RUTH DAVIS: Fifty-six years and (inaudible)
GEORGE STONEY: Fifty-seven --
DAVIS: Fifty-seven --
GEORGE STONEY: Almost fifty-eight years --
DAVIS: Yeah.
GEORGE STONEY: Yes. (inaudible) tell us who he was and what he did, okay?
DAVIS: [Well?] Mr. Dan Beacham. Well he was mayor of the town, and he was something
in the -- he was in the mills too. [I was in the mill?]. And (pauses).GEORGE STONEY: Let's start again. You want to name him and then say, "he was
mayor of the town, he was supervisor in the mills, and he was a Sunday school 00:01:00teacher at the Methodist church. And we've got to have it a good bit louder.DAVIS: Well -- Well, Mr. Dan Beacham was mayor of the town, supervisor in the mill.
He was Sunday school teacher at the Methodist church.GEORGE STONEY: And what connection did he have with your father?
DAVIS: Well I reckon he -- my daddy was a weaver and I reckon he'd seen him, you
know, in the mill and everything. Of course, you know, I don't know, I don't reckon -- my daddy never had any trouble with anybody. But then, we'd never heard of it, because he stayed at home when he was off his job, unless he walked to town. Back in them days you didn't have a car like you do now.GEORGE STONEY: Was your -- tell us about your father and the Methodist church.
DAVIS: Well, my father was a member of the Methodist church. And he attended church
regular. Because all his connections (inaudible) was United Methodists. 00:02:00GEORGE STONEY: And what did the family do after he was killed?
DAVIS: My daddy? Well, we stayed here and they opened up a grocery store at Belton
and we moved to Belton, stayed up there a while. And I got married while I was in Belton. (inaudible) they had a grocery store up there. (inaudible) my mama's brother, he (inaudible) up at Belton, because the boy that run the store, he used to stay with us, and he was up there. And when they closed that out we come back down here.GEORGE STONEY: And when did you start working in the mills?
DAVIS: Oh, it's -- well, I started at sixteen and (inaudible) laid off, and then
they started back and I finished -- went back to work and [I worked there a long 00:03:00time?]. [I used to go in at dinnertime, that's how I learned to weave, going in at dinner time. And they had me going at dinner time, 'cause you know I'd helped my daddy.GEORGE STONEY: Did they pay you for that?
DAVIS: No, I was just doing it on my own back in them times. They don't -- didn't
pay you them to learn to work in the mill. They pay you now to work -- learn to work.GEORGE STONEY: So you're daddy taught you to be a weaver?
DAVIS: Yes sir. A weaver.
GEORGE STONEY: So you were pretty close to your daddy?
DAVIS: Yes sir. And I -- you know, the dinner hours, I used to take his dinner to
him. And that's how, you know, I'd take his dinner to him, he'd eat his dinner, and then I'd go back out there and help him.GEORGE STONEY: Could you tell us what you did?
00:04:00DAVIS: Well, I was just -- I was learning to weave. And then I -- when I got a job,
I went to weaving. And then I had arthritis, I was going to take a -- quit that they put in the drawing room. (inaudible). And I stayed in the drawing room a long time, and [they said that was it?] sitting for so long. But I worked long time drawing them.GEORGE STONEY: When you quit, how many hours -- how many years had you put in?
DAVIS: Well I didn't quit, my husband had an operation in seventy-two. And I just
got a leave of absence because -- to stay with him. And I never did go back to work because the doctor told me that I could draw Social Security for having rheumatoid arthritis and I put in for a (inaudible) and I started drawing my 00:05:00Social Security on disablity, for my rheumatoid arthritis.GEORGE STONEY: Did you get a pension from the mill?
DAVIS: Well, I draw a little one, now. I get, you know, some money (inaudible),
once a month I get a little check.GEORGE STONEY: So you do get a little check?
DAVIS: Yeah. They give you checks according to, you know, how long you worked, what
kind of jobs you had.GEORGE STONEY: Now, how many brothers -- how many people at home were depending
on your father when he got killed?DAVIS: Let's see, I had all of us home at that time and my daddy had an aunt, and
she -- 00:06:00GEORGE STONEY: Let's start again. I need to say, when my daddy got killed, there
were how many in the family and all the -- just name out all the people. Start -- just start saying, when my daddy was in the family -- got killed and so forth. Okay?DAVIS: When my daddy was -- got killed, there was mama, my brother, we called him
(inaudible) and -- and, they had nicknames (inaudible) and me, and then the baby. He just had started with school.GEORGE STONEY: And his mother?
