the post office while all that battle was going on.

MA: Yes, my sister...my oldest sister that's still living...was in town the day of the Matewan Massacre and she uh...my cousin was a post master...where ever the post office is...still the same post office.

P: What was your cousins name?

MA: My cousin's name was Polly Alley. And she heard the shooting and saw the people. And she told Minta to come in the building. So, Minta came in and stood at the door while the shooting was going on, during that time.

P: Do you remember Sid Hatfield?

MA: Very well.

P: Can you tell me something about him?

MA: He was a policeman, head policeman. Sid...and Ed Chambers was his deputy. Ed was Uncle Reece Chambers boy. Let's see, did I have Ed Chambers...I had his sister in school. Elsie, Elsie was Reece Chambers youngest girl. Ed was the oldest boy. No, he was the middle boy, the oldest was Talt, T,A,L,T. I don't know what became of Talt, he wasn't shot. But, uh...Reece Chambers on the town council, one of the originators of the town, good man. But he was in that Matewan Massacre. He shot so many people that uh... they...they said his gun barrel got warm...got hot. He fired it so many times. That's probably just a story.

P: What do remember about Sid?

MA: About Sid?

P: Uh-huh.

MA: Well I just remember he was a nice fella, nice gentle kind of a man, very courteous...right there he is (pointing to photo exhibit in MDC office). Very, very nice man. A man you'd like to know. Wasn't mean at all. In fact, the people around here were not mean. They were not bad uh...criminals. But the people that came in here to steal the coal and to build the mines and railroad they stole it from the people. That was when it was...a constant war, economic war, you see, from the people who owned the property, owned the coal. And the uh...we called the foreigners that came in here and bought the land...do you know what they paid for this land...a dollar an acre! Coal land that today that would be worth a half a million dollar, they bought it for a dollar. The poor ignorant people they didn't know what it was worth. The owners, my ancestors, they didn't know what land was worth. So, a fella came in with a hundred, why, they'd sell 'im anything.

P: Do you remember Anse Hatfield, a guy who ran the Urias Hotel?

MA: Yes, I remember Anse Hatfield.

P: Did he own the hotel?

MA: Well, Bob Buskirk built the hotel and uh........let's see, this man ran the hotel, I believe, yeah. He was the owner\manager of the hotel. Bob Buskirk himself never did uh...that I remember ...do the hotel business. He was interested in liquor more than anything...making...he had a saloon. And his money was made with liquor. They drank a lot of liquor through this country. And they'd been used to moonshine, which is white liquor. But when the railroad came and they brought in red liquor, manufactured liquor, you know, half poison. And they sold that in bottles. The original liquor was made in jugs. You bought a jug of liquor. They called it white moonshine...white lightning, that's what it was. (Family laughing)

P: Do do remember a uh...H. S. White.

MA: Yes, I remember 'im, H. S. White. He...he came into this country when it was just developing and married Mary White, who was a...Mary White came in here as a young girl to teach. She was a teacher and uh...H.S. White bought land and was quite a speculator and married Mary White. Of course that was a little before my time. But they had a child named Theresa, and Lydia, and Theresa was in my class in high school. We used to...(Pause) H.S. White went to the legislature while he was here. He was elected to the legislature of Kentucky...uh West Virginia went over to Charleston as a...we called him a Senator. Senator White. But he was Theresa's father.

P: Did he have a store in town?

MA: Pardon?

P: Did H. S. White own a store or business in town?

MA: Yes, yes he had uh...he had a planing mill first, planing mill. Sawed lumber and planed it. Made nice lumber to built houses. Dad used to buy lumber from him. And then, he had a... let's see, was it a store...I think, a grocery store. H.S. White .......I can't remember whether he had a grocery store or...but he had some kind of business here in town. And Mrs. White took care of it. Her name was Mary, Mary White. And she came from over seas. She was a German, a German girl. Her parents came here and settled. And Mary grew up and went to school here and married H. S. White when he was young man. And they raised a family about my time, yeah. Saresa, uh...there was two or three of...there's three girls, Lydia, Theresa, and another one. And that was during the revol...the World War. And H. S. White, since he'd married this young girl, he talked for Germany. They wanted to put 'im in jail, around here. 'Because he thought Germany was on the best side, you know. And we jumped in and fought Germany...or Germany jump and fought us, I don't which one it was. But, anyhow, they...the World War was between German and America. But H.S. White and his wife Mary were German people, full blooded German. Just came to this country as immigrants (Mary) and married the biggest man in town, H. S. White. His name is Henry Solomon. Henry Solomon White was the best friend my father had here and the smartest man. Now, what else?

