Vol. 1-Interview-Feisner

AV inter. GF & HF -31- 7/7/72 Tape 24

HF: Yes I remember, they had a silk handkerchief over his face at the wake

GF: Yes the peak of his face was broken off and I talked to him Valentine do you hear me, yeh he was still conscious, now there was another fellow by the name of Valentine one time here too, he was a big fellow and he worked with Frank Shane's father at #2, Frank Shane's father lived in Freeland and Valentine this other Valentine lived I think up town here somewhere I think it was on Back Street, he was a big man, they worked together, now you see the breast of the place where the miners worked is supposed to be inspected by the mine foreman, before the miner went in but somehow this morning it wasn't so Valentine went in a little early about a quarter of seven he wanted to put in a little piece of rail so they could move the car closer to the coal so he'd be ready when his buddy Frank would come in so Valentine took of his lunch pail and his bottle the lunch pail was put down over the rope and the bottle held about 2 quarts and he hung it on a nail on the prop and he took off his smock when he went into this job so when Frank his buddy arrived he saw his smock and his lunch pail hanging there and he looked in and didn't see any light and he called, Valentine, and there wasn't any response, where did he go and he took his light

end 1381 footage

continued on side 2 tape 24

AV inter. George Feissner & Helen Fedorsha -32- 7/7/72 Tape 24-2

GF: and there was a hole that big along side of the car now what happened there had been an old working underneath there that was filled with water and as trains went on it wore the roof down and when Valentine stepped on that particular spot it was weak and down he goes so they sent word out that a man drowned went down in a mine that they didn't know but they should have known the company should have known and if it was in modern days it would cost the company about a half million dollars but Pete and my dad got busy and made some grappling hooks and I remember the superintendent from Hazleton came over the superintendent of operations and he went down and he just happened to drop one of these hooks down and maybe 40, 50 ft. and hooked on Valentine's belt now in those days they didn't wear overalls with the straps on because that wouldn't give them free movement to shovel and on this belt and he pulled him up and he was dead as a door nail

HF: I remember that drowning but I couldn't remember the whole story about it you know th is lady that was out picking huckleberries that had her husband's face done that way wasn't she raised by these people that this man was drowned

GF: Well no doubt

HF: They lived up there where Andrew Gaydos's lives now and I'm sure that man, I can't think of his name it started with an "S", they were Polish people this girl they used to call Monya and her name was Mary and they used to call her Monya and wasn't she that Lagonosky's daughter, that was the blacksmith they lived at #2 Buck Mountain I think she was his daughter by his first wife, she had a pretty rough life and then she married this man but this family up there raised her and I think that the man that raised her was the one that was drowned and then her husband was killed with Mr. Lagonosky

AV inter. George Feissner & Helen Fedorsha -33- 7/7/72 Tape 24-2

GF: Oh I could tell you about the shooting down here you remember Washko, what was his first name the fellow that was shot, Mike and Coojo was his brother that shot him well that was a strange thing, I could tell you that whole story because

AV: What happened

GF: Well one of the Washko's died right before you came, John he lived up there in the end house

HF: She's been up there a number of times talking to his wife

GF: Oh yes, his wife is tall, well John and Coojo were 2 brothers and Fred Monk was assistant foreman at the colliery he was given in to intoxication, he wouldn't get alone without his drink, now Coojo lived, was married and he lived down on Shanty Street, he was married and he liked his liquor too and when he became intoxicated he became violent too and he used to beat his wife but John liked liquor but he was not married, he lived at home but I never saw him really intoxicated well now before I go any further let me stop there, I use to love to go out shooting grouse and I would go down in Buck Mountain and my father said we should have a short barreled shot gun, a hammer gun because it shoots close and it spreads you can shoot more grouse in the swamp so I had this gun and one day I was down in the village green shooting at some peach cans they threw up in the air and Coojo was there and he asked me if I would sell that gun I sold it to him for 5 bucks whatever he was going to do with it I don't know, but anyhow he had that gun so one Sunday afternoon John, Coojo and Monk went over the hill to Hazlebrook, there was an inn there situated close to the tunnel they called it the Blue Pig, there they socialized and had their drinks and before they left Coojo bought a pint of liquor and Coojo was already intoxicated so was Monk intoxicated so on the way up

AV inter. George Feissner & Helen Fedorsha -33A- 7/7/72 Tape 24-2

GF: John took the pint of liquor from him he thought that if he got more he would go home and beat his wife so they quarreled about it enroute to Eckley and they all met down in Coojo's yard. Coojo said to John give me the pint, John said no, and he went in the house his wife had hid the gun, she had anticipated his return, liquored up so to speak but he came up and put his hands on the gun to black powder shells in the gun and he came out and said, give me the pint, and John said no, and he pulled up the

AV inter. George F. & Helen Fed. -34- 7/7/72 Tape 24

GF: gun and he fired, and Monk put up his arm like this to protect the brother and he shot the muscle, the biceps off Monk's arm and shot his brother in the neck in the jugular, well they quick took Monk to my father, he was a first-aid man and he administered first-aid and put a torniquet on and so forth and then arranged to take him to the hospital and we had one of these old Fords it was the days where you could put the top up and down and we took some 6 ft. plank and put them from one back door to the other back door and we laid the injured man on and we were taking him to the hospital and I could tell by the gargling that the jugular was severed and when we got to Harley he died, now this is interesting, of course the police were on the job and took Coojo away and put him in jail and he was tried and he was given 5 years, 5 years. Now the man was a good man basically but under the influence of liquor he didn't know what he was doing and the next morning when he was told that he shot his brother and that he had died and that he had injured Monk he almost went insane but for good behavior he served 3 years, his wife kept the home intact and when he returned he went to Mr. Jane, the mine foreman, and Mr. Jane gave him the same job he had when he left and the first day he started a fall of coal came down and killed him, wasn't that sad

HF: I knew he was killed but I didn't know it was the first day he started

GF: Now this stuff you're not going to use are you Angela

AV: I like the way you tell it tho, you tell it so nicely

GF: Well you know I'm consuming a lot of your time

HF: I have something I want to show you [tape turned off]

GF: If you're around you could come over here sometime, where did that come from oh that's a long story, I was 3 days old, was that something Pete and my dad made, yes indeed it's a pair of pincers you know my brother in Washington retired has an awful lot of my dad's tools and he was an expert in making tools and he used to shine them oh he prized them highly, when my dad passed away he got most of them before I had an opportunity to get some but my dad was an expert