Irene "Snookums" Medley Interview

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GEORGE STONEY: OK now.

IRENE "SNOOKUMS" MEDLEY: And this picture was made around September of 1934, when the strike was on at the U.S. Rubber Company. And, um, I think it was the rubber company. And, um, these are some of the men that was in -- that they put in jail for -- that was on that. OK. This one here, is um, Tuts Spencer. This one here is James Medley. I really don't know -- this is Frank To-- uh, Frank Todd here. And Truett Simms here. And Adon Ballway. And, uh, Hansen Ballway. 00:10:00As far as the rest of them, I really don't know.

STONEY: Now, why did you keep that picture?

MEDLEY: Well, I really don't know. It came out in the paper and I just cut it out and -- in fact, we keep -- kept pictures back then, more so than they do now.

STONEY: Could you tell me about that event? What do you know about that event?

MEDLEY: The only thing I know about that, I was not working. I was pregnant at the time. And, um, I was not in this. So I can't tell you anything about that. 'Cause I just don't know, um, enough about it to say something about it. Only thing was, that um, my husband, he went down to the mill, but he did not go with them, because he came back home because I was pregnant and he didn't want to get locked up, I reckon.

STONEY: I, I believe his brother was in that.

MEDLEY: Yes, uh-huh, James Medley, who has passed away.

STONEY: Did you ever talk to James Medley about the strike?

MEDLEY: No, because, uh, he was young and left Hogansville it at that time. So, never did talk to him about it.

STONEY: Talk to me about, uh, why and he left?

MEDLEY: Why James left? Well, I really don't know. It could have been a personal matter, I just don't know.

STONEY: Do you think he was made to leave?

MEDLEY: No, I don't think so because, uh, he married here and then, um, went out to Oregon. He was living in Oregon when he passed away.

STONEY: So he didn't leave right after the strike?

MEDLEY: No, uh-uh, because he was just a young boy.

STONEY: You were living in the village at the time.

MEDLEY: I was living on Granite Street, number five Granite Street when it -- with the house with my, uh, mother and sister.

STONEY: You must -- there must have been some talk around the town about what was happening.

MEDLEY: Yes, it probably was, but it's been so long so I can't think of anything, because that was, how many years ago? Thirty-five? And this is '91? So, it's been a good long while.

STONEY: Tell us about working in the mill.

MEDLEY: Well, I went to work at East Newnan and then, uh, in 1932 when everything hit the bottom, they beginning to lay off people and we moved in the house with my brother that lived on Lincoln Street. And we were in the house with him from, um, October of 1932 until about, um, March of 1933. And we went 00:13:00finally got a job in the mill and I went to work as a spooler tender and my sister went to work as a spinner. And uh. I worked there for, well up until I married in 1934. And then I worked off and on after then till, um, my children ended school. Then I went back to work and worked on the third shift and the same thing, I was a spooler tender, what they called them automatic spooler. And um, I was on the third shift and my husband was on the first shift. And then after that, I went to work at the drug store here. Managed a furniture 00:14:00store. Then I went in -- went to school down in um, LaGrange. And I went to work as a bookkeeper. And at, in LaGrange for J.G. Davidson Jr. And then after that I, u h, started to work, uh, with the elderly here in, uh, Hogansville and out there with them ever since.

STONEY: Now, back to when you first started working, tell us how you got the job and what you got paid.

MEDLEY: When I -- the first job I had, I went to work and I started as carrying the, the dinner, to the meal with my two sisters and I learned while they were eating lunch, I tried to learn how to spin. And I went to work spinning and I worked from six in the morning till six at night. With 30 minutes for dinner 00:15:00and from six till 11 o'clock on Saturday and made $6.96 a week. Then when we moved to Hogansville, we made anywhere from $10 to $11 a week. And I'm making more of that now than I've ever made in my life, an hour.

STONEY: Now, why did you -- why was that -- your wages raised?

MEDLEY: Well, uh, Roosevelt come into -- come to be president and we went on eight hours and they made the minimum wage at that time about a dollar and 18 cents, I believe, an hour. And um, from that, it just began to inch up just a little bit.

STONEY: Now when Roosevelt came in, the hours were cut and the wages went up.