P: How about E. B Chambers?

MA: E. B. Chambers was a native, he grew up here in town. Uh...opened a little store. I used to sell him apples, vegetables. I first had a one horse wagon and I'd bring vegetables and apples and sell 'em to E. B. Chambers store. And, then I got a truck, a little Ford truck, Model T. And E. B. Chambers had the biggest store in town. E. B. Chambers made a little money with his store. My father sold a little of the Ferrell property, had a little money. E. B. and Dad and Greenway Hatfield...there's five of 'em...organized the Matewan National Bank. My father had uh...as biga stock in it as anybody. He'd come up everyday and look at that bank and uh...watch the people come in and deposit money and borrow money. Matewan National Bank, my father was on the Board of Directors 'til he died. Didn't have a lot of money, but he had some. And he was a director in the Matewan National Bank. And they call him in before they'd make a loan, They ask 'im...he was on the committee that okayed loans. And if he said, "No" you didn't get the money. And if you [he] said, "Yes" you got the money. And if you paid it back, you'd get another loan. Every week...I believe every week they had a Board of Directors (meeting). He put on his clean overalls and a clean shirt and come up to the Matewan National Bank and have a directors meeting, they called it. What they were doing was okaying who to let (lend) money to, you see.

P: Who was the president of the bank?

MA: The president was E. B. Chambers. And the first cashier that ran the bank was A. D. Dickie, who came in here to help organize and start the bank, A. D. Dickie. And he got to big, and went to Williamson and fixed a bank and uh...who did after Dickie was...I can't remember who the head man at the bank was. Some local people, I believe.

P: Do you ever remember meeting any of the Hatfields that were involved in the Feud (Hatfield-McCoy Feud).

MA: Pardon?

P: Do you remember meeting any of the Hatfields that were involved in the Feud. Ever seen "Devil Anse" Hatfield or Cap Hatfield.

MA: Well, "Devil Anse" and those died before my time, a little bit, not much. Some of the later...some of the other Hatfields... there's one or two of that bunch right over there that I remember. But, uh...I was just a little boy. I don't remember "Devil Anse," he'd had already'd died. That's them right there, (pointing to MDC photo exhibit) the whole bunch of 'em.

P: Do you ever meet or see Cap Hatfield?

MA: No, Cap was killed uh...now let's see, what is the story about Cap Hatfield.

P: He died about 1930.

MA: Well, I'm...I probably remember Cap Hatfield but I can't...I can't place it right now.

P: Supposedly, he got into a gunfight in Matewan on about 19, 1896 and shot the mayor's son.

MA: Well, I remember that fight alright, yeah. Yeah, I was a grown boy at that time. But, uh...but, I can't remember the details.

P: Okay. Uh...what do you remember about growing up in Matewan? What did you do for entertainment?

MA: Why...we had a...we had a gymnasium, a basket...the basement of the high school building was a gymnasium and we played basketball. And uh...the high school just had, originally, three teachers, the principals and a couple other teachers. And uh...they didn't have over fifty, seventy-five students. But, I remember it very well, going to school...going to high school at Matewan. And then later I came back as a teacher, at Matewan. Let's see, I was principal, wudn't I, for a while? (Speaking to his family)

Wife speaks: You were a Red Jacket. I don't know whether you were at the high school or not.

MA: Yeah, I taught school here at Matewan four or five years.

Wife speaks: And so did Grethel.

MA: What?

Wife speaks: And so did Grethel.

MA: Yes, my wife, the mother of those girls, taught school there. She was from down in Kentucky, Jackson County. And I knew her at Berea, we met at Berea. She came and taught school up there with me a while. Then I quit teaching and went with the Army Engineers. What?...about nineteen and......I can't remember...'50?

Wife speaks: Probably.

MA: '40 or '50. But I was with the Army Engineers thirty-two years, up and down Ohio River and the other tributaries of the Ohio, building dams for flood control and for navigation. We built several dams on the Ohio River. And uh...as I say, I...I was, part of the time, the manager...the project manager they call it. But the...in the early days I helped to get the right-a-way. My job was uh...buying land for the government...for the Corps of Engineers. You had to be an attorney...or should be. And I checked the titles and made the deeds, paid the people, was the land man to buy the right-a-way along the river to build the dams. Then I got to be project manager for the...one of the dams. And stayed with 'em thirty-two years.

P: When did you retire?

MA: I retired about uh...let's see, when could...when would it be, thirties, or forties?

Wife speaks: No, it would be in the seventies.

MA: Oh, seventy. Along in the seventies, I guess. After thirty-two years with 'em.

