Matewan Oral History Project Collection
Sc2003-135

Bertha Staten Interview

Becky Bailey: June 20th, quarter to three, 1989. I'm in the home of Bertha Staten and we're about to begin our interview. This is Becky Bailey for the Matewan Development Center. Mrs. State [sic] we were gonna start talking basically about your family history. When did you say you were born?

Bertha Staten: November the ninth, nineteen and twelve. At Matewan, West Virginia.

B: Okay.

BS: Mingo County.

B: Did you live in a coal camp? Were you born in a coal camp?

BS: I lived at uh...an old home place. You know my dad's home place.

B: And who were your parents?

BS: They were Garlins.

B: Okay.

BS: Marthie (Martha) and John Garlin.

B: Okay.

BS: That's all I'm gonna get this and help you read this if your asking me.

B: Okay. Where were your family from? What...were your parents families from this area?

BS: Yes.

B: Okay. Okay. What did your father do for a living?

BS: He was a miner.

B: He was a miner?

BS: Um-hum.

B: Okay. Do you know which mine he worked at?

BS: Yes Stony Mountain. Right there in Matewan. Stony Mountain is the name of it.

B: Okay.

BS: He's a uh...motor operator back then.

B: Okay. Do you know how big your parents families were? How many brothers and sisters they had?

BS: That they had?

B: Um-hum.

BS: Yes about seven in all. They had two sisters and three brothers. My...now that's my mother.

B: Okay.

BS: But my dad lets see he had uh...three sisters one just passed away. Uh...about three months ago. The last baby. Three sister and two brothers that was Fred and Bob Stafford. I guess you want their maiden names?

B: Um-hum. If you...

BS: Okay. Ollie (?) Burgraff is the oldest one.

B: Okay. And that was his...your father's sister?

BS: Yeah.

B: Okay.

BS: And uh...Leslie Burgraff was Pansy's mother.

B: Okay. Do you know how much education your parents had? Did they go to school?

BS: Yes. Maybe to the uh...if they went to the fourth grade they could uh...teach.

B: Oh really.

BS: Yeah. You know what I mean. But none of them taught.

B: Okay.

BS: They could read and write alright. They wasn't ignorant. You know what I mean don't you? What do you call that?

B: Illiterate?

BS: Well they wasn't that.

B: How many brothers and sisters did you have?

BS: Oh honey I had two and they's twelve in the family.

B: Oh my goodness.

BS: I'm the oldest.

B: Your the oldest child?

BS: Yes.

B: Okay.

BS: I've got eight sisters living.

B: How many were...

BS: And a brother.

B: Okay. Were you all born at home?

BS: Yes.

B: Okay.

BS: Doctor.

B: Doctor?

BS: Yeah. Doctor Hodge in Matewan. Most of them.

B: Do you um...do you know how much your parents paid to come help you be born?

BS: It wasn't very much. I don't know about that. Always uh...ladies your friends would come in and help you...you know how that is. Something like a mid-wife or something.

B: Did...so the doctor would also be helped by the mid-wives?

BS: Yeah.

B: How long did uh...you and your brothers and sisters go to school?

BS: Honey now listen most of them uh...I went like three weeks of finishing and here's what I done at Matewan and then I want to tell you the rest of it. Now after three weeks and after forty years I got a G.E.D.

B: Oh my goodness.

BS: I sit and graduated every one of my family now. She's the one next to the oldest one. Helen. You want their names?

B: Let me ask...

BS: Well...

B: When did you get married? Let me ask you that first.

BS: It was in September at Crum, West Virginia honey. Nineteen and forty-two.

B: Okay. And how many children did you have?

BS: I've got...I had four and one baby you know...born dead.

B: Okay.

BS: The oldest one...I'll give you all their names. You want them now?

B: Yes mam.

BS: Berthie, Marthie is her name. Now she's a Finley now.

B: Okay.

BS: She's a Staten. And Helen...Doris Helen is her name.

B: Okay.

BS: And Alice Faye Staten. Marga Lou (?)

B: Okay.

BS: And Ricky now I've got two adopted children but their the same as your own. Ricky Staten. And Dorie (Dora) Alice Staten.

B: Okay. And what was your husbands name?

BS: Roland.

B: Okay. And...

BS: Roland Thomas Staten.

B: Okay. And when was he born? Do you know?

BS: He's borned at Okayayey(?) in eighteen ninety-three.

B: Okay.

BS: March the first. Guess what?

B: What.

BS: He'll be...he passed away sixteen years the twenty-first that's tomorrow.

B: Okay. How did you all meet?

BS: Oh we met in Matewan at a carnival think of that. I had some friends over there.

B: How old were you when you met?

BS: Sixteen honey when I got married. You know everything then I guess.

B: Okay. Um...let's see you said you could tell me all about Matewan? Do you remember the Massacre?

BS: Yes. Listen we they's a neighbor next door. I'll tell you his name. Chapman Dean he had a big cellar for you know we had to stay in that cellar three weeks. The shooting. Do you know where the school house is now?

B: Yes mam.

BS: Well right over that mountain there the high powered were shooting     _____ Uh...Fred and     ______ Burgraff. They lived in tents. Up on the railroad tracks. And there's uh...same as the miners today as the feud. And we had to stay there honey without lights or anything and do what we was gonna do in the dark. All the children. The Dean family. Chapman Dean was his name. And I liked to know if Minnie Dean...well she married a Raderfort(?) she's in Matewan somewhere. Ask Aileen if Minnie Dean is a living. Upper end of Matewan is where we stayed in the cellar for three weeks.

B: Okay. About how old were you then?

BS: Honey I was about uh...ten or eleven.

B: Okay.

BS: At that time but I worked in Matewan.

B: What did you do?

BS: I was uh...     _______ I reckon and I worked at uh...I'll tell you who I worked for. Doctor Whitt a dentist at Matewan.

B: Uh-huh. Okay.

BS: And then uh...Ms. uh...wait just a minute I'll tell you Sanders. Micker Mac store(?) I cooked and waited on them. What you call. I don't know what you call it now. Do you? I don't care I held down two jobs and then went to school.

B: So this is when you were about ten years old you were working?

BS: Yeah. Yeah we all...and guess what was in the street.

B: What.

BS: Uh...rocks. And we had to pack our own lunch to go to school.

B: Oh goodness.

BS: There wasn't no something you know no cooks no nothing. Packed it in a little four pound lard bucket.