MEDLEY: Mm-hmm.

STONEY: Do you remember that?

MEDLEY: Yes.

STONEY: Just describe the difference.

MEDLEY: Well, we thought we were rich when we got a, a pay check for $10. And um, we raised our children on $14 a week. And that's about all I know.

STONEY: Now, what did you know about the union here?

MEDLEY: Well, I know that it never went in. They tried to get to go, but some were for it and some against it and then -- you had to work back then and if they found out you was joining a union, you'd lose your job. And um, so they tried several times -- they came back into Hogansville several, several times to get it started, but they never did get it started.

STONEY: Did you know any of the leaders?

MEDLEY: No. I went to one meeting that they had out on the south highway up 00:17:00here and he was trying to get somebody to talk and I was -- I'm always one to put my mouth in, so I said something and to him, I can't remember what it was, but anyway, he wanted me to join them and take a job with them. But my husband said no. So that's just about all I know about it.

STONEY: Why do you think your husband said, "No?"

MEDLEY: (laughter) Well, because he wanted me at home with him, for one thing. Then, um, I was pregnant, too.

STONEY: Do you regret?

MEDLEY: Not going? No, because I've had a good life. And I enjoy being as old as I am, too. I don't want to live, live my life over.

STONEY: Do you think that it would have made any difference if they brought a 00:18:00union in here?

MEDLEY: Well I really don't know, because then, uh, they begin to speed up the work, after everything and um, they had the beddow men in the, that would come in and check you, and uh, you had to do so much in, in a day and if you didn't for so long, they would finally tell you they didn't need you anymore.

STONEY: Did you ever get timed? by the beddow man?

MEDLEY: Mm, not really. 'Cause I was too slow, they did not want me to, to time me because, uh, I was not as fast as some of the rest of them. But I did see 'em with the, uh, others when they would come to time them.

STONEY: Tell us, what were the people's attitudes toward the beddow man?

MEDLEY: They didn't care too much about him but they were afraid to say anything.

STONEY: Start up, they didn't care too much about the beddow man?

MEDLEY: They did not care too much about the beddow man and uh, they would uh, they wouldn't treat him real good.

STONEY: Yeah, let's start again. I want you to say -- repeat, they uh, they didn't to -- think -- they didn't like the beddow man or they didn't care too much about the beddow man but they were afraid to say so. And explain about that, so.

MEDLEY: They were afraid if they --

STONEY: Just start off -- I need to have you say, "the beddow man."

MEDLEY: They just did not like the beddow man because, uh, they would put it up, the work up so high till they could not reach it. And my husband might could 00:20:00tell you more about the beddow man than I could because he worked in the, uh, card room. And I worked in the spooler room. That was where we would take the, um, material that came from the spinning room and put it on the spooler. So that they could put it on the winders, then get it ready for the, uh, weed shop.

STONEY: Well, we're going to talk to your husband in a few minutes about this, but again, could you go back and tell us that they didn't like the beddow man and what they were afraid of.

MEDLEY: They were afraid if they said anything to them, that they would lose their job. Back then we had to have work to live. It was not like it is now that when you could -- if they laid you off, you might could get some, um, money from the government. They just did not have that back then. You had to make do with what you had, and if you didn't have anything, you just went without.

STONEY: Well who were these men?

MEDLEY: You mean, the beddow men? I, I really don't know any of them's names. Sure don't because they would not have 'em that live here in the village. They would bring 'em in from somewhere else. So I guess you couldn't say anything to 'em. And just don't know too much about it.

STONEY: This, uh, that's very helpful for us because we've heard people talking about the beddow men. We actually talked to one over with, uh, Lagrange.

MEDLEY: Well, there is one here that, uh, did, uh, some beddow work, and, but, uh, he's a Mason. I mean, his wife's name is Mason.

STONEY: Is he still living?

MEDLEY: Yes. Uh-huh.

STONEY: Write down his name.

MEDLEY: Hansel Mason is his name.

STONEY: What did people think about him?

MEDLEY: Well, he was a pretty nice man and they knew they had to work, so they didn't say anything to him.

STONEY: You got an education late.

MEDLEY: Yes.

