00:00:11.630 - 00:00:31.060

Sure, I was born in Ireland in Cork City in Ireland and Easter week 1916, which is called the Easter Rebellion, and uh I have no idea whether that has affected my, my, uh, outlook on life or uh ideals or whatever, but uh it's a sort of

00:00:31.060 - 00:00:54.200

a critical time in in Irish history and so on. And did you, uh, what was the date? Did you give the date? April 17, 1960. And uh I lived in Cork City for until I was 9 years old and uh I attended the Christian Brothers schools

00:00:54.200 - 00:01:14.610

there and uh uh I'm smiling because recently read something about a confession by the Irish Christian Brothers and reported in the English paper. Uh, apologizing, you know, there's a great spate of apologizing going on currently. Apologizing for their abuse, their cruelty to the kids and under

00:01:14.610 - 00:01:33.270

their, uh, care for so many years. Uh, I used to have straps to, to wallop us if we're naughty. Um, so I, um, uh, until I was 9 years old and the whole family. Uh, moved to America. We came to America in 1926. Did you experience

00:01:33.270 - 00:01:49.550

any of the difficulties with the church officials strapping and related sort of things? No, no, no, no. That's, you know, they ran, they used to run the schools. They were, they were not priests. They were lay monks. They were lay monks, yeah, and uh were they

00:01:49.550 - 00:02:05.670

abusive they were their teachers. They were, uh, physically abusive. Uh, they had special straps for a wallop you you and uh with a fine grip on it and they're about this long and limber things and hold out your hand and they wallop the the jeepers out

00:02:05.670 - 00:02:25.560

of you uh uh uh just any, any most any, any, uh. Anything out of the ordinary, nothing violent, nothing extreme, but, uh, they, they confessed that apparently some of them enjoyed the, the, uh, abuse. Um, were these, uh, were these monks Irish guys or were they,

00:02:25.580 - 00:02:44.000

oh yeah, oh sure, absolutely, um, it was a different time, different life, and so on, you know, physical abuse in the schools was quite ordinary, uh, all sorts of schools, um. Anyway, we came to the States in 1926. Um, before you get into that, can you

00:02:44.000 - 00:03:04.080

tell me what the impact on you was of the, um, you know, the Irish movement for, uh, it was considerable, yeah, it was rather dramatic. Uh, um, we lived, uh, on a little. See that painting there? That's uh River Lee and uh that's Pope's Quay, the

00:03:04.080 - 00:03:24.580

street there, that's just above the seawall. And above that you see a spire and uh I was born about two doors from the left edge of that picture, Pope's Quay and uh this was, uh, you know, the, the Irish rebellion of Easter week began then and

00:03:24.600 - 00:03:46.560

uh it continued until 1921 and you know, Ireland was completely occupied militarily and as a matter of fact during that. The, the rebellion, that particular rebellion, uh, the, uh, Troops they had across the river, the opposite side of the river, which is about here. But to

00:03:46.560 - 00:04:04.200

the edge of that lake over there, not a very wide river, one branch of the River Lee. Um, there was a machine gun post mounted on the other side. And uh they imposed uh a curfew on families. Uh, 5 o'clock curfew, everybody had to be off

00:04:04.200 - 00:04:23.940

the streets. In Ireland, and that latitude, and especially in the summer, uh, it's still bright until 11 o'clock. Uh, you could read a newspaper outdoors. So to bring children in off uh out of the streets and indoors from 5 o'clock on was really. Pretty severe. Um,

00:04:24.770 - 00:04:38.280

And at times then they would rake these machine guns, would uh rake the opposite side if there was something going on. And our folks would uh get us out of bed and we'd have to lie on the floor, you know. And, uh, but that, there was

00:04:38.280 - 00:04:55.810

nothing dramatic about that. We all said that's life. This is, this is the, the ordinary part of life. Um, and several times our house was raided. My father was a, uh, a local labor leader in his particular industry. Uh, not, not, uh, a paid organizer. He

00:04:55.810 - 00:05:14.480

was, they, they've been a, a big, big general strike in Ireland by the labor movement headed by James Connolly. Who was executed uh from the 1916 thing and uh my dad uh and he worked for an outfit and exporting food to England that's what they, the

00:05:14.480 - 00:05:31.470

Irish have done for all these years even during the potato famine there was an enormous amount of food being shipped out of Ireland at that time, uh, while the, the local people starved and died of disease. What is it? 3 million of them, um, anyway, um.

