Finnish American Historical Archive and Museum
Transcription
Finnish American Historical Archive and Museum
Finnish American Historical Archive and Museum FINNISH FOLKLORE AND SOCIAL CHANGE IN THE GREAT LAKES MINING REGION ORAL HISTORY PROJECT 1972-1978 (Funded in part by the National Endowment For The Humanities) F.F.S.C.G.L.M.R. DIGITIZATION PROJECT 2010-2011 (Funded in part by the Keweenaw National Historic Park Advisory Commission / U.S. Department of the Interior, National Park Service) CONDITIONS FOR USE OF .PDF TRANSCRIPT: Finlandia University, formerly Suomi College, holds the exclusive copyright to the entirety of its Finnish Folklore and Social Change in the Great Lakes Mining Region Oral History Collection, including this .pdf transcript which is being presented online for research and academic purposes. Any utilization that does not fall under the United States standard of Fair Use (see U.S. Copyright Office or Library of Congress), including unauthorized re-publication, is a violation of Federal Law. For any other use, express written consent must be obtained from the Finnish American Historical Archive: [email protected]. PREFERRED FORMAT FOR CITATION / CREDIT: “Maki, John”, Finnish Folklore and Social Change in the Great Lakes Mining Region Oral History Collection, Finlandia University, Finnish American Historical Archive and Museum. Note: Should the Finnish American Archive be a resource for publication, please send a copy of the publication to the Archive: Finnish American Historical Archive and Museum Finlandia University 601 Quincy St. Hancock, Michigan 49930 USA 906-487-7347 - fax: 906-487-7557 Trezise, August Troopers Norman 8, 1974 TOF:IC ,.. PAGE .- Born in Michigamme in 1888 Moved to Copper Country in 1905 Working for C&H for $1.05 a day Son's job for State Department in after previous Justice Talks about job briefly Appointed Experience Experience 1913 during Memories of Strike policemen in suicide1414-5 69 ~ 1475 1475-6 1475-8 from COMMENT Cut Houses 1941 as Magistrate the old Calumet as a Judge Payed by' Fees p~r case Old Dockets Calumet Townarelst~i;f Ha~l 1485-8 Curley Sally Matches 1488 1488-9 1490-1 Italian Hall Tragedy The Credit Bureau The Welfare Board He worked for C&H dur1ng"the "Funny inc1dents"...in court 1491-2 1492-3 1494-5 1495-6 1496-8 Depression or ... Flu Epidemic in the 30's in the 30's Diptherla and Child Labor The "City of Bangor" and Chrysler Cars Train Robbery Slot Machines Sheriffs and "under the table' stuff" . in 1478 1478-9, 1484-5 Memories of locations and owners of bars1419-81 Experience as a Fireman 1481-2 Keeping the Streeets open in Winter 1482-3 Calumet Jail 1484 Some outstanding personalities encountered Location of Court Boxing and Wrestling Wadell Men Helgren 1~12-3 1~73 1~13 1~13 1502 1413-4 attempted as corner - retired as Corner a~ 1~12 1~1~ 1~12 Washington 1905-60 Taverns in Calumet Secretary of Chamber of Commerce for 25 years Sporting Houses Worked for C&H from 1905-1939 Became Justice of the Peace in Harju 1498-50 1500 1 ~1501 ~1501 1501-2 ErkOla-s 1d Klkkonen ;~;r~~~~breaker1" from Garnished wages 1of Miners bought a house t or $25 Suicides, autop ies, casket salesman Winter shippinglaocident EV'n'1472 SUBJECT: SOURCE: Norman Trezise COMMENTS: Harju Interviewers: and Helgren I: Interviewing Mr. Norman Trezise at his home in Calumet on Tenth Street and I'm Trooper Helgren and Trooper Harju is also here. We're d~ing this interview for Suomi aollege Or~ History Program. Mr. IJreza.se will you tell us a little bit about where you were born and a li~tle bit about your background. : R: we got born married, my wife and I. come up here in 19u5 and I I was in Ishpeming thenand weI lived in Michigamme ~ that's started to work for the C &: H Mining Company for $1.05 a day. what yo~ could do with all your money...seven days a week. I: What year were you born f here I agine in? R: I: R: I~ eighty-six and my wife is eighty-six and we just celebrated r sixty-fifth wedding anniversary here the end of last month. My y, he was here...well, they were all here, but my boy he worked fo he government for how many years. He just retired from the gove t and now he works tor the (?) Institute. He's allover the worl . But when he told me he was gonna retire, I said, "Retire?" He aid, "Yeah!" So I said, "How much pension you gonna get?" He said, "Twenty thousand"and he said"I'm gonna make more than that whe I'm gonna go now." I: What does he do now? R: He was in I: In R: No, I: Didn't R: In Japan, see he was an ambassador or not the ambassador, he wa$ the next to the ambassador in Japan and France, both places. And h~ was supposed to get the job as ambassador to Japan and Hixon didn't:give it to him. That's why he didn't like Nixon. :. I the work of the Secretary of State's Office. Lansing? Washington. he...I knew he was some ambassador Wasn't he an ambassador for some country or something at one time? at one ttme. I EVT 1473 I: That's R: He's all Nixon is paying now, isn't right. paying but now; I mean, he never told he us but we know that w,s the reason. I I go back to when you moved then I: Yeah, R: I came up here in 1905 that's in town here. Did they tell go ahead and tell the time when you had your sixty you t$verns that? us everything i ! you can remember. I: Just R: Because when I was in my office, you know, the tourists come up ~here ...1 was Secretary of the Chamber of Commerce too for twenty-fiv years and I got this watch from them. So, I used to show these eople the directory of all the taverns. They wouldn't believe it. lid, "Before (?), sure." I mean, everyother place was a saloon, they didn't have taverns them days. Then we had a brewery out here, Canada Brewery, there were four sporting houses out there. I: Cat houses? R: there was couple of murders out one there...some Yeah, four a cat houses. They was after the I. fellows other, got and shot i ut entuallV sure there, so finally they hadda close 'em up. But it went on for ars and years. Used to go out there with horse and buggy and I used to guys would tired of and waiting and tothesa.horses they came back to~ the the work at No.5get Tamarack we used the horses and bUggie barn and they'd get left out there. Oh, that the horses, you know, they knew where to go. know. old Oh, there I worked I: Where did you work? R: The motive I: What did Jr. for work6d C & H from for of funny things the 1905 until mining happened abo~ ! in company? 1939. power. And when you left the under- al , and Centenn pumps was on and worked I house were. place they boiler Last pumps underground. engine worked in the there...electric pumps I you do there? was on Mine I: you say...you I R: Dh, What'd ground. I: R: was a lot days. and old house I don't the was comical. Of curse, How the guys came, ack, company, what did you do then? I got layed off. They layed off a lot of us, see got a...the mining company...that's one thing I gotta give them credit, we got pai~ so much a year for every year we worked. Different than what it i$ now and I got around eighteen hundred or two thousand dollars, kind!of a bonus see. There was only a few of us got that...that we worke4 tor what they call a conglomerate, see. And then what-a-you-callum...I EVT 1474 was o££ £or oh maybe six or seven months, and I had yet because I had (???) Justice o£ the Peace. He wanted to retire and he want~d me to buy him out. Well, I never made any talk about this, so anyhow one morning I was here raking up my yard like I'm cutting the grass now and his daughter come over and sai8, "You still interested in taking over the place?" I said ! "Yeah, but your Dad will never die," just like joking, see. suicide last night," she said, WWel," she said, "so, the doctor "He tried to said we gotta co~it wat~h him £rom now on." So I said, "I'll come over this afternoon and we'll discuss this thing." Well, that day the mining company come back and wanted me to come back to work. So, I worked two nights...we haada go to nights a couple places...and then I went to see the merchants to stay in the credit room and I took over the credit bureau, of: course, I was Justice o£ the Peace, see, and I wasn't active unt~l then. I I: What year R: 1941 I: That's R: I was Justice before that...I was elected oh I don't know, about! '36 or '34, see, but I wasn't active, see, I was still working for tpe company. At that time there was four Justices, see, and two of ~hem would be active and the other two would be just what-a-you-callua... sleeping Justice, they'd say. Dan McDonald, he was Chief of pollce, you know Dan, don't you? I: Noy,.I don't. R: Fellow that I: He works R: When Dan was Chief I: Is R: Dh yes. thought I: What kind of a job was Justice R: What kind I: Yeah, when you first R: Well, we all worked on the fee system. they get now. All we got was... I: So R! was that? when you became Justice works for Dan still £or Paulsen's Garage, Ford Garage. them now? working of Police...John tor Dan, he'd give you knew Dan. of of the Peace? the Sullivan took his place after. Ford Garage? you some dope too. Dan's really good...