107

Waln [?] Brown
8/7/72
Margaret Maloney
1

There was a shoe repair shop owned by Henry Bartol in Eckley.
The shoe repair show was located next to where the mule barn once stood
which is at the lower end of town where the road bends in front of where Emil Gera
now lives. The shoe repair shop was a small shanty located on the uptown side of
the mule stable. It was housed in a small shanty between the stable and Bartol's
house, which no longer stands.
The shoe shop had a sign in front which said Bartol's Shoemaker Shop. Mr
Bartol spent all his time as a shoemaker, as be only had one leg. The usual price
for repair of shoes was a dollar a pair for grownups and fifty cents a pair for
children. The shop had some "power" machinery, that is, there was two machines,
one large and one small, which were belt-driven and received their power from
foot pedals.
There were no special social activities around the shoemaker's shop. Mr.
Bartol moved to freeland in the 1930's, and thus abandoned the shoe shop.
The house and shop stood for a short while. They were torn down some time later.

Mrs. Coxe was the only philanthroplist who helped in Eckley; she was also the
only charity organization. there were no organizations or groups in Eckley which
took care of charity work. Mrs. Coxe took care of all widows of men who were killed
in the Eckley mines. Their widows would live in Eckley "rent free." they were
alotted $15 per month free supplies from the company store. They received free
medical care. They also received free clothing and shoes at the company store.
Orphaned children were placed in homes, or if a family of children existed where
both parents had just died and there was an older son or daughter in the household,
the children were kept together in one of the Eckley homes; Mrs. Coxe would watch
over them.
Old people were also provided for by Mrs. Coxe. She would allow old people who
labored in the Eckley mines and had nobody to privide for them to live in Eckley homes
"rent free." For the very old people who could not provide for themselves, Mrs. Coxe
would put them in homes where they could be taken care of.
Twice a year Mrs. Coxe would give widowed women in Eckley a gift. the gift might
be $25 and/or ten yards of material or whatever Mrs. Coxe thought was best for the family.
Every two or three months the orphans were given toys or gifts of some sort. Every
Christmas all the school children in Eckley would receive presents from Mrs. Coxe.
Each child would get an envelope with a dollar in it. The boys usually received a
sleigh and a sweater. The girls would receive a doll and some material. Eckley was
not the only town which Mrs. Coxe took care of. In Drifton and Tom Hicken she did
a great deal of providing for the coal mining people.