00:05:32.650 - 00:05:48.200

Our house because my father was known as having been active. What was his name and what was the union he was in? Uh, the Irish Transport and General Workers Union. That's great. You can't say it without having a little bit of bro come into it. And

00:05:48.200 - 00:06:07.270

his name was, uh, Michael, Michael Mahoney, Mick, Mick Mahoney. In Ireland, however, the name was, uh, we weren't, we weren't Mahoneys then. That came later when we came to the United States. The Boston equivalent of Ellis Island changed our name from O'Mahony with the apostrophe O

00:06:08.100 - 00:06:27.320

into Mahoney and insert an E. So my name and uh all the way through school was Daniel, O apostrophe M A H M A H O N Y instead of N E Y, pronounced O'Mahony and not Mahoney. That, that was the, the American Americanization. How, how,

00:06:27.400 - 00:06:44.050

how do the how do you spell it in in the US? It's M A H M A H O N E Y Mahoney like Maloney and so um. So, uh, you know, and he was, he was ready. The whole house was ready, you say, yeah, uh,

00:06:44.740 - 00:06:59.090

usually like things like this, they, they, uh, they wait till about midnight or something like this, you know, and then suddenly burst in. There's a hammering on the door with rifle butts and all this sort of stuff, uh, that scared us and that scared me, um.

00:07:00.040 - 00:07:18.790

We have 5 kids in the family, uh, 4 boys and a girl, and, uh, they come storming in and search the house, you know, you meekly stand by. What, what else could you do? Uh, that happened twice there. But then after, after the, uh, after the

00:07:18.790 - 00:07:37.940

peace in 1921 that created the, the uh six counties in the north and the republic and the other 26, um, after that, there was, there was a civil war. You know, which, which is not uncommon, um, and that, that went on for a few years. And

00:07:37.940 - 00:07:57.210

during that time, we were raided, uh, the house was by each side, by the civil group and by the, the insurgent group and by the governmental group. And uh there's a marvelous memory I have of my mother, uh, recognizing after the uh after the, the treaty.

00:07:57.780 - 00:08:10.970

Recognizing two of the soldiers in the raiding party and yelling and screaming at them, get out of my house, how dare you do this, and so on. I'm going to tell your mother, Charlie McCarthy, you know, this sort of stuff. And uh she was a wonderful

00:08:10.970 - 00:08:32.990

woman and uh stormed at them, you know, and they, they, they left in shame. Uh, what was her name? Hannah, Hannah, and uh. A wonderful woman, uh, full of joy and laughter and song and uh, and great, uh, great courage, um. So that ended, those, those

00:08:33.010 - 00:08:54.670

were the, the real, uh, you know, the dramatic experiences of the, the, the various struggles that went on in those years. Uh, 1926 came and uh mother had three sisters here in the States and uh they uh prevailed upon her to come to the States because

00:08:54.970 - 00:09:09.020

as they explained that there was no future for their kids in Ireland. And that's been going on, you know, that's the history of Ireland. And The, uh, my father didn't want to come. We have a passport picture and you could see in his face, he was

00:09:09.020 - 00:09:28.540

sad and sort of defeated, but he, he, uh, he didn't want to leave Ireland. But we did, we came and we settled in Thompsonville, Connecticut. That's a A small town halfway between Hartford and Springfield, Massachusetts on the Connecticut River, and he went to work uh for

00:09:28.540 - 00:09:46.940

the Bigelow Carpet Sanford Company in Thompsonville, Connecticut. They had quite a large factory there. Um, let me ask you, what do you remember as a person of about 9 years older. So coming across, um. To the United States, to Ellis Island. Do you remember, do you

00:09:46.940 - 00:10:04.630

have memories of that experience as a young fellow? Yes, I do, but I can't tell you very much because We, in, in Cork Harbor, the, the big ships, the Cunard liner that we were on, uh, has to stay in the bay and you go on a