B: Do you remember how much you would...you'd get paid for working for doctor Whitt? Do you remember how much he paid you?

BS: I sure don't. But I know uh...he wasn't very much. Uh...maybe five dollars.

B: Okay.

BS: A week or something like that. And don't quit now I forget about that. He's a dentists.

B: Um...how were you related to Fred Burgraff?

BS: Fred married my sister...my aunt, honey. Aunt Hollie(?)

B: Okay.

BS: Stafford. And then Aunt Leslie was married to a brother of Fred. Abe Burgraff. Everyone of their youngins is in Matewan now.

B: Okay.

BS: But see they's...they wasn't old enough to know about this. Cause I'm seventy-six now.

B: There was a story that said uh...Fred Burgraff was the man that shot Ellison Hatfield. Did you ever hear that?

BS: No he wasn't.

B: Okay.

BS: Not as I know of. Now listen they told a lot of tales. They was all in it though. In the Massacre raid at uh...Depot. I know it happened but you know you don't want to say do you?

B: Well actually if you'd talk about it we would like to know.

BS: Well they was in it now. Fred Burgraff and Abe they was in it. Now you know just as well say that they was in it.

B: Okay.

BS: They was miners and they lived in a tent right there in Matewan.

B: Did you ever visit them when they lived in tents?

BS: Oh you know I did.

B: What were the tents like?

BS: We'd get up on...well you've seen like a little four room. Big army tents. And uh...they housed a family.

B: Okay.

BS: Right on where the railroad tracks are now. I mean there's a grocery store there Marcums.

B: Do you remember the flu epidemic in nineteen, nineteen?

BS: Yeah honey there's a lot that passed away then wasn't it? My mother had that uh...they call it uh...was it scarlet? Or what was the flu they called it?

B: The Spanish...

BS: But it was real bad honey you know it was real bad. A lot of people passed away uh...I want to tell you about the flood.

B: Okay.

BS: We'd be in Matewan and the barn would go down Tug River right there in Matewan and the horses would be sticking their head out of the barn.

B: Oh my goodness. Was this the nineteen seventy-seven flood?

BS: And another thing I was standing with my Aunt Ollie(?) and they used to buy flower right there in Matewan the house is still standing. Flower in big barrels like a eight hundred pound sacks I guess. And did you know it got up over the dinning [sic] room table.

B: Oh my goodness.

BS: You should have been there. In the boats all the     ______ God I can name you every one of those there in Matewan.

B: Which flood was this? Do you remember?

BS: Seventy-seven I think out of Keystone. Might have been earlier than that. But you'll find out in some survey that you've taken. Aileen will know. Cause God she's into everything.

B: Okay. Do you remember ever seeing Sid Hatfield?

BS: Oh yeah cause listen my husband why they was gonna shoot him for Sid. Did you see him? You'd ever see Sid now the movie is nothing.

B: Okay.

BS: Nah. The movie is nothing to what...Roland and I can show you all the picture of Roland and they tried to...they's aiming to shoot him and he dodged from Sid Hatfield.

B: Was this during the shoot out with the Baldwin Felts agents or?

BS: Now Baldwin Felts they killed uh...Ed Chambers and uh...I know all about that.

B: Okay.

BS: And they's uh...building the bank when I was born.

B: Okay.

BS: And the Buskirk's they's a building there. You can see it. You should take a picture. Nineteen eleven and twelve.

B: Okay. When did uh...when was your husband mistaking for Sid Hatfield do you remember that?

BS: That was before I was married to him. And uh...I'm his third wife.

B: Oh Okay.

BS: And he had a son to pass away same age of me in uh...Louisburg about a month ago. So see he was married...that was before his other marriages.

B: Okay. Did he ever tell you much about Sid Hatfield or Ed Chambers...

BS: Oh God yeah. You know I...hey I knew them honey. See I know the sisters I know Dan Chambers I know their daddy Ed Chambers.

B: Okay. Well would you tell me some about them.

BS: Oh they's good people honey yes. The Chamber's girls all went to school... Hoskins.

B: Okay. What about uh...Mayor Testerman or his wife Jessie, did you ever see them?

BS: No but I've got pictures. Their...all of us got pictures. See that's before I married Roland but I know all about it. And I...I'll tell you one thing that you can get everything. Is Robert Simpkins. The x-superintendent of the schools. He's on the board.

B: Okay.

BS: Now he lives at Beech Creek.

B: Okay.

BS: At right hand fork at Beech Creek.

B: Okay. Uh...what did you know about the Massacre? What did people say about when Sid Hatfield...

BS: Well honey they...listen they had to go to trial after all this shooting went on. That was just a made piece of business for the court house in Welch. So when they went up they's a waiting on 'em. Testerman's wife had a umbrella and I think she killed one of them I'm not for sure they said. But the umbrella she whupped two of them I think. But that's when he was killed. He was a nice looking man too. Now Phillips, Aileen's husband I know he was in it. Did he say anything?

B: Yeah.

BS: You ain't interviewed him. Well he might...he's from an old family.

B: Okay. Do you know where you were the day the shootout happened? You would have been a child. Were you at school?

BS: Well honey...no I think we's all hid out cause there wasn't... they had stopped the schools. See the school is right there where they's shootin' over. And the old building part of it is tore down where I went to school.

B: What school...what was the name of the school you went to?

BS: Matewan...Matewan. I went there to the last year then I graduated and uh...got smart got married and I graduated everyone of my kids in Matewan after forty years I went back to school. Aileen knows all about.

B: Did any of your brothers and sister graduate from high school?

BS: Yes.

B: Okay. Why did you get married before you graduated?

BS: Oh you...well you learn something I guess why does everybody. You get smart I guess.

B: What did your parents say about you marrying a man that had been married twice before. Did they say anything to you?

BS: Oh God I want to tell you about this. Aunt Jenny Stafford she married Ebb Steel. He's a relative of all of us there in Matewan and the flower shop they own...one of the grandchilds owns the flower shop now where the old ball field is well now they owned all that. He was a pretty rich man. Uncle Ebb Steel. And guess what?

B: What.

BS: He was my husband's uh...mother...his mother was his...Uncle Ebb Steel's brother.

B: Oh Okay.

BS: Aunt Ruthie Steel is her name. Brother to Ebb Steel.

B: Okay.

BS: Oh God uh...Robert Simpkins has got the whole generation everything cause he come to me fer you know other junk.

B: So what did your parents say when you said when you wanted to marry this man?