~ of the Peace? a job was it? much on a fine, started, what did you do? We didn't get no salary ~ike eh? So muchon a case, yeah. I forget what it was...$3.70 I guess... $3.70 something like that and then we got ii.30 and then they objections to that...somebody down state...and hadda take off 30 cents and only got $4.00 and that money was put in escrow made that dowp... EVT 1475 I been into Houghton...I was in there day before yesterday. I s~ould have asked Ray about that then. That money was put in escrow until they had a hearing, so they had a hearing some place and they decided that we~re entitled to it. So, in the end we're getting $4.30 for any of your cases and the village cases go about $3.00 I guess. ! II I: Well, what the District R! Yeah, all did you Judge misdemeanor have to cases, yeah. and sue for do all Did R: Yeah, there was lots marry people. of paper I: How many people you married? R: Oh, I: Several have several hundred the Of course, cases or trials we did judgements and stuff I: I married Did you hear do as Justice? does now? Lots of garnishees you I paper work work with for the like civil that. ~ike ~uff. I that. it, Do you yeah. And then used! to know? hundred over the years. R: I: Any of them come back for R: Well, when we had our party down at thegolf course, my kids were all here, this woman come up to me and said, "You don't remember me, do you." I says, "No,ftI don't." She said, "You married us thirty years ago." And what-a-you-callum...well the Justice of the Peace and then I was coroner too, you know. I was the crounty Coroner for year~. See, there was this fellow called (?) Osborn, he was the Judge and he was the Coroner and he quit, and he wanted to take so [they appointed me then. And I've kept that up until methe end. it, ' I: When did R: About five years I: About five years R: Yeah, five I: 1969 R: Yeah...1969, yeah. I: What do as coroner? R: Anybody I: So you'd did you a divorce...tell you to undo what you ~id? retire? ago? years ago you who died them days without go to the house? a doctor you hadda have a co~oner. EVT 1476 R: Go to the I: You had to R: what think aboutyeah; it. Had tohe'd investigate, I'd then give put house, go out drownings and all in the kinds investigate me a medical bush...sure, oh heck...on suicider' of stuff. at the term to ! scene. tell case, I'dyou ask know, e'd if I him didn'tthe know, the and dOCt Or down. Oh, I knew this County pret good. y I I: Well, did you have to R: Death Certificates, I: You filled R: Well, yeah...you couldn't put...you hadda put down something like a medical term, so you couldn't put down just heart attack, you know, you'd have to put down coronary occlusion or some such words as that. The funniest case that I can remember...not funny but sad too...Clyde ...you know Barryman on the Hancock police? I: Yeah R: Crusher.. .you know Crusher? His brother I: Dh yeah, I R: Him and I went down to Houghton and this those fill out the Death Certificate then? yeah. out yourself know who you then. is the Milwaukee Journa~ man? mean. woman she shot herself in the clothes closet, see. So, the gun was right there and everything, see and I looked up and I see this guy washing the walls. I said, "What in the hell are you doing up there?" "Dh," he said, "I wanted to wash this blood off before my kids come home.ff I said, "God darn it come down from there." I said, "When the undertaker comes he'll clean up this mess," I said, So, I got him down anyway...ask Harryman. . .well we went downstairs and about ten or fi£teen minutes we come upstairs and there he was up there again washing his wife's blood and all that of£, see. Well the neighbors figured that h~ shot his wife and we got the State Police in on it and they inv~stigated; but she was a mental case. He committed suicide himsel£ ,later on down in Escanaba; but that was humorous and yet, you know, h~ was up there washing...that'd take a lot of guts to clean up that m~ss. I: When you were in the Justice Court there, magistrate System what did you do7 Did you listen to testimony and then decide whether to whether they were guilty R: If they'd plead not of them would plead awhile. guilty guilty; then we'd have a trial, you know. Most but of course you had a case once in I: How long trials last? R! Well, I: Yeah would your some jury...you know Wist1 don't you? in the Court on both sides or not guilty? EVT 14.771 R! When he got in the picture we'd have jury ...we had a case in Laurium...I it was Red up there... I: Rielly R: Yeah, well anyway, it in the trial...we had you're gonna lose this case in Justice Court." one." "What makes you tell a'lie I know of, to have a smoke, they Laurium !own Hall, so Wisti?tt And he said, suing the golf course." I: So R: They lost, lost Court all it trials last all day. was drunk driving Wisti case... was thete case. So, Wisti was...during a lull a jury, I sent for him and I said, "Andy, case." "Oh no'f" he said, "I never lose a And I said, WWell, you're gonna lost th!s think so?" I said, "I just know it.tt I didn't but there was one of the jurors...I went out were out in the hall there...that was over in I said to this £ellow,called Ceil, ttTou know "I know the son-of-a-bitch," he said, "he's He said, "I'm one of the directors." you knew he was goDna lose sure they and he lost it think that one. Did and he took that the he lose? case right to the Supreme way through. I: It was a drunk driver, R: Drunk driver, sure. The boys had a clear cut case...oh, was stubborn, you know, so that's one case that he lost. a pretty shrewed lawyer, though. You met him? I: Dh yes. R: You had dealing I: Un R': Nice I: What were the majority R: Most of them were'tJDotor violations and of course, drunk and disqrderly and murder cases and all that, we just had the preliminary exam~nations and then they bound them over to Circui t Court and we didn' t ha~e too many murder cases...we had a few...and breaking and enterings, things like that; but all you'd do was arraign them and take their ple~ or set an examination if they wanted an examination... very few wanted examinations them days though. I: Went right R: Like now, they want a lawyer right now they want the court to appoint appoint a lawyer them days. I: How many cases do you think in the courts? R: Gee, fellow I don't with that Wisti But he's him? but... straight know. of to I've cases before...when you first started? court. away. a lawyer you handled got a filing Then when they get ar~ested all cabinet for them which them years back there we couldn't that full. you were EVT 1476 I: All the cases you've still got listed? R: Well I kept them...you're supposed to keep them say, I don't know if you are or not. Nobody'll all my dockets...I've got a lot of dockets down ...put 'em way up on the shelf...nobody'll ever fifty years from now. I: Well, that's the idea of this class here project to get into some of these things somebody throws it away because that's a this area. Can you remember what Calumet strike was here and they say there was a R: Yeah, because I worked for the mining for six years they every want them and in Calumet Town Hall look at 'em. Maybe and this local history and get it documented before valuable part of history in was like in 1913 when the policeman on every corner? company that time. Oh yeah! And I belonged to the fire department too and there was a fireman's tournament here and I was in Michigamme, so there was a bunch of Michigamme boys here...that was in the morning before things got hot, see; so I was gonna take them up and show them the mining property up (?) we were posted on the big buildings there. So we got up there...here was all these strikers, see. And 'bang', someone pulled out a gun and 'bang', they were shooting up in the air, see. These guys said, "Let's get the hell out of" here. What's going on?" They got scared and they all went home...the firemen...they didn't have any parade or nothing because they were scared. I was sca~ed. But Calumet was a good town at that time. Jack Foster can tell ~ou how he was going down Fifth Street Sunday night, Saturday night .r.. did he ever tell you that? there ! I: Well, he said direction. were so many people R: Oh boy, he used to have church services Sunday night...the different churches...Protestant churches for that matter...and after churCh everybody come down Fifth Street and that's my wife and you try and push a buggy through all those people. It was terrible. There used to be crowds...I've never seen anything like it. I: Do you remember any of the old policemen they from were walking Calumet like in one Paul Speehar? R: Yea, I remember Paul Speehar, yes. He worked for Dan McDonald. We were talking about him yesterday or day before. There was Paul Speehar and Jim Ormsby...Jim used to run the tavern then he wen~ night police. He was marshall for a little while and a fellow called Surrenger, he'd dead too now. But Speehar was quite a cop. I: Was he? R. He'd hit you over the head first, then he'd ask questions. Yeah, he'd hit the guy over the