STONEY: Could you go back and tell about what you, uh --

MEDLEY: (laughter) I'm sorry.

STONEY: -- could you go back and tell us: first, how much education you had as a child and then how old you were when you finally when you went back to wo-- to school.

MEDLEY: Well I finished the seventh grade there in East Newnan. And back then, you knew as much as more when you do when you get out of high school now, because, um, and then we moved down here and then I -- the children left home, I went back to school in LaGrange to a bookkeeping, I learned bookkeeping. And 00:23:00uh, I knew more than two of the girls that was in college about math, because -- and spelling. They couldn't spell, nor do math. Then I went to work for Guy Davidson and worked nine, ten years for him.

STONEY: Did you ever think about going into middle management?

MEDLEY: No, uh-uh. I, um, didn't manage a furniture store, but, and then I run a café for a while and all the taxes, and everything, I'd rather work for the other man, (laughter) than have to fool with them.

STONEY: Can you tell us what it was like working in the mill as a young person?

MEDLEY: Well, I was on the third shift and uh, my mother said that "I was 00:24:00scared something would happen" while I was asleep and I wouldn't know what it was. The reason I didn't sleep anymore in the day time. And I would get and go to work at twelve and work till eight, I had to go on eight hours, and um, you knew everybody around and most everybody in, in the village. But now-a-days you don't. I still didn't get to keep much of my money up until I married. I didn't know how to manage money, period. My husband. Then you got bought groceries on the credit. And uh, we lived right next to the drug store there and they had a grocery store. And uh, I was 18 years old and we'd go in and put things on the bill and he went to pay one day and um, it was more 00:25:00than he had drawn that week. So he come home and said, "Snookum, I hate to treat you like a child, but you have the mind of a child there and I'm going to tell Mr. Shackford to not let you have any more groceries unless you get a note from me." Well, I d idn't, I thought I was grown, so, I didn't go up there for quite a while. And when I did go, Mr. Shackford said, "Well I wondered where you was at." Said, "I haven't seen you in a long time." I said, "Well, I know, my husband told you not to let me have nothing else on credit." He said, "Oh he didn't do it," said, "He just told you that." (laughter) So. So I was real young when we married, he's just about raised me. And we worked together real well in the mill. He was on the first 00:26:00shift and I was on the second. We kept our children busy by digging a cellar under the house that has never been finished, but uh, one would dig and the other would throw the dirt out the back. We always knew where our children were, and if they weren't, we found them. And I tell you now that the mills have really gone down, both of them have been -- well they have torn one of the mills down and it was owned by Calloway at one time. Well in fact, I think the, uh, rubber company was owned by Calloway.

STONEY: Now, you never got into the asbestos?

MEDLEY: No, uh-uh. I always worked out in the cotton part, no I never worked in 00:27:00the asbestos.

STONEY: You're lucky.

MEDLEY: Mm-hmm. I do know that they had a, a doctor from Newnan that uh, told them that there was nothing the matter with them, for, for a good long while. And they found out then that they, it would cause cancer.

STONEY: OK, other things that you'd like to ask? Just let us know when you recognize this.

MEDLEY: OK. (pause) If I don't see the face, I know, know I won't 00:28:00recognize them.

STONEY: Could you talk about what you remember happening to get this time?

MEDLEY: I tell you, I was there, I don't know anything.

L.T. MEDLEY: I wasn't there.

MEDLEY: And this -- I don't know who that is. They got him with the pocket ever who he is.

JUDITH HELFAND: L.T., why weren't you there?

L.T. MEDLEY: I just went somewhere, in the, we was in the car, driving around at that time. I hadn't gotten back.

STONEY: What persuaded you to go out with him?

L.T. MEDLEY: (overlapping dialogue; inaudible) There was work down there where I was going.

STONEY: Why were they going?

L.T. MEDLEY: They was on a strike. I don't know what to about it now.

STONEY: Uh, how old were you at that time?

L.T. MEDLEY: No way to tell.

MEDLEY: Twenty-two.

L.T. MEDLEY: Somewhere along there.

MEDLEY: I was 18 and he was 22, 'cause we married in March and that was in, in September of 1934.