BS: No honey I was out I was on my own working away from home. They uh...he was a miner lived in a coal camp in...he went to the farm in Wayne County. Wilsondale, West Virginia. Now about five of the kids was grown up on a farm.

B: Okay.

BS: And then after I got married I brought them out of the country brought them back here.

B: Okay.

BS: They spent their days back here both died here.

B: Okay.

BS: They's pictures to be taken out here on the cemetery. They're all laying out there.

B: Okay. Had his...did he divorce his other two wives or did...

BS: Roland?

B: Um-huh.

BS: They passed away.

B: Both of his wives died.

BS: Um-hum. Yeah. One of them was a Mounts the first one. And the other was a Ferrell.

B: Okay.

BS: There's a whole generation of them here on this hill.

B: Okay. Do you know what they died of?

BS: Cancer.

B: Cancer.

BS: One of them but the other was born uh...died of child birth. The Mounts from Gilbert. Back in them days there was old loggin' days. Loggin' camps.

B: Did they child live that she died...

BS: Yes the boy that I told you about same age of me? Just passed away I told you about six weeks.

B: Now how old were you when you got married? Do you remember?

BS: I was sixteen.

B: You were sixteen?

BS: Yeah.

B: Okay.

BS: Got married at Crum, West Virginia.

B: Okay. Where did you all live when you first set up house keeping?

BS: Set up house keeping on Beech Creek. Yeah I had a four room house up there. And then while we was a building this one see uh...why we set up of the night and built and then moved here. So I raised my home family here.

B: Now um...lets see so you got married in..

BS: August. At Crum, West Virginia.

B: In nineteen twenty-eight. Does that sound right?

BS: Well I can go...come go get it.

B: Were you born...if you were born in 1912...is that when you were born?

BS: Yeah. No honey I know...had me all mixed up...thirty-two.

B: Nineteen thirty-two. Okay.

BS: Gosh I shouldn't forget that.

B: So you met when you were sixteen and got married when you were twenty. Does that sound right?

BS: Um-hum.

B: Okay.

BS: We went together about three years you see.

B: Okay. So we wound up to that. No my first kid was born when I was twenty. She's fifty-five now. She lives in Naroy (?), Illinois. He's fifty-five right now. And Helen's fifty. This girl right here. Now they all graduated from Matewan. And my baby one is supposed to be down here in a few minutes. I feed them all ground and they all live right here.

B: Okay.

BS: But one. She's got her thirty years in uh...the soap factory in Dayton, Ohio.

B: Uh...who helped you when your children were born? Did you go to the hospital or were you...were they born at home?

BS: Well now I had two mid-wives first started out. Sara Ann Dory Harmon is her name...everybody's passed away. Of course there's a Harmon delivering.

B: Okay.

BS: That was with Helen.

B: Okay.

BS: And I had a doctor from Red Jacket and Matewan.

B: Okay.

BS: With the rest of these children.

B: Why did you have a mid-wife when Helen was born?

BS: Well shit, they wasn't no doctors that come out.

B: Oh really.

BS: Oh excuse me. Cause they wouldn't come out to the home.

B: Okay.

BS: And my...guess what my first baby was uh...a pound and a half. And I was too crazy to go to the hospital.

B: Um-hum. Oh goodness.

BS: I had it at Matewan uh...North Matewan at Aunt Leslie Burgraff's. Had my first baby there.

B: Okay. Did it survive?

BS: Yes she's fifty-five now. She just weighted a pound and a half.

B: Pound and a half.

BS: Uh-huh.

B: Okay. She must have been a tiny baby.

BS: Oh God honey I had to milk uh...like uh...out of my breast to feed her and she slept the other two months. I'd have to go waken here. Had little old tiny thin fingernails. And her...listen her head would fit in a tea kittle (kettle). It's a miracle.

B: It really is.

BS: But she weights at least two hundred pound now. She's just here for the week     _______ Illinois. We had a time.

B: Was your husband there with you when you had your children? Was he in the room with you or...

BS: Oh no Aunt Leslie was uh...Burgraff. Uh...back then you see the guys is working in the mines at Red Jacket they was working three dollars a day.

B: Three dollars a day.

BS: So I left here honey with them and they went to work and went to Aunt Leslie's.

B: Uh-huh. Okay. What did he say when...what would he say to you when you'd have a baby.

BS: Oh God you know how they are they're tickled to death. No you don't either.

B: Not yet.

BS: Why yeah, you'll be very tickled to death. You wait you'll have one maybe.

B: Well uh...lets see. How many other children did your husband have? Did he have children by his other wives?

BS: Oh yeah honey. He had four.

B: Okay.

BS: Had three boys and a girl. One girl living in Huntington.

B: Now did you raise these children?

BS: I raised two of them.

B: Two of them.

BS: The baby one. But their all passed away but the daughter. And she comes and visits me. Only one a living left.

B: Do you remember how old his children were when you got married? I know you said there was one the same age as you?

BS: Oh yeah that's the oldest one. He didn't live here. He stayed with the grand parents on Beech Creek.

B: Okay.

BS: But now these other four up there is there home place up there.

B: Okay.

BS: They was small children. And I think the baby when his mother died was eleven.

B: Okay.

BS: The baby one.

B: You say you meant your husband at a carnival.

BS: Yeah in Matewan at the ball park.

B: Uh-huh. What were the caravels like then? What was there?

BS: Well honey they had boxing and they had the swings had the ponies. There's not too much they are just more powerful you know now.

B: Okay.

BS: Always tickled to death when they had boxing.

B: Who would box when they had it? Was it local boys or...

BS: Yeah local boys go in and box. But uh...one of the Hatfield boys and then now I heard that Frank Allara, did you interview him?

B: We interviewed his wife.

BS: He wasn't in these uh...I know his wife I know the whole family and they all know me. But now Frank is still in the bank at Matewan uh...they all know me I do business at Matewan there but I lets see I guess there kids is all gone to ain't they?

B: They're all grown up.

BS: Oh yeah all grown like mine. My baby's forty-five. The baby one.

B: You say you adopted two children?

BS: I adopted two Ricky. And he lives right here I deeded him my home place and he's evangelists now at twenty-nine years old.

B: Was he an orphan?

BS: No I'll tell you who he was. He's my oldest daughter's children. And uh...when she divorced the first time she married else so we adopted the kids and raised them. See our baby was uh...about twelve when I adopted them.

B: Okay.

BS: So instead of them a going to town living uh...you know while we had plenty of food....