head. A fellow called Henry Fondleso~, was a night policeman too. He had... I: What did they have...policemen that came in at night~ he EVT 1479 R: They just had two men that I: Well, R: They worked every night in the week...Sunday and all...seven days a week them days. I don't know who...I suppose they had a knock out man someplace. Then a man called Bellilou, he was on, he was one of the later ones there; but McDonald was Chief for quite a few years then. I: What years was he Chief? R: Dan...ob, he was Cbief there when I took over (?) o~~ice in 1940.. I would say '39 - '38, something like that to '41 or '42...then he took this job selling cars and then Big John Sullivan took his job I: I understand time. R: Lots I: Were they R: Like I said, and sideways. I: Un hum R: Right across the street used to be the Salvation Army, well there was a tavern there called Decker...I lived upstairs...I boarded upstairs. That was...two Jews run that and up a little ways was a man called Sauer...Old Man Peter Sauer, he was a millionaire and he was a what-a-you-callum. He owned more stock in the mining company here, I guess, than anybody and he was a regular miser. He used to have a... go to meet the train. When the train would come in he'd have a horse and buggy.. .or cutter or whatever it is to bring them to the hotel and this story was that he'd pick you up off the train and your baggage and that...he'd drive you way around Red Jacket shaft and that over to the Parlington Hotel. That's just a block over from the train. And that's a fact. And they say that waen the fellows would go in there and have a glass of beer, they'd leave about that much...he'd drink it himselt...wouldn't throw it away. He left a fortunes...oh boy, and what good did it do him. I: Can you remember anyother R: Well, Billy Jones...he was Cousin Jack...he to have the English people in there. what kind by night, yeah. of a beat...? there were Do you know? a lot of taTerns and bars in Calumet at that ot bars. on every Where was that R: worked street? there was eighty taverns You know where Kilpela's bars that on tour streets.. (?) Store is? .up and down were outstanding? was a wrestler, he used at? that was the one right across from (?) Bakery. Did you know there was a bar right across...it's closed now. I don't know, I see some fellows there now. There was a bar there and there was a Well, bar down where there's the bowling alley...there was a bar in there. EVT 14go1 Let's see, where else was there a bar? Down where Master's got,: there was a bar there, and where Mercury's there, that was a bar and on the other side of the street...yes, next ti' Keith Badino's there, t~ere was a bar in there called Billy Wills had a place in there and t~is... down here in this first house right here after you leave the (?) i, that used to be a bar there. : Are there any in operation the real old ones? R: No, there had their was three Tambolini own tavern...they're I: How about Louigi's? R: Luoigi, I: Did he? R: Yeah, he's only been here a few years. He's dead now, but he was only here a few years. That was a Tambolini...Old Man Tambolini built that. Used to sell these big five cent glasses, you know... five cents. I: Five R: Yeah, big like that...sure. And he had first started a business down by the depot there, on the other side the depot there...the place is down now...and used to have all those railroad men in there, see. Used to be a bar ~ight up here next to the...where the monuments are. Schlitz had a place there...big tavern there. They got burned down and the fellows would all come from Red Jacket shaft when going to work and coming home. They did a teriffic business in there. I: Where did R: Yeah, there was Busch Brewery and then there I: What kind of beer own beer...what'd R! Calumet had their own brewery out...you've been out Water Works, you've seen the old homes out there? I: The old R: And see there was a couple of Jews bought that just before it went wet; and they had a fire out there. Whether they burned it down or not to get the insurance, nobody'll ever know...but it was a month to six weeks afterwards they could ha~e made beer, see. And then I: no, cents now that were in operation Any of I: they brothers, all dead. used to then? run...they each he came in later. a glass they get all their did they they call beer from...the get out it? of the local breweries? was the Calumet Brewery. Calumet Brewery? Calumet's to West Tamarack homes are left. there there. was this...down They didn't loads and Pabst by make the beer depot here, had a warehouse Do you remember Buttalo's...Bu££alo's there...Schlitz but they had brought it a warehouse in by car- down there. out by Big Traverse Bay Road? EVT 1481 Right at the corner where Big Traverse Road runs into Gay Lake Linden Road? Wasn't there a place there right at the corner? They used to run women out of there and all kinds ot...a kind of a speak-easy place. Log Cabin type thing. Dance hall they had there too. I: You were talking about how many taverns there was, that little store by the depot over there, well there was a bar in there and then the Parlington Hotel had a bar and the next place was another bar there where some people got a home in there now. And then there was Bianci's, next to that's where there...High-Steps Barents is now, they called where the light company is was someother Italian right then there was another place it, and then Shank was up now, Shanks had a bar in there and there next to it there in the Frame Building. I: How about R: Well Schuttes, I guess yeah, Schuttes/Pitchettno's, they're the oldest, yeah. Schuttes faultered at it first and Phitchettnos followed after. That's ri~t, them two. Yeah, that's about the two from the old families. (You said you were a fireman.) Schuttes and Pitchetino's? and I: You said you have you were a truck? R: Is that I: Yeah, that's R: Dh well, we don't care. Yeah, the Tamarack...all companies, they all had their own fire department, the fire the get nothing a fireman. back then, did whistle? £ire whistle much...all the fireman's from here. When you were a fireman only we'd tournament I: What kind o~ a ~iretruck R: Damned if now. get was a couple when it was local.. these see. of dollars .not when little mining We didn't to it go to was away did you have? I rememberwhat Tamarack had. We had some kind of a pumper out there. Yeah, we had a pumper there, yeah, and a hose cart and then we had some pretty big fires too. When the Arlington burned down, not the Arlington buU the Bobbin Block, that's where that parking lot is right across from the Croation Church there now. That was a big big fire and then the Goss Block, that's where the water company's got their office now. There was a big three storyfour story department store there and there again, some Jews had one department there with furniture...with paint and all that...just burned down. I: Did you get a lot of those buildings did most of them burn down? R: They burned down.. .oh that See all that pa~t and all I: It's kind of hard to stop stopped...the fire stopped? was a terrible fire in the Goss Block. that stuff was in there, see. that. isn't it? Or EVT 1482 R: Yeah I: It's R: And there was two Jews was running it, so had it all up first. I don't know if anybody was ever arrested for arson or not them days because I wasn't Justice of the Peace then. But, oh that was an awful big fire. I: Anyone hurt R~ What? I: Anyone get hurt R! Not that fire, no, but thenwhen the Bowman Block burned down and Charlie Ryan, he lost his leg. He died afterwards and one of tme other firemen got killed...Rikilo, he died. He got buried up, you know, when the walls crumbled in. They come over here and got me, my wife was away, because I was coroner then, see, and oh it was a bitter bitter cold night and we went to the hospital first and lots of the firemen was over there...they didn't know if they were gonna (?) it, but they got over it. But this Mikilo and Charlie Ryan pertnear impossible even or killed it...aurned in in it I: Is R: Yeah, I: Father of the Ryans that R: Yeah, I: Whenwas that...what R: Hmm...I I: I know who he is. R: the with in it, the modern or just equipment. property? or burned in it? they had to amputate his leg; this nowadays Ryan trom the but he died from it Ryan's Funeral later on. Home? he was the father the Charlie father, don't owns Ryan's Funeral Ryan, yeah. year was that tire know...my Home. wife in? Can you remember? was away...I forties sometime anyway.. .but that this (?). he runs the Unemployment don't know. that's in the was an awful big fire. They had Office. you know who he is? Yeah well him and this Koskila. they had some kind of a business and f don't know if they were...lot of painting I guess...they were doing some kind of automobile dealings or something, I forget what it was. But the fire started there and gee. that was a big fourstory stone building...and oh, they had this (1) they called it, tore down all the property around here...this salvage man...he hadda be there to knock down the walls