DAVIS: Who --
GEORGE STONEY: Was his mother in the house as well?
DAVIS: No, we had a great aunt live with us.
GEORGE STONEY: So let's start again and say, well, when my fa --
[break in video]
JAMIE STONEY: -- a two second or a second burst. (makes buzzing noise)
00:07:00M2: What if someone's got a radio?
GEORGE STONEY: Okay, let's just try to see if we can squeeze it in. We're almost through.
DAVIS: Well let's see, there was --
GEORGE STONEY: Just start at, when my father got killed.
DAVIS: When my father got killed, there was three boys, one girl, mama, and a great
aunt that lived with us all the time. She made her home with us.GEORGE STONEY: So that was pretty rough on your family?
DAVIS: It was rough, but back in them days, you lived with rough. Because back in
them days you wasn't making too much. My mama used to take in sewing to help make the living.GEORGE STONEY: Were you bitter about it?
DAVIS: No I wasn't bitter about it. (inaudible) we done the best (inaudible)
00:08:00because she made all our clothes. She made our clothes.GEORGE STONEY: I mean, were you bitter about your father's getting killed?
DAVIS: Well, it was nothing to be proud of. [Not a thing in the world to be proud
of?] because he was a good man. Anybody that known my daddy could tell you I had a good daddy.GEORGE STONEY: How do you feel about there being so little mention of all of
that here in Honea Path?DAVIS: Well I tell you, people that knows more about it is people who wasn't even
born, but they know all about it. Now, you get to talking to them, they know -- they know it all. Well, when I'm around I say, well I was -- I said (inaudible) don't forget that that was my daddy you talking about. I said my daddy got 00:09:00killed there. And I said -- and I said he didn't -- I said, he didn't give nobody no trouble. He did not give nobody no trouble. I don't believe I ever heard my daddy say a cuss word in his life.GEORGE STONEY: How did people in the town feel about all that?
DAVIS: Well, it made a difference, you know. This made a big difference.
GEORGE STONEY: How so?
DAVIS: I tell you, it's -- don't nobody know I never been through nothing like that
and I hope I don't go through nothing like that anymore. Well, when my brother 00:10:00got killed in the service, well that was bad. But that wasn't being shot down just in the back. He was -- he was wounded, but (inaudible) they went back in battle and he got killed. But when my daddy was gunned down out the window with a gun in his back, was you know, shot with a gun, a pistol. But things you don't understand you just don't know what to -- what it's all about. And [there?] was some people that come here from Belton (inaudible) that didn't even know [things?], that didn't even need to be [down here at?] that time. Have you heard people say that? There was people down here that did not even need to be down here. But they was (inaudible) they didn't even work in this -- down here in 00:11:00this mill.GEORGE STONEY: Now, you were there that morning. Could you tell what those
people were saying, or were they singing, or what happened?DAVIS: No sir, they were just standing in the middle -- bunches, you know, about
(inaudible), you see. All you could see what was (inaudible) sticking their head out the window. (inaudible) everybody [was going?] outside, they were just standing around, they wouldn't expecting no trouble. Wasn't anybody expecting no trouble. But it happened.GEORGE STONEY: Now I've heard that they were -- that they marched around with
flags and they were singing. Did you hear anything about that?DAVIS: Well they had some flags, cause they claim somebody shot -- shot the flag.
00:12:00Now I don't know whether they did or now, because I don't remember seeing the flag that was shot, but I know that somebody shot a hole in the flag. Had you heard that? There was a man who had the flag there, he was --GEORGE STONEY: What about the singing?
DAVIS: Now there might have been singing, you know when people's all standing
around talking that when you're not expecting nothing, they just ganged around and I'd be talking. Because I was sitting at the (inaudible) with my daddy. Every by the time I go by there, (inaudible) sitting up there with him that morning, we had to leave. And when we got up to leave, that's when he was shot. 00:13:00And he was shot in the back. That's what that the death certificate said, that he was shot in the back (inaudible) from down yonder. And it was brought out in in the inquiries that Mr. [George Paige?] shot him with some kind of bullet. It -- it named the bullet. And I told someone, I said, [if he?] ever come back, I'm going to show it to him. But it's still here somewhere. Because when my brother died, he had insurance with the same company, and I don't know why, they sent my daddy's death certificate back, you know, when his insurance [got back?], they sent his death certificate.GEORGE STONEY: Now did you have to go to the inquest?