B: Okay.

BS: I rode a boat there where the Hope's...Ms. Hope was on top of here roof and we all helped get her out. The boat right there in Matewan

B: Oh goodness.

BS: in the street.

B: Speaking of right there in Matewan what stores do you remember?

BS: Micker Mac...

BS: I rode a boat there where the Hope's...Ms. Hope was on top of her roof and we all helped get her out. The boat up there in Matewan...

B: Oh goodness.

BS: In the street.

B: Speaking of right there in Matewan what stores do you remember?

BS: Micker Mac is one that's the one I worked for you know.

B: Where was that?

BS: Right on the street in Matewan.

B: Which building do you know?

BS: About the second from uh...the dollar store there whisky now.

B: Okay.

BS: Now the bank uh...I got a sister named after them...     _______ girls one of the son's a living. Have you got an interview with any of them?

B: Not yet.

BS: The Buskirk?

B: Not yet.

BS: I think he's a living.

B: Okay.

BS: But now the banker in Matewan Dan Chambers he passed away not long ago. That's a whole generation of Chambers. But uh...I have a sister named after them two Buskirk girls Mildred, Inez. She lives right up this hollow here now.

B: Why was she named after the Buskirk daughters?

BS: They're both sisters and Dan Chambers the banker in Matewan married one of them. Inez.

B: Okay.

BS: But now he's married...he married...he married uh...one of my old girlfriends Kathalene (Kathleen) Smith. And moved to Florida. He raised a whole family you know.

B: Okay. Do you remember was there a boarding house in Matewan when you were growing up for the miners?

BS: Well yes. Dry cleaning place.     ______ was his name. He's a colored guy.

B: Okay. How about uh...how about the boarding house? Was there a boarding house that you knew?

BS: Oh yeah honey that's what they all made. And the Stony Mountain camp where Aunt Leslie Burgraff lived. Well the houses are still standing.

B: Okay.

BS: Above the railroad tracks.

B: Who ran the boarding house? Do you know?

BS: Now off hand I don't know but it's uh...they changed a lot the whole family. But it wasn't the Burgraffs now or the Staffords.

B: Okay. Um...did uh...did you buy your groceries in town? What kind of products do you...

BS:     ______ like flower and uh...salt, coffee you raised everything else in the garden.

B: Okay. What...do you remember any of the brand names that you would buy back then?

BS: My eight o'clock was one of the coffee's I don't know of the flour but I'm sure it wasn't self rising. You had to have baking     ______ but you ought to seen that mess when that barrel swelled up and busted. Oh we had a time then.

B: Okay. Uh...

BS: I thought we's gonna have while's your here.

B: Oh the flood.

BS: Did you you...did any water get in the streets?

B: Not really. Not much.

BS: Well it wasn't that big then was it?

B: Not that big.

BS: But it kept on I thought it was gonna be.

B: Uh-huh. Okay uh...lets see..

BS: The Nenni Department Store used to be Schaeffer's honey.

B: What kind of...did you all buy your clothes there? What kind of clothes did they have? Were there any name brands?

BS: Mostly you sewed your own.

B: Okay.

BS: Of course they had coats and you know for the big shots who wants to buy them.

B: Okay. Do you remember any of the brand names? Do you remember did the clothes have name? Like clothes have names now Levis's jeans or things like...

BS: Oh no honey there wasn't nothing like that.

B: Okay.

BS: They had Galus overhauls.

B: Okay.

BS: And listen my dad never did wear uh...say we didn't know what uh...Levis or nothing like that was.

B: Okay.

BS: Cause see I growed up there in Matewan.

B: How long was your husband a miner?

BS: Uh...twenty-years. But I'll tell you what he was before he went to the mines.

B: What was that?

BS: When we married in thirty-two he was uh...uh...foreman on the state highway. For the state and a foreman for the county. I haven't collected on the     ______ might some day.

B: What kind of work did he do? Did he ever tell you about what he did?

BS: On the road?

B: Um-hum.

BS: Right out here. From here to on the highway he's a road man. Shovel operator and uh...bull dozer. It wasn't a bull dozer it something like a big shovel. You know.

B: Like a back hoe?

BS: Yeah.

B: Okay. Why did he go...

BS: And he run the grater.

B: Okay.

BS: Run a grader. He's...they hard topped the road down forty-nine in Matewan right now I guess they're working on it.

B: Why did he go from that to working in the mines?

BS: Cause I...politics.

B: What happened?

BS: Every four years republicans and then I was a democrat so I got into the change and go to the mines. And I'm glad I did. Had twenty years of it in Red Jacket. Glenn Allen(?) he had three mines.

B: Okay.

BS: And Sara Ann(?) over in Logan. Has a high class mansion. Twenty years. That's what I'm on now.

B: So your husband was a democrat...I mean a republican when you met?

BS: Yeah and I've changed him over right then.

B: Why was that?

BS: Every four years honey there's uh...there was a quarreling of you know change jobs and all that stuff. So I talked him into going into the mines. My daddy was a miner.

B: Okay. Were they paid in script when you met?

BS: Oh yeah I've got some of it.

B: Oh you do good.

BS: I've got a hundred dollars in Glenn Allen(?). Did you put Glenn Allen(?) up there?

B: Yes mam.

BS: Okay. I've got a hundred dollars in Glenn Allen (?) script now.

B: Did you...

BS: Everybody wants to buy it.

B: Did uh...did you shop at the company store exclusively....

BS: Oh yeah....yeah.

B: Did you just go to that store or did you go to the other stores in town?

BS: You just got a dollar a day you see. I didn't go through that very much cause you know I didn't live out the dollar a day. We... we was up to three dollars a day. Then he went to three to six. But he got us thirty days you know on the state highway. He got a big check being a foreman. What ever they paid. I don't know I forgot.

B: So when you say politics would he lose his job?

BS: Oh sure enough.

B: Oh...ok.

BS: Yeah they'd take it.

B: Now who would take it the republicans or the democrats?

BS: Well the republicans is what he's in and then when they lost why the democrats took it.

B: Okay.

BS: Yeah they do right at the day time.

B: Okay. Do you know anything about what went on uh...in the county politics? Did you ever hear of Noah Floyd? Did you here that name?

BS: Oh God! I hated him. Don't put it there but I did I really hated. And he's still living ain't he?

B: I don't know I'm not sure...

BS: Yes he's still living.

B: Why did you hate him?

