Thomas (O'Neal), Mary (audio interview #1 of 2)

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Thomas (O'Neal), Mary (audio interview #1 of 2)

Thomas (O'Neal), Mary (1887 - ); Berger Gluck, Sherna, interviewer

URI: http://hdl.handle.net/10211.3/217487

Date: 2020-09-21

Abstract:

INTERVIEW DESCRIPTION - This is the first interview with Mary Thomas O'Neal in her hotel room at the Hollywood Knickerbocker Hotel. I was alerted to the whereabouts of a woman who was a survivor of the Ludlow massacre by Dorothy Healey, who had received a letter informing her about Thomas. Both from the letter to Healey and from the initial phone conversation with Thomas (O'Neal), there was some concern about her mental alertness. As a result, a decision was made to concentrate mainly on Ludlow and get some background information. Thomas (O'Neal) had written a book several years ago earlier Those Damn Foreigners which detailed much of her history. It was apparent that Thomas had virtually no short term memory, a fact of which she was well aware. However, she did remember the incidents of Ludlow rather clearly, although not necessarily the precise chronology. She appeared somewhat feeble and certainly no younger than her eighty-seven years. Her room was neat and rather sparse, much like the other rooms of women in hotels, but the hotel itself is in considerably better repair than most. Her book held center stage in the room. Despite her memory problems, Thomas (O'Neal) was very interested in the project, and interesting and cooperative. There was a problem with the microphone in the beginning of the tape. 12/2/1974

Description:

SUBJECT BIO - Mary Thomas (Oneal) became spokesperson on behalf of the striking miners and their families who were the victims of the Ludlow massacre in 1914. Born in the Ogmore Valley in South Wales of a mining family, Thomas came to the US in 1913 with her two children, seeking her miner husband, who had deserted the family. She arrived in Colorado during the organizing drive of the United Mine Workers of America (UMWA) and initially became involved primarily as a result of her singing talents. After the eviction of the miners from their company-owned housing and the establishment of a tent colony in Ludlow, she became actively involved in the daily affairs of the community. When the tent colony was attacked by the militia on Easter morning, 1914, she played a critical role in saving the lives of many women and children and in assisting the men who had fled to the hills. She was the only woman from among the miners community to be arrested. After her release from jail, Thomas traveled east to talk about the strike, and spoke to audiences in New York and other cities. She also went to Washington, DC, and with the assistance of Judge Ben Lindsey, made a direct appeal to President Wilson for federal troops. Thomas moved to Salt Lake City, where she worked as a waitress, then to Nevada, where she supported her children by running a restaurant, and later a dance hall. She re-married in Nevada, and when the family moved to Los Angeles, she opened her own tailoring business. Thomas wrote a book about her experiences, Those Damn Foreigners (Hollywood, California: 1971). She suffered from short term memory loss at the time of the interview, but her accounts of the Ludlow experience and her speaking tour were consistent both with the material in the book and newspaper accounts. TOPICS - Mother Jones; Louis Tikas; husband and marital relationship; immigration to US; moving into Ludlow camp; living conditions; singing for mining crowds; ethnic background of Ludlow families; threats of violence by mining owners; Ludlow massacre and camp raids; fleeing massacre; helping miners load rifles; refuge at a ranch of union sympathizers; getting wounded; arrest and jailing; singing union songs outside jail window; speaking tour to Washington, DC;visit to Washington, DC and speaking with President Woodrow Wilson; speaking tour; husband's activities during the massacre; receiving assistance from religious groups following the massacre; recollection of Ludlow camps following the massacre; move to Utah; waitress work; singing for union crowds in Colorado; exposure to unionism through father; confronting husband about his deserting the family; health; taking children away from her husband; waitressing in Nevada; opening up a restaurant in a dance hall; and meeting second husband, Don O'Neal;

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