because it was dangerous, Jesus, so it was what-a-you-callum. I: How did they plow R: At that time? I: Thev didn't the With plow, streets in Calumet? it. Just a roller they rolled rolled up and down. EVT 148j R: They had bill roll...big did you see that rollers. I: This summer, you mean? R: Yeah, it's in Laurium now. I: Yeah, that was used to R: Yeah Fifth well it was on that Street they used to but big sleighs, I: Hand shoveled. R: Yeah, teams There one out here in the field roll here in th, i order...that's shovel the what they used, yeah. iOn snow in trucks. But not t~ucks, see. pictures, father a lot of used to pictures. drive one ot those You haven't eh? I: Well, R: Where they'd shovel the snow in these...there There was no cars them days. I: And then down. R: Yeah, like here...l know when the brewery was going out there, they wanted to get the road plowed out there, so the brewery would o~der a load o£ barley or malt or some darn thing, you know, and then:the £ellow that had the contract to haul it, he hadda plow the road:out there. So they'd get their road open to haul their gear up thete. I: so they made sure they ordered they got their road plowed. R! Yeah T! Why did R: Well, at that time Calumet was booming. See all of these here people, foreigners we call them, Austrians and Italians and so forth, t~eY'd bring beer...they'd have horses hauling up...theY'd bring up a whole wagon load of beer and they'd come to your house and you had a ~unch of orders. Each boarder had his own case of beer, see. Dollara case I guess it was them days, see. And they'd bring in maybe ~hirtyforty cases of beer to these boarding houses, each one would hate his own beer, you see. And then this Calumet Brewery, they control~ed a lot of these taverns, you know, they had to buy their beer... Calumet beer, see. I: Is R: Yeah, and same as Basch...the Michigan House...B Gsch used to own... be down at the Michigan House. And Bosch had all kinds o£ taverns. that I've (1)1 ...(?) shoveled...and John Sullivan's and they'd haul it...there's seen any of those was one out seen some, but now that when those they build what they See, Besch started rollers the called many. came through, brewery it their malt out there, then, Calumet was no what-a-you-callum. they in just the packed the wintertime snow and then do you know? Beer? in Lake Linden and his beer, see. EVT 14gif I: You know where the R: Where the I: Right R: Yeah I: How long R: Ever since I: It's been there R: Yes, as far I: And the R: As far now in Calumet? is? has that I've Hall. jail been there? been here. as long as you can remember? as I can remember, element that came in yes. has always used the as I know, yes. They made 'em clean in new toilets But basically End of is now, in the City and put I~ jail jail it's it same jail then+ up a few times th,re and that. the same Side 1 R: Day before yesterday when I was down there, what I understood that he was thinking that school, but he has to go to school. I: Yeah, they're R: Yeah, they got to go to school. He thought that because he was in the Air Force he didn't have to...military police, but that don't count. I: What kind of training R: I don't I: Well, R: How many weeks? I: I think R: Thirteen I: Well, right R: That's I: Do you ever remember of shot anyone? R: Yeah. and that's gonna send him to know...what now they it's weeks, do down there? have new schools they go thirteen weeks... now. ohl what did they off the street right, now. did policemen have years ago? do they thirteen school the boys was telling me he didn't have to g~ to yeah, have years ago? Did they just hire and say, "You're a policeman now." Yeah, oh sure, sure. an instance where they had a lot that's somebody what I say. where a policeman of arguements might because have these EVT 14g5 o£ticers that's where they wanted to get a £ee all the time for everything. They'wanted to get...they'd get three dollars or two dollars, I £orget what it was now, and that's all theywere thinking about. The rest of these guys and there were some of these guys that were police o£ficers...was all they could get on the side,see. So, I got kind of mad and John SUllivan didn't like it at the time. And I said to the Council, I told the Council, "I hope you pay those guys more money," I said, "and don't have to give them any £ees." Which they thought was a good idea. So they give them a raise in pay and some o£ these officers, oh they were mad. They still wanted to get their two or three extra dollars every, you know. It ended up though, that they didn't get it anymore. But I couldn't see why a guy get a little dollar ticket and then he had to pay three or four dollars to an officer £or giving him a ticket. So the more tickets R: Yeah, tickets...they were paying more for costs than they what-a-you-callum. I was losing on it, but I had a little a conscience anyway. Some of those police officers, they hungry for that dollar. I: Do you remember any instances where a police hurt someone bad or anything...or shot? R:. No I: Or the other way...can you remember any police of~icer getting bad or getting shot or anything like this on a scirmish? R: No, I can't. I: Did you ever get threatened were giving out fines or...? R: he wrote, the more money he made. I: The officers never being had any trouble that might have hurt up there. you were a Judge when you Db yes, there was one guy not in the office, Sullivan and I both. owns a garage? officer were tor bit Of were He was Paul Erkola. . but he was gonna snoot Do :'. you know Erkol.a that ~" kl(l LR) I: Un huh R: Their I: Edwin? R: He was a little bit on the haven't seen him for years. I: Curley? Yeah, and the worst o£ it is, I had to pass that house where he lives four times a day when I used to go back and £orth to the office and he was gonna shoot both of us, you know. And £inally, I don't know, I guess John must have told his father about R: brother, yeah, he was a... screwie side. He's all right now...I it... EVT 1486 his father or mother or somebody about it But he would have done it. and they took the gun away. I: Was he a young man then? R! Well, he what-a-you callum...he was drinking a lot but he got m4rried after that and he was a fisherman down in the Traverse. I don'1 know if he's still there. He come up to my office once after t~at, him and his wife, and he was drunk, but he was all right then ~d we talked nice. i T! Is R! Curley, T~ Un hum R: Is I: I don't know if he's still uncle used to run around... R: He was harmless except when he was drinking too an alcoholic, but he straightened out, I guess. I: Why did he get him to jail? R: Yeah, John had arrested him different times, drunk and all that, and he had to pay a fine another one. I: Did R: Sally? I: I understand R: I didn't, I: John R: that Curley yeah...have he still you met him? down there? she ever Yeah, Erkola? so mad at give you Dh brother, in Traverse, you? any don't Did but you ~1ne I know Who he 1s. him My much. He was r~ally or you did sentence you know, for being and Sally Kikkonen was problems? talk you got a little about package it. in the mail. John did. did? she was gonna kill they that? And, John tell both, you yeah. times us too. Dh yeah, she threatened me an~ oh she was...she burned her house down.. r did I: Right...couple R: Did you hear that? I: No R: She did it, of it. Dh, she was a bugger. what the I understand. NO! heck; but she hired Wisti and Wisti got her out i EVT 14g? I: Did R: She got under my skin so much...oh, Condon, he was Prosecuting Attorney I...ft the she ever he next had to I: said, time I serve Where did Nn give you any problems... ftGive her got her, a hot hot she go to it was terrible. at that time ! ninety I give days in jail.ft her ninety days, summer...oh she drove jail? them So I told I said, ftSteTe, said, ftOkay.ft So no fine and she crazy down there. Here in Cal\DDet? Houghton. I: Houghton, eh. R: Ray Smith was sheriff that time and oh, they had one heck of a time with her. She'd get papers and cigaretts and she'd burn the papers in the cell I: How old R: Oh Sally, and oh, I don't know what she didn't do. Well, anyway... was she then? she must be close to sixty now. Yeah, but back then? R: Well, her husband paid hundred and hundreds of dollars of fines and then she'd break windows...they'd kick her out of the tavern and she'd take off her slipper and bang, she'd break the picture window. And Bill would pay...he'd pay the big what-a-you-callum. Oh she... she was mad at ae and John...said we were a bunch of...called me and Dan something about...we're hungry for...money hungry or something about her fines, you know. Oh, she was a dandy. And she always kept the money to pay her fine, every time; but she got ...by Sullivan and 1...1 told John and my wife, "I'm gonna ask Steve," and he said, "Give her ninety days in the County jail." So then we had a sanity hearing for her once down at Houghton. Wisti was her attorney there and she didn't appear. The Judge was gonna fine her for contempt, ~o Sullivan and I and we had a couple more, we had to