BS: Cause looka here we could have got the main high way through here politics is on     ______ and he went Logan way. And it's not finished yet. Oh he's a big 'un and Blind Billy Adair why he remembers all that.

B: Okay.

BS: They was a big wheel. Now I guess you'll know now they...I don't think they like     ______ sweeping the court house they got everybody new now. That I know of.     ______ Gillispie she's the old Collins now you know. She's a widow too. She's a ------- court house.

B: Did you ever hear anything in years past about people buying votes?

BS: Oh that's all...honey that happened for forty years. I was commissioner for forty years.

B: Oh really.

BS: Right here in precinct fifty-nine at Varney.

B: Could you tell me some about what you would do as a commissioner?

BS: Sure uh...show people how to vote.

B: Okay. Was that how....

BS: You bossed the voting machine then and then listen I worked twenty years in the paper ballots. I worked forty at least forty years uh...you know after the machines come in. I was commissioner on a democrat ticket. I get letters now from Byrd and uh... Congress Rahall.

B: Okay. How did people by votes were...you know we're trying to get people to explain...

BS: Honey outside. Hid and seek and you know yeah....

B: Oh Okay.

BS: Yeah they know who to go to. Anybody that sell the vote they'd know who to go to.

B: How much did people ever get paid do you know?

BS: Well honey sometimes pint of whiskey if they was a drunker. Maybe five maybe more you know. But I do know of that. It went on.

B: Okay.

BS: Now they've got it three hundred and fifty     ______ place.

B: Okay. How about bootlegging in Matewan. Did you ever hear...

BS: Oh God yeah. Old women done it. They was bootleggers.

B: Oh women were.

BS: One of them was a Burgraff. I had aunts of mine. The girls...these brothers the sisters. They made a good living on it.

B: About what time was this? I mean years ago. What years were...

BS: Up in all the time I went to school in Matewan now you can count it back. Aileen will know exactly cause uh...band camp(?) was the superintendent if you see anybody go...when I quit he want my picture on a post card. So I refused.

B: Okay. (tape cuts off for the phone)

B: We were talking about bootleggin'.

BS: Oh there's plenty of that in Matewan. That might have been before Aileen's time I don't know. How old is she...you know?

B: She was born in 1922.

BS: Well I got her beat a little bit.

B: Uh...so that must have probably been in the nineteen twenties you think when they were bootleggin'?

BS: Yeah and in the thirties honey you know way up there.

B: Okay.

BS: 'Til they all passed away.

B: Now I'm gonna ask you this...

BS: That's on the back alley next to the river.

B: Okay back alley next to the river. Do you know were there ever any houses of prostitution in Matewan? Do you know? Did you ever heard talk about prostitutes in Matewan?

BS: No.

B: Never did. Okay.

BS: Honey we didn't know what that was.

B: Okay.

BS: Uh...you know what I mean. Of course I didn't know of none but there could have been.

B: Okay.

BS: You know that's something.

B: Well we had a name we were supposed to ask people if they ever heard of...you know not one way or the other but we were just supposed to ask was Aunt Carey. She was a black....

BS: Oh God I know. I know her yeah.

B: Okay. Who was she?

BS: Well...was she a white women?

B: No she was a black women?

BS: Well I'd give the Brown's     _______.

B: I've heard say that she was a bootlegger. Did you ever hear that?

BS: Why sure yeah. Her and them other two I give you.

B: Okay.

BS: I shouldn't have give you that Burgraff she was a Burgraff but she was I think married to an     _______.

B: Okay.

BS: But everybody knows it so. Oh honey that was the flow of the uh...miner if he got a days work he might spend that dollar on bootlegging you know in Matewan. Come home have it in a sack. I'm remember my grandmother lived at Lynn and uh...you'd see him come by these groceries like meat slaughter house. And I remember the swinging bridge right there in Matewan and Donald Taylor. Have you met him?

B: Um-hum.

BS: Okay. Donald married my first cousin Aunt Leslie's daughter. And uh...my daddy we lived in a house...now his daddy was a boot-legger.

B: Oh Okay. Your father...

BS: But I..

B: Your grandfather.

BS: But I shouldn't put that on...no uh...

B: Donald Taylor?

BS: Donald's daddy.

B: Okay.

BS: Yeah. Sam Taylor Lord he was a big one. And now listen we had a little drug store in Matewan and you'd go and buy the     ______ bottles and the stoppers and oh I've done that myself.

B: Oh, Okay.

BS: For my dad. That was a big living then.

B: What was the depression like in Matewan?

BS: Oh honey it was bad. I'm telling you. It sure was.

B: We heard one story that the Matewan Bank issued it's own money during the depression do you remember?

BS: Yeah the Chambers.

B: Was that money that was good only in Matewan or where did people use...

BS: No I guess it went everywhere. But they did they helped everybody. Cause I know my dad had a loan after we went to uh... the mines in Kentucky. Why he had a loan in Matewan so I'd ride a train down in Kentucky and come up Matewan on a train.

B: Okay.

BS: And Uncle Ebb Steel I was telling you about him a money man he had shares in the Matewan Bank. And he wins his loans so I'd go pay the...pay the bank loan to him. And he'd take it in.

B: Okay.

BS: Old man with a big family honey they had to do something. Cause wages was so little.

B: Okay. Uh...when did you start voting? When...do you remember?

BS: When I married him in thirty-two.

B: Okay.

BS: Say thirty-two.

B: Who did you vote for?

BS: Way back then?

B: Um-hum.

BS: Now let me see oh God I...listen...

B: It was Hoover verses Roosevelt I think.

BS: Oh yeah and then uh...well I'd have to look back cause I know. Uh...I remember the Hoover day. It was a bad time. And there going through it right now. Some of them if they strike. I heard a while ago that the pickets you know that they might get...if they let those guys that they captured up in the upper part of the state maybe where you live. Uh...Pittston Coal Company they let them out of jail. And said they might get to go back to work.

B: Were your father and your husband union men?

BS: Yes.

B: What kind of talk did your father...did he talk about the union?

BS: Oh listen honey he'd cry...he's in it to. Fred Stafford and Bob Stafford was a brother. We's all in it together Staffords and Burgraffs.

B: Did they ever tell uh...

BS: No they listen they...they were scarce about talking you know. Of course this is bad.

B: Was your husband related to uh...Bill Staten that would have been friends probably with Willard Smith?

BS: Oh yeah. Law we know Willard Smith.

B: Okay.