00:10:04.630 - 00:10:26.020

tender, the, the sha the water was too shallow to uh to uh pull up to the docks there. And uh We, uh, Stepped foot onto the whole family onto this tender. And I took one whiff of the diesel oil and the boat bobbing in the water

00:10:26.040 - 00:10:44.520

and I got seasick. And my mother told me afterwards, the whole family, it was a March crossing and a very rough Atlantic crossing. And uh I was sick for, it took 7 days. I was seasick for 7 days. Uh, the whole family except my father, he

00:10:44.520 - 00:11:01.570

didn't get seasick. Uh, the rest of the family was quite ill, uh, but mother said she feared for me because uh I couldn't even keep water down and she was serious, you know, she was quite serious. All I remember was being sick and it affected the

00:11:01.570 - 00:11:12.940

rest of my life. I'll tell you about it afterwards. Uh, I was always terrified of going on sea voyages again. I could go out in a lake in a bob in a rowboat and so on, but I was just scared of going and it affected me

00:11:12.940 - 00:11:32.340

later in the army. I'll tell you about it. Uh, it was funny. That's all I remember about the trip from Ireland to the United States was uh being ill, you know, and, uh, sight of land and so on. I had a miraculous instantaneous recovery, yeah, uh,

00:11:32.410 - 00:11:46.910

do you remember getting off at Ellis Island or any of that? No, it wasn't Ellis. I said when I said before I mentioned Ellis Island, I said the Boston version of the Boston Island, um, we landed at Boston because that's where mother's sisters were and uh.

00:11:47.740 - 00:12:06.790

Oh yeah, um. Before, you know, if you're going to emigrate, I don't know how it is done these days, but way back then you'd report to the Irish consulate, uh, the American consulate in Ireland and uh your family would, you know, you had a medical certificates

00:12:06.790 - 00:12:24.510

and prove that you were uh mentally sound and so on. And I remember um uh the examiner that rated me. I had to stand before him and uh He said to me, Well, young man, if I had a cat and that cat had 2 kittens and

00:12:24.510 - 00:12:38.380

each of those kittens had a kitten each, how many cats would I have? And uh I thought about it. I was afraid to answer. I said, would you repeat that, please? And he did. And I said 5 and he said, all right, fine, you go ahead.

00:12:38.650 - 00:12:56.330

I was able to answer that I could uh pass. And uh coming to the states, the the other memory I have of coming off the boat, you know, again I had to go through an inspection, a very brief simple one. And I was carrying a coat

00:12:56.560 - 00:13:13.860

over my arms, you know, and uh he said, let me see your arms, please. So I went like this with the coat over the, the left arm and uh he said, your arms, will you remove the coat? And he was nasty and uh uh impatient and

00:13:14.120 - 00:13:30.490

spoke like that. And I said yes sir and did it and you know I said and I that stuck in my memory what a nasty treatment greeting to get you know it it was I guess I was super sensitive or something it was nothing, nothing big,

00:13:30.540 - 00:13:46.870

but it, it bothered me. Uh And of course, every, uh, it was all strange. I can, you know, my eyes grow big now. Uh, the noise and the speed and so on. Life in Ireland was a little more, even though we lived in a, in a

00:13:46.870 - 00:14:03.960

sizable city, it's the second biggest in the republic. Uh, uh, it's a much then anyway, it's a much slower pace and quieter and so on. And this was all bustle and whistles and all sorts of stuff. Wow. And a nine year old is impressed with that.