testify there about her and Wisti, he didn't have a leg to stand on, you know, we had all this stuff. So the Judge ordered the sheriff to go and pick her up and lock her up and he couldn't find her...not then, see. So I don't know what happened...Wistt and they... Well, then I put her under a bond one time, a hundred dollar bond to behave, see; and she put the money up and by God it wasn't very long and boy she was...and I forfeited the bond. I sent it to the County Treasurer and she wanted the money back. I said, "You gotta get it from the Court in Houghton now, I haTen~t got it no more," see. Well, that didn't stop. Poor bugger, I felt sorry for him. I: \vas she okay when she was sober? R: When she was sober she was all right. clean as...you couldn't get a cleaner a big fight in here. They said, she had a home as place. They must think there's Well anyway, a lot of funny things happened. EVT 1488 I: Did you ever have any wrestling matches they would lower the bond down or lower on anybody? R: Used to be a lot about wrestling, I: No, I said, when you sentenced a man...say you found him guilty of drunk and disorderly or whatever and you'd sentence him to ten days in jail, did he ever get violent, react violent on you because he didn't like the fine or didn't like the sentence? R: Dh yeah, there was a few times John hadda...they guy and throw the cuffs on 'em or something, you smart, you know. I: Where R: I had an orfice up over where LaBondiets Jewelry Store is now. First I was up down where that Master had that building there on... but he just sold it now or is gonna sell it. You know right next to the beauty parlor there...right next to Kilpelats. I: Okay, R! We were up there...Doc Gosh and I were up there for we had to get out so then I went up over LaBondie's lots of cases up there. T! What about R! Well that's...l don't know too much about that but they had th§m here, but I used to...where the heck did they have them? I don't know. Then they used to have them, I guess, over in Agosy Park, they had some over there. I: Were they wrestling matches? I: Were they wrestling matches? R: Yeah, they man called did you o~ Cornish wrestling didn't you? hold your or fighting the fine or here...that's matches when jail sentence what you said had a job with! a know, they'd g~t : court? I know where you mean. this Cornish wrestling years there. and t~en We had you mentioned? R: people jackets, were wrestling matches. MOrgan, I fOrget...Chapman here; but Cornish Yeah, see this man Jones and a there was quite a few Cotnish they didn't wrestle ike they do now. They had! style. Of course they had a lot at Electric P,rk, i of course that's closed now for years, but the Cornish people w~uld have a picnic every year out there and then there'd be a lot of! wrestling out there. They'd have family picnic, no, most o~ the time it was men...the women didn't go that time to the picnic like they do now. They'd have beer out there and lunch and 'h6,'d::p+-ay horseshoe and wrestling and stuf~ like that. Streetcar was running them days and the mining company they had a picnic there a few years, they'd give everybody tickets for the kids, you know, for ice cream and so forth, and bands out there and dancing and lots of beer and EVT 14~ pop. I: Didn't they have a lot R: Yeah, I: Where did they get the boxers they from out of town? R: Well, local and then some outsiders would come in. They had some.. there was a guy...I seen a wrestling match up in there too, a man called Joe Zeer and it was catch as catch can and Cornish style. Well Cornish style, he threw the other guy like that. So then when he come the other side of him he couldn't do nothing. He coul~'t do nothing...Joe Zeer now, he's dead too. And then there was a fellow called Jack Rouch, he was a sheriff up in Gogebic County years back, he's dead ~oo. He wrestled here too, I saw him too, yeah. And there was a lot of English people here that time, yo~ know. There wasn't many Finnish people, not then, they came later. Of course there was a lot of Italians and Croations and Austrians, but the Finnish people they seemed to come later. I: When did R: I don't know. Must have started coming in the later now that little Finnish church there on Pine Street, oldest church around here. I: Apostolic R: That little one on that side the road, yeah. That's the church where they don't wear no neckties, the women don't wear no hats. You know Sulo Lebinen, don't you? The fire warden? I: Right R: Well, that's his church. He's one of the big shots there. The~ the other church is the big Finnish church and they have good! collections on Sunday. Did you ever go by there and see the cars? I: Yeah, right. R: Yeah, fellow and I went by one day, said, "What do you mean?" "Look at the cars!" I: Youwere telling R: Hum? I: When we first came here, you were telling us a little story about durin~ the strike time there. Tell us that over again, would rou? they had lots of boxing of boxing too? here but down...upstairs where th Town Hall is now, you know, upstairs there they had the boxing ~ matches there. I kind of think now back, that was a small plac for them to have boxing matches. Maybe hold two hundred people that's about all. 'I the Finns Lutheran start from, were they local people or were coming in? Jots I guess, thatts the Church? us a little story about "Good collections today." the... EVT 149Q R: When the strike came? I: About the R. Db, down at Tamarack I: In North Tamarack. R. Oh, that was the National Guard. You see, the company got...th~ Governor he sent in the troops in here, see. Of course, the whqle county was on strike. i I: That fl- Yes and this (1) from Tamarack, he...the,e guys went, they werelof course going around like you fellows, just checking around, and! when they got over there these women they cleaned out the toilets and threw it allover these guys. And when they come back the.an in charge he just sat down and we terd,W8 laughed, you know, at! the way they looked. '. i people was in that came back with Tell us that all story that human stuff on... again. 1913. I: Didntt they do that when the women had their what it was, but they were striking too for womants sufferage their husbands. or R: What was that? I: When the women were striking. R: The women, the morning depot when paper, see. around the women, see. her in the I: No, tell R: Jennie I: Just R: Well, these holler doors I: You mean in the ~! Yeah and the law was passed right after that, yeah, the what-a~youcallum. And then they had these Wadell men in here, they brought them in. Did Jack tell you about these Wadell men, they were strike breakers that's what, but they were a bunch of crooks too because they didn't stay long, because the job didn't last and they were getting big money. They came in here from New York and there was oh sure, you know they'd...the train used to come inl in at hal£ past six and I used to always go down to th~ I lived in Tamarack...didn't live here then...to get! a Well all this strikers, women, they'd be all march~ng town, you know. They'd be down there too, see, thes~ Well this one woman, this Big Jennie , I told you abput £ire? me about it Flossiter? briefly, you tell us about it. all I know at the time, she was the leader of these women, union women, see, and she was the one that was supposed to "Fire" out to their...there wasn't any fire, and the darn instead of going out, they come in. Italian Hall thing? EVT 149~ all kinds of things charged against the union, guys. They wanted to make the job good. they get the wasn't to them I: Where did R! Wadel!? I: Yeah, where did R: Well, that I: Ob, I see. R: Yeah, because one of the union officials said that...I heard thft story long ago...he said, "We'll come in here," he said, "and c,ll this strike and then the Wadell men will come in and break it." that was the name Wadell it men? name come from? name of some kind We knew what-a-you-callum...they course after the Italian Hall of detective lost disaster, agency in New York. the strike, of course. that broke the, you Of know, I: Broke the strike. R: Yeah, I: Where were you when that R: Not Ii ved there up innotTamarack then, that and was I went Christmas to town Eve andand I met I went a fellow to town. and~;i I people had to calm this happened when the massacre started? said, "You comming home early." Then he told me, "Didn't you ow what happened?" And I told him, "No!" He told me, so I went ri ht downtown then, down to where they got the fire trucks now and t e police station there...and they had all these bodies laying on the, you know, and Mr. McNaughton, he was the President of the comp~y then and he asked some of his how long would it take to make caskets, you know, because there were so many you know and they said they could make them, I don't know how quick they could make them in the carpenter shop. And the union said ~o, we'll get our own caskets.