BS: He's passed away too ain't he? Did you uh...

B: I interviewed his daughter Mary...Mary Ward.

BS: Oh did you?

B: Yeah. She said that back when she was young that her father belonged to the Klu-Klux-Klan around here.

BS: Well he was uh...secretary at the union when I...Willard Smith. Oh in some kind of office he was uh...what they call a J.P. Back in Matewan. Old man Willard Smith was.

B: Did you know of anybody else that was in the Klan?

BS: Oh yeah uh...Chafins.

B: Okay.

BS: Tom Chafins and uh...his dad. I think his dad was named Tom.

B: Okay. Mary Ward said that the Klan was more of uh...social police than it was racial.

BS: No...

B: What kind of things would they do?

BS: Well like arresting you for certain things. Maybe a killing or uh...law...like Roland's daddy L. E. Staten why he'd make a citizens arrest if anybody killed anybody. He'd kill them over cattle or just anything back then.

B: Did he...did your husband's father ever arrest anybody?

BS: Sure.

B: Oh he did.

BS: Take them just like a     ______ he wasn't no     ______ by law. But he'd make a citizens arrest. He's the Board of Education man too. Smart man. Evermont(?) Staten was his name.

B: Was there a lot of shooting then when you were young? Did people...

BS: Oh shoot honey...they'd shoot you for pass time. Yeah there sure was. The Collins. Steve's still living I understand one of his brothers died not long ago. He runs a whisky store thair (there) in Matewan right now. He's an old timer.

B: Did you know anything about the two Collins's that were put in jail for killing somebody? Did you...what was that story about do you remember?

BS: Well that was their dad.     _______ Sailor McCoy was John's daddy. They all lived on the Matewan Streets.

B: Okay.

BS: From up on that hill Stony Mountain camp.

B: What do you remember about Sailor McCoy?

BS: Sailor honey was a nice looking man. John's daddy. Yeah. And lived in a nice brick home. One of the girls...there's one of them living now ain't they?

B: She's married to Frank Allara...Mattie Allara.

BS: Yeah she knows me but I haven't saw her you know to talk to her for oh I guess twenty years how about that. And I'm not very far away. I'm over here. But you know how they are.

B: How far back do you remember there being a theater in Matewan? Did you go to the theater?

BS: God I used to wash dishes honey. Ten cents all day. Uh...to go to Matewan I saw a movie Homer Carroll was the guy running the movie. And he's got a son that lives right down here at uh... station. Gulf...is it a Gulf or is it Exxon?

B: I'm not sure. Uh...

BS: Great big station.

B: Okay. What building was the movie theater in? Do you...

BS: Uh...lets see now you know where the flower shop is? Well not the next building...it's the furniture I believe there now. Or maybe or printing something for hats.

B: But it was next to the flower shop?

BS: Yeah now cause there's a steel in the flower shop.

B: Okay. Do you remember any...

BS: Everyone's dream...I can remember one that way.

B: What movies do you remember going to see when you were young?

BS: Silent movies?

B: Uh-huh.

BS: Well it was just these crazy guys like we got...what are their names? I don't remember...did you jerk it or me? (tape cuts off)

B: What kind of movies do you remember?

BS: Now I can't remember cause law we'd watch them silent movies. Yeah.

B: How much did it cost for you to go to the movies back then?

BS: Ten cents is all it costs.

B: Okay.

BS: And Homer Carroll was the guy that run the movie. When I went to Matewan. We lived in the upper end of town. My...all you had to do is walk the streets. Back then there was rocks. They wasn't county roads was dirt but after so many years they went to hard topping.

B: Okay. In the uh...twenties did you cut your hair short back then?

BS: Yes.

B: What did...did anybody...

BS: A lot of people wore it long but we had our...right around here...no now honey listen we had it down to our tales. Yeah we had long hair.

B: Okay. What did the people say about the girls that cut their hair short in the twenties?

BS: Well buddy they's afraid to say anything and you know what I mean. Back then you...if you talked about one family you'd have a wreck.

B: Okay.

BS: You know everybody done their own thing back then.

B: Okay.

BS: But we had fun with uh....the Boggs's that lived there right beside of us. Uncle uh...he was his...he uh...Boggs was his name and he drove a wagon and mules. I remember the first car I ever rode come over through here just a one way. See Roland lived up here in a two story. And uh...we come in the guy....the Howell girls is the one that got me in with Roland. H.O.W.E.L.L That was who Lenora (Lenore) was married to. Pansy's sister. He was a     _______ at Matewan. So they brought me over here.

B: What kind of car was it? Do you remember?

BS: It was a touring car uh...I don't know...a Steudabaker(?) a Pontiac I don't....I think it's a Pontiac.

B: How old were you?

BS: Twenty-nine model Pontiac.

B: Twenty-nine. Okay.

BS: And there wasn't but a few cars honey back then. Just wagons and Roland. When he was married to that Bessie he drove uh...the mail in a wagon.

B: So he also delivered the mail?

BS: Yeah in a wagon. Here at Pie and uh...I don't know where he picked it up I forgot.

B: What do you remember about Ernest Hatfield being the police chief?

BS: Well honey one of his daughters you ought to interview her. Uh...she works in the Matewan Bank. Marshall Hatfield's wife. No I'm suppose to be...yes I am...one of Rolands...Roland was his uncle by marriage. Patty is her name. Patty, you could interview her she could tell you a lot about the Staten's.

B: Okay.

BS: And the Hatfield's her daddy was Ernest Hatfield.

B: Okay.

BS: He's a cop there in Matewan. But uh..when I was a walking the streets in Matewan was uh...Ella Hoskins yeah. And we had a lot a little     ______ things like that you know coming and going. Sid Hatfield is wasn't the Sid that got killed he's still living. At Newtown he was a gospil to. Honey I run a business out here a beer garden. A tavern for forty-five years. Raise my children on that cause Roland was cut out of the mines he was a sick man.

B: Okay.

BS: Just had eleven years of social security. So I put in a business. Owned a lot of property on this highway sold them all and build a the place you see out there now.

B: What kind of thing did you uh....did you sell food and...

BS: I sold food had square dances all we had a time. I had all on Friday night I'd have a special night for the     _______ and uh...and the sheriff Tom Chafins.

B: Did they all come?

BS: Oh, they all come I stayed up with them until four o'clock. All of us did. Something like a family affair. You know if your in friends with everybody you don't have....we had some ups and downs but if you'll cut that off I'll get a paper and show you. (Tape cuts off)

B: Before we ended the last tape Mrs. Staten we were talking about your tavern. What was the name of it?