00:14:05.380 - 00:14:21.760

So that was our greeting. Then we, uh, we proceeded. We were met, of course, at the boat and, uh, in a big car and a cousin took us to one of my aunt's houses and there took place, uh, uh, a marvelous party. There must have been

00:14:21.760 - 00:14:39.510

30 people and so many of them relatives, you know, meeting the greenhorns we were called the greenhorns. And uh my sister Peggy and I had to sing for them and they were tickled with our strange our to them not strange but our accents, you know, they're

00:14:39.510 - 00:15:00.320

different so do you remember what song you sang? Paddy McGinty's goat. Can you sing a little of it? Sure. Paddy McGinty, an Irishman of note, fell into a fortune and he bought himself a goat, said he, I'll. Said he, I'll have goat's milk. I said he

00:15:00.320 - 00:15:19.680

who with goat's milk, I mean to have me fill, but when he brought his nanny home, he found it was a bill. Etc. about 5 verses and Peggy and I used to be called upon regularly to sing this to entertain the company. Uh, that's Patty McGuinty's

00:15:19.680 - 00:15:40.670

goat, um. And then a couple of days later we moved. We were driven to Thompsonville, Connecticut. We're very lucky immigrants. My father went to work the following Monday. When we got to Thompsonville, uh, I rented a house, uh, it was in a, a new place, was

00:15:40.670 - 00:15:58.910

already furnished, and, uh, the coal in this, in the, in the, uh, The heat on and the, and there were coal fires and that were in furnace was coal-fired and the place all warm and furnished and everything else just our aunts had done this, you know,

00:15:58.950 - 00:16:15.490

and. So it, it was fine. Uh, but then just about my brother Bill, he was old, about 4 years older, he went to, he was just going into high school and he went in high school for a couple of years and then he had my brother

00:16:15.490 - 00:16:30.650

Pat. Who was the oldest, he was a year older than Bill. He went to work in the mill and uh uh then brother Bill was taken out of high school so he could work in the mill. And uh I guess it was to pay off the

00:16:30.650 - 00:16:48.650

debts to the aunts that this was uh money that we, we uh borrowed. And uh what was the nature of the work that your dad and the brothers were doing? It was a factory, a carpet, big, big carpet factory, and they were tending machines in, in,

00:16:48.670 - 00:17:07.600

in this big factory. It was in 1926, um. Two years later, this favorite sister of my mother's who sort of looked over and so moved from that area to New York City. And uh she wanted us to be, and her sister Hannah, who was her favorite.

00:17:08.420 - 00:17:27.330

To be nearer. So they persuaded mother and dad to move again to Manhattan. And she was able to, I don't know, her husband, I guess got my father a job with Otis Elevator Company. That was in, so 1928 we moved to Manhattan. You know what happened

00:17:27.330 - 00:17:47.360

a year later, don't you? 1929, boom, uh, the great crash, and my father was the last one hired in the place and therefore consequently the first one fired and uh what was he doing at the elevator company? Similar, not, not very, not any skilled labor, some

00:17:47.830 - 00:18:09.180

tending some machines or something. Any union activity in this 26, 28 period? OK, so he's laid off. Yeah, he was canned right away and uh. My brother Pat and Bill had. Temporary jobs, uh, like runners at Wall Street, messengers types of things and things like that.

00:18:09.470 - 00:18:28.590

I was then what, 9 and 2, I was 11 or 12 years old and I went to school and uh. And worked after school as a delivery boy for Gristedes Markets in New York City. Uh, and we lived there on Columbus Avenue for about 2 years

00:18:28.760 - 00:18:50.330

and then, uh, They were, my father was unemployed for about one of those years and finally connected with a job in Brooklyn for the Kings County, uh, lighting company, which produced gas and electricity for the area. And he had a friend there, an Irish friend who

00:18:50.330 - 00:19:10.060

got him a job there during the Depression. And so we moved to Brooklyn, New York and Bay Ridge area. And uh I went to school there in Brooklyn, but Brother Bill and Brother Pat were working and Bill recently told me a letter, wrote me a letter

00:19:10.360 - 00:19:29.260

in which uh would probably be around 1930. Or something like that, but I guess, uh, At one point he said there was nobody in the family working. He wrote in this letter reviewing what life was like then. And I read that this was only a few

00:19:29.260 - 00:19:48.440

months ago I read this letter from Brother Bill who's now lives in the East Coast and uh I broke out in the biggest smile of of pride and accomplishment because Bill had his facts wrong. I was working. I worked as a delivery boy for a butcher

00:19:48.440 - 00:20:09.490

shop and I would bring home $2.50 a week and I also had to turn over my tips to my mother because there was nothing, there was no money and uh I was the Sole supportive of this family of 7 people at age 14 uh I told