~ They wouldn't stand for that. I: Your story~of what happened there, there. How did it happen. R: Well, all I know is this woman she claimed Austrian...see there were a lot of Austrian word there That's would you tell us what happened they hollered people...but "Fire"! in what t~e for fire is, I don't know; but there was a Christmas tree and there was no fire. And everybody rushed to go out. the way that doorway...the stairway the back, there did I could going was a fire somebody actually see it. up. And they And some escape there, holler fire all people i : jammed in th got out thro ~ r h see. I: Well, or not? R: No, I guess she was the only one; but panic, you know, was a panic. I suppose it was...it was mostly young kids there. I suppose there were some older people too. This here murder around that tavern on Sixth Street there, he had some people in that fire. And when they EVT 149~ brought 'em past here going to the cemetery, they were carrying! the bodies out there, you know, they didn't have enough hearsesl around here, they were carrying them. I don't know how many th~re was now; it was the wintertime too. But it couldn't have happeped at a worse time, you know, Christmas Eve, you know. And the tawerns were all open, they didn't close the taverns that night, they stayed open just the same. They had to get that money. I: You said that before you were magistrate there, before Justice of the Peace, you had a credit union or credit was that? R: I worked where? I: You had a credit R: That with I: What was the R: Well, the merchants see, all these merchants paid so much a mon~h to belong to the credit bureau. Well then, somebody wanted to get credit they'd call us and ask me..~ell so and so, how's his cr~dit?" Good or bad or what I know of it, see. And then I used to make! a lot of outside reports, insurance reports on credit and stuff l~ke credit credit bureau was in connection bureau? There was a lot What kind of access Would you check the money from? R: or. was in connection with it...the the Justice of the Peace. that. I: bureau you were bureau. What of stuff I did. i did you have to get credit banks or check the stores ratings on the they owe...they p~ople? bbrrowed ! Well, the fellow that I took over from, Frank (?), he was an 01 time credit man and he had these records. I had thousands and thousands of...I had files with all these peoples names, see, m way back that he had and somebody'd ask about I'd look up and d what they had before and so forth and every month I'd get out bulletin, people they'd call up and they'd want to know about and about him and I'd put their names on the bulletin and I ha code there and these merchants would call up, "I see so and so' name, what about h1m?W So, I could te1l him, see. And then we used to try to collect some money too...we collected some! not ~ike that man Kat.. Did you ever meet Katz? He's that Jew co lectdr. But when Mr. (?) had the of'fice, he had a place here and Lake Linden both. He had two offices and he was something new when he came here and the stores never had anything like that bef'ore. Yeah, because there was a lot of' guys, deadbeats, you know. record. TT One fellow" his a bad he got 1 "you And after they i said, "No, I ~idn't hell said, I the '" I then see. me in." what but, them, turned then. know in, about "You don't they found out .~'iOmebody said, "I you got wages turn after out, them any credit said, No, find give he R! wouldn't and The stores garnisheed, I: EVT 149~ wanted to garnishee me," he said. that's Harry King, he's dead ~ow ...you know Bob King he runs the Insurance Office? He said, "I i don't know what he wants the money for, he gots lots of moneY." ~ I said, "sure,"I said, "He gots lots of money but who pays for t e insurance? If you don't pay it," I said, "he's got to pay it 0 t. He's paid it already." Now there was a grocery store on Pine Street there and he said, "I don't know what he gotta garnishee a man," he said, "they got lots of stU£f in the store.~ I said, "Yeah, but where'd they get it." I said, "They gotta buy it be i ore they give it to you. don't they?" "Yeah", so there you are. T ere were some poor buggers they'd get garnisheed every week or evert 1 I month; but they wouldn't How do they start make any effort going about to pay their to garnisheeing your bills. i wages? R! Well, they used to go through me, Justice of the Peace, see, an~ they get a judgement, what they call a judgement and then you s.e on...all they do is they usually bring in their bill and say garnishee 'em and get a judgement...haveto wait so many days a~ter you get a judgement; but that law changed now. You gotta have lawyer come in and get a judgement. i I: Well R: Well, the mining company used to take out a certain percent for the man and give you the difference. I forget now what the percent.ge was...a married man gets sixty percent of his wages and forty p~rcent would go to the creditor. And a single man was different'ibut I forget now just what the figures was, the percentages anyway.: Then they changed the law just a couple years before or after Ii quit that nobody can start suit unless they get a lawyer to go in court and do it, see. Before the merchants ended up with it all, they just come in and bring in the bill and say, "I want to garnishee this son-of-a-gun." He said, "They won't pay, I've tried everything." I say, "Otay,~ and Solomon wouldn't even appear. You garnishee and get the check, they wouldn't even come in and show them, you know, they knew they owed it, you know. Other ones again, would make a fuss about it. I: What did they do when you fined somebody and they didn't have the money to pay the fine? What would happen? Did they go to jail~ R: Sent I: And they R: Well, yeah, some o£ 'em you let 'em go so they'll get the mone~ and n1nety~£1ve percent o£ them got the money. There's a £ew that: ' never got paid, but then you got a county £or~1~. I: Then the it: Yeah then get their the businessman would go to where the man worked money before he'd get paid then. 'em to jail, could county and ~e'd I yeah. stay in had to jail until pay for they those. could get the money. r the on ~ and they he beat her up, so he had to day. So, next day a little g ard. i. "Oht oh," id, matt WOUldn't way,"! This divo~ced got ffWe said. "Sure!" ypu?" ain't diyorced, Poli~e; H & one...C befpre out, come she H~ out. him brought th~y and something or policemen, two the then WWhat said, I "Yes!" t her. knew I mad. was I the in "What said, I Well She woman. this comes in soon, w~s there seen I but there t~ back come to call a got I so so coroner, was I and Tech to going was he yeah Tech, to going was he there, living was nephew my Houghton, in down was I case, one was they'd...th,re and workers case had we workers, case had we no, Oh to them. the t u and,i" the was I mines. the they there?" for?" be gonna was I where word left I I: What did you do? Decide whether you'd give it to them or if they many welfare g she me and I got two kids called that, know Department." can't I Office "What's hear together?"' before just in nobody was there station police the to "Okay". know," Welfare he was so Tamarack that, here I pretty So jail,see. in somebody Why we used to meet once a month and we had a director there, a man called Rohn, they have a man today like that; but Domnic Viror he worked for us. You know Dominic? Dominic worked on it. (???(1 would talk about it. These people would get maybe fifteen - tw$nty dollars a week or something, see. Now they get...well you know how they get now...oh terrible. have girl don't get more from the Welfare the "You're he during Well like am hell the in WWhat said, said, minute, "I to sleep said, North Just for?" here I am hell R! What were your said, in that?" "You So hopping, husband that...your is "Who said, What you this a the I didn't She money is Tucker, in up.