BS: Staten View Inn.

B: Okay.

BS: Named after us.

B: How long did you have that Inn?

BS: Forty-five years honey.

B: Okay. From what year to what year? Do you remember?

BS: Well now lets see uh...he died in seventy-three and I...lets see Bob was two years and a half old forty-seven was when I started. And I quit in seventy-nine.

B: Okay.

[BS:] But God what an interview I wasn't a thinking about that look at that. I look ninety years old don't I?

B: Not really.

BS: I don't...I didn't want to show you. I've fussed abut it.

B: What do you remember about World War II? What...

BS: Well, this stepson went you know. He got uh...drove a tank. And see uh...two stepsons was in service. Over in Okayinawa is Roland State, Jr. And the other one was a barber. And the other one was a mechanic. That's all the boys. And the daughter is still living in Milton, West Virginia. Has got thirty years in the glass factory there     _______ Illinois.

B: So where we're actually at today is...was called Pie. Is that the name of where you live at now?

BS: That's where they all...right here's Pie. And did you see any sign? You couldn't...and I'm still mad.

B: How long has it been called Pie?

BS: Well honey, uh...when I come here when I was sixteen it was Pie. And an old man Blankenship named it. He had three of the...when he wrote to the state department Charleston, why he had three of the smallest letters and that's P.I.E. So they named the post office Pie.

B: Okay.

BS: It sounds odd don't it?

B: Um-hum.

BS: But now we're a...well to Delbarton I don't like it a damn bit. You knew I told you in this cause uh...we don't live in Delbarton. That's twenty miles...almost twenty miles away. And we're in the Matewan directory. Think of that...don't even have uh...of course we're on the map. P.I.E. is on the map. But I'm still mad. My husband built that bridge is out...right out there now.

B: When he was working for...

BS: Helped...

B: for the railroad?

BS: Helped build a bridge yeah.

B: Okay. Well is there anything else that you'd like to talk about today before I go on with my questions? Is there anything that I haven't' ask you about?

BS: Well I'm still living...I...all the children's lives here around me but two. And I don't think I farm every year. Have you met Bradford Justice?

B: No.

BS: Well honey meet him. He's in all this other stuff.

B: When you were a young girl did you wear make-up when you were younger?

BS: No.

B: Why was that?

BS: Well I don't know. I never did...I never did wear lipstick, never smoked, never drank.

B: How about your husband did he ever smoke or drink?

B: Yes, he did both.

BS: Smoked a pipe. I sold beer like I told you. It's was the busiest place ever like anybody can tell you. It was a good family affair. We had old people young people. THey'd give the birthday parties here and everything. Wasn't no outlawed place. Of course thairs any shooting going on I was the one to shoot.

B: Did you ever have to shoot at anybody?

BS: We had lots of fights. Yeah. The only thing I shoot here is black snakes. I keep guns for protection.

B: Okay. Um...now when you first started your tavern segregation was still a law wasn't it? I mean only whites could come in by law or did...

BS: no they come see not back then. And no...not all the time I was in business that stuff just started in the towns didn't it? See I     ______ in seventy-nine. But uh...that wasn't...we didn't have that here. No place to sit on the bus stuff like that no.

B: Okay.

BS: Of course now listen Pigeon Creek we don't have but one colored on the creek cause they wouldn't allow it.

B: Why was that do you know?

BS: I don't know. They just didn't like colored people. Of course they is a whole family of them at Red Jacket.

B: Did your husband and your father ever say anything about working with blacks or the Italians families...

BS: No because he worked them on the high way you know. WPA Was the name of the outfit and they'd joke with him. He'd say hit the ditch. They should put more of...uh...outlaws on the highways we'd have better...that's what Radford's on now. He's a retired school teacher. He's on this highway project. I know his dad and his whole family. His brothers.

B: When you were a little girl growing up in Matewan did you ever meet any of the Italian families that moved in?

BS: Oh yeah.     _______ Oh honey but we're won't be riding the bus but the big shooting and killing was uh...where Roland worked at Glenn Allen. I've got all them old pictures.

B: Oh with the ambush?

BS: Ambush of the pay roll. The last man that uh...he crowed like a rooster before they shot him. And Greenway Hatfield was the sheriff at that time.

B: So your husband was working at Glenn Allen when that happened?

BS: Um-hum.

B: What did he tell you about what happened? Did he tell you anything...

BS: Told me all of it. They robbed the pay roll and then the shooting started. SO they killed them all. I've got the pictures of all of them standing up in their caskets. All them Hatfield's married Hatfields you know they is uh...borned as Staten's but the married into Hatfield. And have you ever saw that picture?

B: Um-hum.

BS: But now Sid he was a good...that guy was a good actor that one Sid. Excuse me.

B: What was Sid like well when you mean he wasn't Sid? What was the difference from the movie to the real...

BS: Well this guy uh...Sid had a different turn than this guy's got now. You know he was...this guy is too solid.

B: So what was Sid like then?

BS: Oh he was a nice man. You know he     _______ uh...like a business guy. Gosh they's a world of Hatfields.

B: What did you uh...can you tell me about some of the things that you didn't like about the movie? What didn't you like about the movie?

BS: Well honey it's not what went on. I know listen. Like the...the shooting and all that. Why Lord listen and the miners well now they wasn't nobody mentioned at the real guys that was in it. New actors you know played the role. I've saw it four times. But still it wasn't...it's not...back when we knew more all about it. Sure wasn't see I keep all pictures of the Buffalo Creek disaster. I know you've hear of it. There just now paying that off. Had to get Governor Moore before he went out of office he paid that off. You know that's a good thing to keep. But if I ever run into you again why I've got a library honey that's uh... over a hundred years old. Up to forth grade of the McGuffey readers. Up to the forth grade.

B: Oh goodness.

BS: I've got everything. I've got an old time. It was willed to me from Charlie Ellis all retired superintendent of schools.

B: When you say the actor that played Sid in the movie was a solid type and that Sid had a different turn what kind of person was he? I mean did he uh...you know they called him...we've seen...

BS: Well he was the talk of the walk in Matewan you know what I mean. He was uh...well policeman. Yeah.

B: What about now these are some of the rumors and the legends I just want to ask you your opinion on some of these and then you can say what you want to in response to my questions. Um...but I'm just saying that these are some of the rumors that we've heard. That uh...do you know did Sid shoot mayor Testerman? Mayor Testerman in the shootout so that he could marry Jessie?