00:14:00DAVIS: Well, no I don't think I went to the inquest. But it was -- at that time it
was brought out at the inquest that my daddy was shot, -- Mr. [George Paige?] shot him with a -- it named -- it named the kind of bullet he had. It was some kind of (inaudible), if I run across anymore I guess [you'll be?] coming back here anymore, but if I run across it I'll -- I'll keep up with it. [I got like them pictures, see?], (inaudible) looking at something else and found the pictures.GEORGE STONEY: Now, who you know who [Paige?] was? Who was [Paige?]?
DAVIS: Chief of the town.
GEORGE STONEY: Okay, now let's start again. I want you to tell that story again
and say that [George Paige?] was the chief of the town. Okay, let's start again. Okay, now. 00:15:00DAVIS: [George Paige?] was chief of the town. And I -- he'd been chief for a long
time. Been the chief a long, long time.GEORGE STONEY: No, I want you to start -- sorry. I want you to tell that my
father got shot -- shot in the back, shot by [George Paige?] and [Paige?] was the sheriff of the -- that he was chief of the town.DAVIS: Chief, yeah.
GEORGE STONEY: Okay, and that came out in the inquest. I know that's a lot to
remember. But we need it all kind of tight. Okay, try it again. Okay?DAVIS: [George Paige?] shot my daddy in the back. He was the chief of the town and,
cause it was brought out at the inquest, [give?] the name of the bullet he was shot with. It -- now, I can't think of what kind of bullet it was, but they had a bullet (inaudible).GEORGE STONEY: Good. Very good. Okay, is there anything else that you'd like to say?
00:16:00DAVIS: [I've just got y'all?] messed up. I didn't know what -- I'd done the best I
know how 'cause --GEORGE STONEY: You didn't get it messed up at all.
DAVIS: (inaudible), you know but -- I wouldn't tell a tale for nothing, [] and I --
and [it's just like I said?] when they took him off, brought him out and they (inaudible) [six room house?] and they had a little -- coming down the road there. They put him in that little hole there and they went into these people's house and got a pillow and laid his head under there. And when he died, they was trying to get me away from him. But I wanted to stay there, and so finally when they covered him up, somebody brought me home. Brought me to mama's, 'cause mama was at home. She hadn't heard about it 'til we got home. 00:17:00GEORGE STONEY: Okay. I think that's wonderful. Thank you very much.
DAVIS: [Don't you?] --
JAMIE STONEY: This is room tone for the previous interview.
GEORGE STONEY: Okay, that should --
[break in video]
00:18:00(inaudible background conversation)
[break in video]
JAMIE STONEY: That was all preset (inaudible).
00:19:00(inaudible overlapping dialogue)
JAMIE STONEY: In case you happen to use this, this is the sign for Eastview
Cemetery in Honea Path, South Carolina. (inaudible)[break in video]
JAMIE STONEY: This is the original W.E Knight's Grocery in Honea Path, South Carolina.
GEORGE STONEY: (inaudible)
00:20:00JAMIE STONEY: This is the new improved, color corrected Knight's Grocery. The
new and improved, wider angle Knight's Grocery.[break in video]
JAMIE STONEY: This is the United Textile Workers of America logo that's on the
Leila Yarbrough and Thomas Rance Yarbrough gravestone in Honea Path, South Carolina in Eastview Cemetery. 00:21:00[Silence]
00:22:00[break in video]
JAMIE STONEY: This is the grave of Claude C. Cannon, one of the people killed in
the Honea Path mill. 00:23:00[Silence]
[break in video]
JAMIE STONEY: We have seven minutes on this tape. We are outside the
Fieldcrest-Cannon Mills, Cone Mills in Kannapolis/Concord, North Carolina. 00:24:00[Silence]
[break in video]
00:25:00[Silence]
GEORGE STONEY: Okay.
JAMIE STONEY: (inaudible)
(inaudible overlapping voices)
[break in video]
JAMIE STONEY: This is the water tower at the Fieldcrest Mill. We're in the
00:26:00Fieldcrest Mill Village in Concord/Kannapolis.[break in video]
GEORGE STONEY: (inaudible)
JAMIE STONEY: (inaudible) Same place, same location. Different shot. It looks
like Leave it to Beaver land. It looks like something -- 00:27:00GEORGE STONEY: Yeah.
JAMIE STONEY: -- (inaudible). [I can't figure out what it is?] Alternative shot.
[break in video]
JAMIE STONEY: Do you want me to zoom on this or just slow pan?
00:28:00[break in video]
GEORGE STONEY: (inaudible)
00:29:00[break in video]