~ me beat "He do?" he did So I to So he come out, he plead lUilty, fine. He.paid the fine the next wait like would ~-he was over been they'd in, come 1: Did matter, "my husband deserted up crying. said, i~?) she So, see. in, come up here. "Why?" was "I was he Frank right. all up her beat No...no. I was on the Welfare Board, that was the best part of it. I got appointed from the Court in Houghton and I was on the Wel are Board. There was thpee of us...there was the Superintendent of School in Lake Linde~ a very smart man, and a man called Fisher from Michigan Tech, a professor and then had this ordinary guy nd them two, see; and the Welfare Board, it wasn't like it is now. No...no. then? the Well said, I divorce Well out, him brought they R: do then? what's enough making conversation the during and station nothing. say "Yes." said, She Yeah she Department she sa1d, "I damned a of kind "What I: said. and wasn't he becaus~ You mean welfare? anything." she didn't She they?" R: "Well, she said, anything." Well Welfare "the said, the police office my in came give it me give you?" with Did you have much welfare then? you said, me give won't I: did I and won't "they R: office EVT 149~ c~ses duties? they deserved the money and th t n didn't deserve it you wouldn't I So when I come up OC y a 1 i EVT 149~ , any welrare?" (???). Well I said, "All right", I said, "Ir she! lives with her husband and stays together with him and he's wor~ing, you'll give it to them." "Who do you mean?" I told him...: he said, "We suspected something like that." He said, "Send th ~t girl back." So the girl got both, got relier. So a couple day afterwards I got a call rrom the main orrice. Said, "Mr. Trezi e," and I said, "What?" "You made some statement the other abO[ t Garrows." I said, "Yes I did." "Is that true?W I said, day"Yeah that's what you said.that they got the divorce so she could get on relief and he's still working and they're still living together" And they made get outall or they the house she moved he stayed there, her that's done. and That's all it downtown was ror aj ~ dst thatUme. back living It real didn't together matter again. months they we e You bet though. I: Well, R: Mining I: The mining company? R: Yeah, they worked the No.5 Tamarack. They requested water the e, shut the water off, see and we only worked part..half time. Wo ked seven days and home seven days, I guess. And my dad was mail c erk on the trains and he helped us out quite a bit and I had five k ds too. We got by, but I don't know how we did it, but we got by. Of course, things was cheap; but even so, we didn't have nothin to throwaway. But my dad was mail clerk and of course he was get ing pretty good wages for them days, and he used to give us some mo ey every once in awhile. Of course I had a sister married too, an he helped her too, but she wasn't living here. The Depression as a bad thing, boy, but we were fortunate. We had what-a-you-cal um and then of course we bought our fuel from the company cheap, t at was when it was §Y."cQollar8a ton, I guess it was, we paid something like that; cheap rent...the company sold us these ho ses, you know that didn't you...that stbry. I paid $25 for this ho see I didn't pay that. My dad was having dinner here and he said, "How much do they want for this house?" And I said, "Twenty-f e dollars." And he give me it and said, "Go bQY it!" Five doll s a room. LI I: What R: Oh, I don't know. '28 or '29 something like that. We didn't the house right away then. We got the house later on. I supp se in the thirties sometime that they sold us the houses. But yo know, the company up on the Avenue where you people are, they all new fUrnaces in them houses for their employees. They wer the bosses, then they sold them I guess for thirty-five - fort times where were you working during the five R: hard during or Was it were here rour I: there hard times because the Depression? Depression. I worked then? company I I year was that? EVT 149~ dollars a piece. Dad said, "Oh boy!" Sure I spent a lot more twenty-five dollars to fix this up. The siding and bathroom... we had a bathroom in here, yeah. This used to be a bosses hous see. There was no porch here like this. A lot were a lot of things during the Depression that It was pretty tough. I: Can you remember anyother R: Lot of things happened but it were funny in...like a han ell fUnny incidents of things; we had to that we'd be interest~d in the Courts or... lot of things , but here go wi hout I hard to remember them, you knoW. t happened. Johnnie Sullivan can i There tell you one funny thing that happened. There was a £ellow shot his he o££ here and Johnnie called me and we went over there and I said, " ees, Johnnie look!" And his head was up and down like that. He wa~ dead, he'd shot himsel£, but his head you know. Jesus, we cal~ed for an ambulance, we thought he was gonna...like a chicken, yo~ know. Jesus, that was a horrible sight. The next day John's brother ~ent over and cleaned the walls and all that. They paid him for it,1 the family did, see. All that blood and all it goes, you know. I I: As the R. What? I: Was that it coroner, did part of your job then pronounce people dead then too when you were County too~ Corone1' to pronounce people dead? R: Oh yes, yeah I: Did R: you have to you sign the was i certificate? Yeah, the certificate, yeah. Only one case, the family...the shot himself, he shot his head off down in the basement, and I, marked it suicide. The sheriff's officer...well two sheriff's officers and I were there and we cleaned up in the cellar. Th family woUldn't come near it. So the undertaker and I and the two sheriff's men, we cleaned up the basement, boy, washed it up and everything. So a couple days afterward, they called me down to Houghton, some undertakers. And the family was there they insisted that he didn't commit suicide. It was an accide "Oh yeah, oh well, we'll have an inquest then." So we had an inquest over in Houghton and (111), he was there and one of th guys, now it was a question of... ellow 1 nd t. se End of Side 2 what happened? What'd Let's it go back to that took the whole jury trail out where you had t~at to where it happen,d1 it was suicide." was no occasion i soo s for me to call t, about off a and that Conservation question no a and was guns "There's there about said, he on all But there guy knew one he And layout the over yeah. and I German was people, looked Six he R: and Six people? as So suicide. cer I: it ny EVT 149~ thing else, what the perform heck. I: Did they R: Oh, I: Who did R: That used to go down to Hancock. there was two there. I: Who were they...can R: Hum...! ~orget what their names were now. lived here too. What's his name, he lived we had quite now. autopsies then? a few autopsies. that? They had a pathologist you remember who they He was here quite a while. there.I.. were? Then we had one tbat up where Dr. Myers i r He was a nice fellow. :.. I: Did you have to witness R: Dh, we'd 1: Did you have an autopsy R: See, that time they didn't charge much for an autopsy, but for fifty dollars. Now they charge a couple two hundred fifty, th hundred dollars. One time I was out to McClain Park and Jamie m the rent-a-boat come up and got me, he said, "They want you to to Hancock, there's somebody dead.n So I said, nOkay.n So I ed up this pathologist and told him I'd meet him at the Scott Hot Okay so I went down there and I went right to the undertakers ead of going up to see...to find him, you know, see. And he was g 8 perform autopsy. And I finally went up to the hotel and he wa mad,~because I'd went to the undertakers and he raised hell wit me, he wouldn't do it and all this and that and he was gonna r port me and all that. Okay, so I went back to the Sheriff's Office nd we got ahold of one of the boys~ State Police boys, I forget w t he was called, used to be in L'Anse, see. I knew him good. S he come over, nOh the hell with him,n he said, "We'll take car f him," he said. I: Joe R: He was Little...you I: He was Post get people, always be there. these? oh somebody from the all the time sheriff's or just department on any violent 8abe? wouldn't Commander, wasn't know him don't I/think. he? R: I: . Wasn't R: Little? I: Oh. he the Post Commander there? He was a State vou mean a detective? Police from LtAnse Post, I think. ~ould I t~... EVT 14~g R: He what-a-you-callum. He came up, the boys called him...they ahold of him somewheres, so he what-a-you-callum and we had th officer there but we had somebody else on the form, you see. was a what-a-you-callum, just a heart attack, a person; but th fellow he was a, this pathologist was mad~ because I didn't ge him to go up to the undertakers. Well, what the difference if went up afterwards or when I went there. I just went in there, knew the undertaker. So then we went down there, he made me ma boy. I never had him anymore after that. He left here right that too. Dh there were a lot of autopsies performea. We had guy, he was arrested...well he wasn't arrested then...but they a fiaht on Fifth Street. There was a lot of critism and all t and he'd been buried and everything...there was no coroner officiated because he died in the hospital, I guess, I forget story now. But anyway, they wanted to have him dug up and hav autopsy. Gees, they told me to get out papers. I didn't know kind of papers to get for that. So I went up to Ryan's office McCormick's there and we found some kind of stuff to put on it, so I made out...Jack Miller who used to be the State Police, I he's been dead for a long time...well Jack said, WThat's good So, they dug up the bodyr_~out at the cemetery. Brought it over Ryans and Dr. Murphy he performed the autopsy. Took him all d But this here skull fracture...you know he had a skull but Murphy said that was from It didn't happen in the fall, something see. 1: How long the R: Gees, I don't had the body know. been in that was...they murder Street or whatever, manslaughter, over a woman. were Nothing happened T! One hit the R: Doctor nothing I: How did R: Well I going to they'd there, other over he just he an what and and guess nough." 