Time:    1:30 pm Place:     Barber Shop in      War,  WV Interviewer:     Betty Dotson Lewis	Rush Justice giving Clarence Billips a haircut  as he recounts life during the Depression Era in War, WV
"you don't have the guts to shoot my Dad".... Davy Crockett,  Helen & Murine............. Depression was rough... "I'm starving, can I have something to eat?" they would wet the beds at night.......

It was rough during the Depression and the things I can remember most was the sacrifices we made. We had wonderful parents and they both disciplined us.  They would  not say what are you whipping them for, they would say, "Pour it on".  I have thought about it so much how wonderful life was when one parent would flog you, the other would say, "Pour it on".
  My Dad,  Albert Justice, was born in 1869 in Wyoming County and they moved to McDowell County before the turn of the century.  When  you went up the hollow, there was no road, just a creek, back then they gave you $1.00 for a right-of-way up the ASCO hollow.

There were three coal companies up that hollow; one was Davy Crockett, Helene and Murine Yearby and the Atlantic Smokeless Coal Company.
 R. E. Brockman was the owner of the ASCO mine.
My grandfather, Solomon Justice, owned 300 acres of land at the head of that hollow.  When my granddad died, my oldest uncle traded it off.  The person who bought it from my uncle didn't get it legally.  C. D. Morgan was the person who bought it.  No one ever pursued the legal issue, so he got the land and he did good.
The Depression Era was rough.  We had a mountain farm.  We raised cows, ducks chickens and other farm animals. 
We stayed out of school to help take care of the crops so we could have something to eat.
My Mother was a genius in taking care of things.
We were proud of the way she patched our clothes.  The other women in the coal camp would put just anything on clothes to patch them, my Mother would put a neat square on the pants or shirt.
We were proud of what she did.
My Dad was the father of 24 children.  He had three wives.
My Mother had 13 children.  Four of the children died in infancy, back then a lot of children died at birth.
My Father's second wife had 9 children and his first wife had 2 children
page 2 of Rush Justice Oral History