BS: No that wasn't....Sid didn't do that? One of them Baldwin Felts Shot him coming down the stairs. Shot Sid too.

B: Okay.

BS: Of course he married her afterwards. But that wasn't the cause of that. It's just     ______ Matewan. They shot these guys on a train see. And then laid them out on the depot platform. We little kids. We all went to see them.

B: So you saw the uh...the dead men after the shoot out?

BS: Sure honey and you was daresome to stick your head then. Oh yeah.

B: So we have...one lady said that when after the shootout hap-pened they laid them that got killed out on boards and when they train came through they put them up in the baggage cars is that what happened? But all the little kids got to see them?

BS: Um-hum. Well they saw them laying there on the platform. The ones like wanted to go see them you know. Yeah we saw all that. But it was dangerous to go around there then. Cause if a train went through shoot they'd shoot them...they shot a lot of them in the train. And then stopped the train and laid them on the platform there.

B: Okay. Uh...Do you know who fired the first shot? And did anybody ever say who fired the first shot?

BS: No....no cause it happened in the buildings close to the railroad tracks.

B: How about it I ask you some names and you can tell me if you know them and if you know anything about them. Uh...what do you remember about Isaac Brewer? Did you ever know Isaac Brewer?

BS: Oh sure everyone of them. We got...Pigeon Creek is full of the Brewers today.

B: What kind of man was Isaac Brewer?

BS: Well he's a pretty nice man just like everybody else. There wasn't too many crooks back then. But if you was mistreated they'd kill you I guess.

B: Cause I had one person that uh...my friends interviewed said that Isaac Brewer was mean as a snake.

BS: Oh yeah. They's a lot of mean one honey. They's a lot of mean ones. But they took their own part. Just like the Brugraffs now honey they was uh...they was odd balls but they's the best men around Matewan...anywhere. Had a big family both of them...no Fred just had one son. And born and raised right here in Matewan he's a Methodists preacher yet. He's still living. He's a year older than I am. Hawthorne Burgraff. He's a Methodists pastor. You know was. But he's a reverend right now. He lives at McAndrews, Kentucky.

B: Did you ever hear the story about Fred Burgraff supposedly killing the Hatfield that fed the Baldwin Felts agent? Did you ever hear about that?

BS: Sure. But see look a here uh...we was hiding in this seller I was a telling about when they killing was going on. Well honey after that very little was wrote down. See we got Aunt Jenny Stafford that's my daddy's...my grandpas sister married a Steel they's all in it everyone of them. We's all right thair in one... hey oh I'll say two acres. We all lived there.

B: How about Charlie Kiser?

BS: Oh God I used to wash dishes for Charlie and his wife. Still got a girl that works in the bank. Kiser girl isn't it? SHe married a Roberson boy. I know them they know me too. Raised together right there in North Matewan and Matewan.

B: You and Charlie Kiser?

BS: Oh yeah honey. I washed dishes for...his wife was uh...overseas.

B: Now he's another one that we've had interviews people said that uh...he was a kind of mean little man too. What kind of person was he.

BS: Well he's high tempered. But he was one of the best guys you know and George Steel. Now the boy in the flower shop he is George Steel he is his son. And his great grand dad was Ebb Steel. We all lived right there together.

B: Okay. Uh...lets see how about uh...Bill Blizzard?

BS: Now I don't know him but see eh was uh...union. He was a union man.

B: And Frank Kingie(?) ?

BS: Yeah. Swinie?

B: Kingie I think.

BS: Oh Kingie. Oh I thought it was Swinie.

B: Okay.

BS: They's all union guys. Had a women mother something other I forgot her name. You...I guess you know or you heard somebody say ain't you?

B: Not yet.

BS: Was a union mother of the...

B: Oh mother Jones?

BS: Yeah. She fed them all you know. Seem to take out some deed in all this feud. Up at Warren, Welch and different parts of the country.

B: When you were a little girl did they ever tell stories about the Hatfield and McCoy feud?

BS: Well...well listen when all this killing is going on. See there's just a river between them. And lot of the Staffords and... lived on the Kentucky side. And that Donald Taylor, Sam Taylor we lived next...well what you say neighbor next door to Sam Taylor, Donald's dad and mother and Donald married my first cousin Areen(?) Burgraff. That's Pansy's mother. Well this DeHart girl does she work in around with you?

B: Um-hum.

BS: Well is she married?

B: Um-hum. She's married to Jerry DeHart.

BS: Jerry that's Pansy's son.

B: Right.

BS: Yeah. Well that's...wonder who she was before she married Jerry?

B: I don't...I don't....

BS: Well she must be in around Matewan isn't she?

B: Um-hum.

BS: But see me and Pansy's and Houston Burgraff up there runs the powder out fit for the mines now, what do you call it? Some kind of...dust you know. Me and him is Pansy's brother. They had one named Johnny he's got a whole family there in Matewan now. Johnny Burgraff. And the key to this. They're old timers too.

B: Okay. Well if uh...

BS: We about finished?

B: I think so. I think for today if you don't mind maybe I'll come back.

BS: Well come back and I'll hunt all those pictures.

B: Okay.

BS: Now I've got more. I've got pictures of uh...we didn't' even mention Pearlie Epling and all that bunch.

B: Well would you want to tell me a little bit about Pearlie? I've heard a story abut him.

BS: Have you?

B: Um-hum.

BS: Well...

B: About him winning bank night.

BS: Oh yeah and uh...he's the Chevrolet owner there in Matewan. And also he was a ball you know had a ball club and my daughter was one of them. I'll show you the picture. And his daughter used to come over here and go in the creek and uh...play uh...catch crawl dads out of Matewan. And uh...they all went to school together. Now he was a good man Pearlie was.

B: Okay. Did you ever hear any stories about Tom Mitchell?

BS: Sure from Newtown?

B: um-hum.

BS: Yeah I know the whole outfit honey. Used to have one playing music for me here in the band.

B: Okay.

BS: See they's all a relative of Tom Chafin and that's where he's from Newtown. Born and raised there and he's kin to the Hatfields and the Steels and the Staten's.

B: Well uh...thank you for letting me talk to you today.

BS: Well anytime I get a lot of pictures and we'll get up uh...there's so many in front of the beer garden long time ago and a friend Mrs. Jones.

Matewan Oral History Project Collection