0 y. ... ba k. then? him like for had a fight that. it, Th see, f , S r on Fifth the died. head with a bottle? said that skull fracture was from to do with this case at all. the , oh fter one had t fractur happened years something arrest e I What were the incidents? happened? R: ground Six weeks maybe, fellow that t s It s guy a way back. He said die? suppose he had a concussion when he hit the pavement. hauled him off and hit him; but they never did anything to Jo ~ nie C...I forget his last name. They never did anything to him an ay. But that was the first and only time I ever seen them dig up a body. Did you ever see it? I: Yes, I've seen it once before. R: He was black...face was all black. So, I know he asked Miller he want to take anything else beside the head, he said nYeap, everything," he said. So, they opened him all up. I couldn't did EVT 149~ see any senae in that either because it was the head where he ~s supposed to have been hurt. But Miller said, nyup!~ One time ~e had a baby dead over in Laurium, it was a little bit o£ a (?)... that was about the baby's death. It was on a Sunday morning a we were over at Folsots and Murphy was the doctor again to wan an autopsy and there was a casket salesman there and Murphy looke at the body and he didn't want to do it, see. And he kept monkey g around, monkeying around and this salesman said to me, "Doesn't he know how to do it?" He said, nI can do it." I: R: He wanted to sell that So Murphy finally, natural causes I can do it." casket. he fixed anyway, He said, he was. up the baby, I don't but the salesman said, "I've done it before." know it "If I was he can't do * don't know w I: You know, you look at the cemetery and you look at the stones especially in Copper Harbor I noticed there's a lot of kids in that cemetery. R: I never I .. D1ptheria...was R: There's been in a lot Copper Harbor that of kids Yeah, why was that? cemetery. a thing much of , up here. there. Do you know? R: They got worked in the mines when they were young. You go to gle River cemetery, we've got people buried there, and them stones here about this boy died working in the mines, thirteen years old 0 something like that, twelve years old, eleven years old. Gees, that was terrible, eh! I: What did they die from? R: I suppose, something happened in the mine...I something or fall, I don't know what. suppose, I: Did you ever like anything like this R: The ~lu...years terrible flu.' ago there was a bad ~lu epidemic. that was a long time ago now. I: When was this? R: Dh, that was before I lived in this house. I know the fellow worked with, there was three of his family and him himself, th all died with it within twenty-four hours. Yeah, it was a te flu, that was. Yeah, that was old (?) and him and his three c they all died within twenty-four hours. The first one died an Father he was all broke up about it and the next thing you kno have like Accidents a rash of this in the mine or just... of disease here blasting diptheria or ozt sort? I Oh that wasla y ible ildren the , he EVT 150~ was dead and then buried one time. two other Did that R: That was in the I: Do you remember when that R: Huh? I: You know that R: I remember reading I: I see that was. Did I: Right, I heard R: That's the Moreland, I: Bangor, that's R: Is I: Yeah R: Yeah, I remember that, I: Do you R: Dh yeah. I: What happened there, R: Bad storm, yeah, I: How'd they get the boat went off sunk off about that? down off Keweenaw Point~ Keweenaw Point that had all th~ about no. I don't time. know what year ~at it. isn't No, Bangor? it? ot Bangor, the City brought the that's what it cars back up? was. yeah. that? a bad storm? Chrysler me there's on there. a couple of those still d hete ey d J t ad that they they one them, and road but what had driving a cars; that's Power were make these know, believe that road, a drive you I guys or to open much or so them was, those there But drove believe there out road a gettin they I yeah. I were how yes. else, be, care here t fro a here out cars road the cars suppose. I on a drive open to them had They loaded factory, they to then back and here somebody told cars shore? town boat1to from guys the wintertime. these orr went they up was hired cars these to was it and had all it they Harbor them, I but otherwise it, one where they They build that it, know, then don't shipped catch area. somebody Could didn't else was four yeah the paper all the see that Larry? remember in this said. R: boat in you Seems like to I: thirties, There died. can you remember that? the Copper I and that around? the cars on it, children Did anybody I: R: spread his They had them allover today they'd just sell here, they loaded them for junk. them on cars. I suppos I: Or antiques. R: Antiques I: If of R: I see the I: Yeah, R: Oh, I: Do you remember when the Location? R: No, I: King R: That's way back, yeah. This Jack Schlou, he was one o£ them, he to Marquette and was a £ellow called Jim Cruise, a good £riend 0 mine, he got elected sheri£f and made him one o£ his deputies. was a what-a-you-callum. He was selling cigars on the side and go in the tavern at night about ten minutes before it was time t close, you know, and he'd stand around there and he'd keep them you know. All right, he'd arrest them, see, £or keeping them op a£ter hours. Only way to get out of it was they hadda buy so ma hundred cigars. He was...you mnow, a racket. Another one o£ th officers would pick up the slot machines, you know, and bring 'e out on US 41 in the woods there 4:n the wilderness there and open up and take the money out and leave them there. Oh boy, them we the days. somebody still it. had one, other it's day where real high they could scrap probably iron in . ng wa were tak there they cars many how know don't I There was a bunch of guys, yeah. Duluth, to wintertime. cars these was in the f EVT 1501 make an antique o,t $160 a ton now brother. I don't family remember that. was involved was held up? That when Jack Between ?) here and them, and Bo~ton yeah. in that. slot u'd pen, n , y 'em e Did you have a lot R: Oh them days...yes, I: Was that R: There was slot machines every store and every saloon had 'em...t or three o~ them. One time, Jay S..,,-.d...Pierce was sherif~ a d they called up Ruby Roll, Ruby was deputy then, see, they told 1m to go and pick up a machine, that was in somebody's place, I do 't know where it was, so Ruby not only took that one but he took ther one. He took one ~or himself, see, and that was the one that t e sheri~~ was protecting, see. And he wanted Ruby to bring it ba lots the period machines went I: during of train of them. before here? Slot machines everywhere. the strike when there were a lpt of people here? Rubv wouldn't do it. I Ruby told me "Terrible, mister, he wanted e Were they R: Them days, I: So they making iS ~ had mad they the Pierce Sheriffs Jay up machines, racket. slot the a picked Ruby and about that talk one sheriff. did houses Oh, the But know. sporting they the you one." than I: R: it, got in I between money more days fingers and EVT 1502 a little money off of the sporting houses too? oh yes. wouldn't I suppose. lives Probably, yeah...there was one girl/out here on the edge o£ town I married her, she married...you gotta give her credit, she marrie this guy and when she married him one of her girls had a baby an she wanted this kid to have the name and she married this guy. e didn't stay, the guy left her right away a£ter. Well anyway, sh got arrested for ~ning a house of ill fame and Dan McDonald wa on that case and when she got into the sherif£'s of£ice, she jumped the sheriff. She said, "Here I've been giving you fi£ty dollars a m nth for protection and this is what happens." ~iving me fifty doll rs," he says, "Yes!" ttI never got any money from you in my life." mw 11, I give it to Farmer." That was Farmer Kane, you know, what-a-yo callum. Farmer Kane used to run a taxi. He was collecting the fifty dollars a month, and Pierce never knew anything about it. d Jay told me I was quite good friends with Jay Pierce, he said, ou know that oid bugger,~ he said, "he was a gettin money from the ggers others too. I didn't know a thing about it,"!he said. There wa a nigger sporting that. raid the house there too. I: I heard R: Well, here I: What were they charging R: And Dan McDonald in onof it,course, I'm sure he was in was on the it, there right yeah. house, All black was one down here, by the depot there. then, or just one was in one Laurium too, but one d~wn do you known operate unless they get some kind body gonna help you, you know. Chief know. of Police. guesscan' Daf was you Because I they of protection or if there's I: Right R: But they had between the sporting houses and slot machines, stur~ like that. Sheri£fs they had a lot o£ stuff. I: Under the R: Yeah I: Well, R: Dan McDonald, he sells cars Paulson's place is there. table so e- you *=now, sturr. can you think of anything over else, there Norman. to Paulson's...you know where I EVT 1503 I: He was the Chief of Police before John Sullivan. , R: He was the Chief of Police before Sullivan, yeah. I was with hi I worked with Dan a long time, yeah. Dan knows a lot about the times too. Jake Kaiser used to know, Jake is dead now. I: Well, here. End of tape. I want to thank you for all the information you've given , ld U t