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Tape 16-1, Page 33

AV: Who used to check that?

JS: Well, you couldn't fight.

AV: But, who used to say that the car is no good?

JS: The dockin' boss. They used to have a dockin' boss in the dump shanty
when the cars were gettin' dumped, that's they way they used to do that.

AV: Were these English people? English people did that?

JS: Well, they weren't nobody too rish, but they were bosses or somethin', and
that's the kind of dockin' boss, he docked the coal. Oh, there was a one
guy he were terrible, everybody was moanin' like hell about him. But what
the hell, like I say, you couldn't do too much because the union wasn't
strong enough. Well, hell, I know before, the unios were that weak, that
they went out on strike, maybe Eckley, Drifton. Cox's will be out on strike
and Jedda Highland they wold be workin'. Well, they they would have to go
and stop the breakers. Go in the night, have to sneak in the night up to the
breakers and when the men were comin' into work, you know, stop them.

AV: How did they do that?

JS: Well, they wouldn't just them them go up there. Oh, there used to be shootin'
that time down down that way.
That was doin' that, too, they were tryin' to stop them from goin' to work
and they got fightin'.

AV: What happened?

JS: Oh, they shot men . They shot a good bit there then.

AV: Did they?

JS: Yeah. So that's how it went. Then the rest would be afraid you know. They
would go back. Instead of fightin' like hell they would lay down and forget
about it. And they used to do what the hell they wanted.

AV: They were quite powerful.

JS: Yeah, yeah! Just like the Molly Maguires were powerful.

AV: It sounds like it

JS: Yeah, they were powerful. Complanies, oh hell, they were smart then. They