P: How many children did you have?

MA: I can't remember?

P: (Laughter)

Wife speaks: Here they are. That's all he had.

MA: (Laughter) Let's see, I got two girls, how many other?

Wife speaks: That all.

MA: That's all! I just had two? I didn't do very well, did I. (Family laughing) I thought I had more than that. See, she's not the mother of these girls. She's uh...she had her own family. She had a son that's uh...what does he do?

Wife speaks: He works for Mobile Oil in their chemical division.

MA: But, Matewan is our home town. My uh...ancestors used to own the land right here. And uh...the Ferrells...my mother was a Ferrell...and they were brought up in this country. They were here from the Revolutionary War. Let's see, didn't my ancestors get a tract of land right here because he was a solider in the revolution. I think that's right, yeah. His name was Richard Ferrell. Grandfather I guess, or great grandfather. He got a tract of land here 1,200 acres, because he was a solider in the Revolutionary War. And this town is right in the middle of it. (Pause) Now, what else.

P: Okay. Uh...what was Matewan like in the thirties downtown. Was it a busy place?

MA: Now that's when we all starved to death. That was in the depression. Yeah, you couldn't get a job, coal mines all closed down. I happened to be a teacher; I got a little salary. And I had a little farm. I had a little mine, I had a little coal mine on our farm. Sold coal. I've delivered coal in this town for a dollar and a half a truck load, couple of tons. Mined right on our place. I'd hire men to go in the hill and mine the coal. And I usually delivered it. I had a dump truck. And I think we got a dollar and a half for a load of coal. Must of been two tons anyway. Well, it didn't cost anything. We owned the coal, we hired men to mine it...get it out...and I delivered it. Sometimes I'd collect for it, sometimes I wouldn't. But, it was hard times during the thirties here. You do anything for a dollar, except shoot somebody. And there was people killed for a dollar.

P: Another town person, John Brown, do you remember John Brown?

MA: John Brown, yes, he was a colored man here in this town. Yeah, I remember John Brown, a mighty good man. He had the cleaning and pressing place here, and built buildings. Let's see, his wife was named uh...Mary, John and Mary Brown. She was a fine woman, colored, lived here 'til they died. Twenty...thirty years I guess. John Brown put in the first Dry cleaners place. Where you could have your suit cleaned...he ran that...just a couple of easy going colored men. John and Mary Brown. I don't remember if they ever had any children. But they worked several people in Matewan. I started to school here my sister was a teacher and uh...

Wife speaks: all of your sisters were teachers

MA: We'd walk up the railroad to school from town. We lived about a half a mile down the railroad track. and she later married the N & W railroad official inspector from Bluefield to Williamson.

P: And they lived here?

MA: And lived here. Well they lived in...Where did she die? Here? or I can't remember. (Wife says: in Matewan I think.) Anyhow he was the an...official of the railroad from Bluefield to Williamson. I say official...He was just the...they call him an inspector. And he uh...looked at the section foreman. Talked to them...what to do...what not to do. They had the tunnel the Hatfield tunnel and two bridges to look after...maintain and take care of. And the stations along. and the side tracks or the side...the Red Jacket Shifter was a little train that ran from...ran up to Red Jacket three or four miles and terminated here in Matewan. And they called it the Red Jacket Shifter. and he took up empties and brought out loads every day twenty-five to fifty railroad cars of coal. Red jacket was a big big had three or four different tipples. And that land was all own by my people. By the Ferrells. Where Red Jacket was...and uh...I can't remember any thing else.

P: Okay. Well do you have any other memories of Matewan that you would like to tell use anything you remember most. Or favorite stories.

MA: Well I could tell alot. But I would have to have some Impatience? some stimulant or something to irritate me.(Family laughs)

Wife: what do you mean like a Coke a cola

MA: I've had several fights here yes. Boy fights in the town. And just a ordinary average country town. School, and of course I taught school here then. I was a high school teacher for several years. 'Til I went in the Army Engineers building dames. I was with the Army Engineers I guess I told you for thirty-two years. And they pay me more today...my retirement with the Army Engineers today...this month is more than I got when I started with them thirty...forty years ago.

P: Is that a fact?

MA: That's not bragging. I'm just telling you it's enough to live on.

P: Any other stories you may want to tell. Okay. Well thank you for your uh...time. I appreciate it.

MA: Sorry I couldn't tell you more...

P: You've told a great deal here...

MA: But I think what I told you is the truth. I don't think I lied any. (everyone laughs)

P: I wouldn't doubt that.

Matewan Oral History Project Collection