00:20:09.490 - 00:20:28.800

this about to Bill since I said you left you were incorrect in one factor you know uh there I was supporting a family of 7 at age 14 you know very dramatic and you were making it funny you were making $2.50 $2.50 yeah, OK. And uh

00:20:29.760 - 00:20:47.850

And eventually I got out of high school. Well, let me ask you, um, at that time, uh, 1932, 34, and so on, about 1931, 1932 is about the depth of the depression. I mean really the lowest, yeah, 33 also, um, and I guess the question is.

00:20:48.680 - 00:21:02.180

Um, how, how does, how is rent made? How is food brought in? Uh, you know, what, what, what was the, what was the texture of life at the moment at the time, uh, you know, there's something about I told you before that, uh, when you're a

00:21:02.180 - 00:21:17.800

child and things that go on, uh, in your life, uh, are translated in your. immediately this is the norm. This is, this is the way life is, you know, getting out of bed and lying on the floor and bullets flying. Well, you know, this is the

00:21:17.800 - 00:21:34.430

way life is. Everybody else on the block was lying on the floor too, so there was nothing special about that. Um, here we were, we always had food. Uh, clothing was problems. You, you know, shoes, uh, would wear out and sometimes you could, you'd put a

00:21:34.430 - 00:21:50.570

piece of cardboard in the, inside the shoe because the little hole in the street was coming. Through, uh, letting damp and other stuff come through, and I remember those things, but again that was no we were surrounded by people in the same boat. It's remember the

00:21:50.570 - 00:22:04.810

dead dead end kids and so on. They lived right next to the, the, uh, uh, the wealthy and so on, and they played on that thing, but we didn't that everybody we knew was all in similar straits, so you didn't feel poor. You just felt, well,

00:22:04.900 - 00:22:19.790

this is life. Um what, what about the, uh, cold? How do we get by? Yeah, how do you get by in the severe winters and so on? Um, Oh, that period that Bill was talking about that that didn't last very long at all. He said at

00:22:19.790 - 00:22:34.510

one time, you know, uh, there was a period when we were all out of work and that's what I leaped on, you know, my memory said, oh, I was working, uh, that, that wasn't for any lengthy period at all. Uh, my father got this job with

00:22:34.510 - 00:22:52.250

the King's County Gas Company, uh, brother. Pat was also working at a, a clerk or something, a runner a little better than that on Wall Street. Um, oh, and when, when we lived in Connecticut in that mill town, my mother, uh, eventually went to work. Uh,

00:22:52.540 - 00:23:12.170

before Bill got out of high school, he, the Connecticut Valley has, uh, tobacco farms. And uh that's usually not known. They're uh special leaf, it's a broad leaf, the outside wrapper of cigars are grown in Connecticut. Uh they were then, the land is probably too valuable

00:23:12.170 - 00:23:30.370

now. But, uh, my brother Bill used to go down to the, uh, this town square at 5 o'clock in the morning and these trucks from the tobacco farms. would gather there and uh the candidates would just like the shape up in the waterfront, you know, the

00:23:30.370 - 00:23:45.020

candidates would hop on the truck and then they'd go out uh to the particular farms and uh whoever's in charge there, foreman or the owner and so on, would pick a crew out of those and Bill would work picking tobacco leaves, you know, and this was

00:23:45.040 - 00:24:03.100

after school work for him and summertime job picking tobacco leaves. And uh I said I wanna do it. And I was, uh, 10. Have you gone on 11? And I got up at 5 o'clock in the morning and jumped on the truck and went out to

00:24:03.100 - 00:24:17.660

the tobacco farm and, you know, the shape up, you know, takes place and there I was left standing. He said, go home, little boy, you can't do it. I was brokenhearted and a week later I tried it again. I was told, look, forget it, sonny, you

00:24:17.660 - 00:24:34.230

can't, but I was brokenhearted because I couldn't get a job and bring home money like everybody else was doing, you know. So that was my experience there, uh. And, um, you know, uh, all through school, I worked uh as a, after, you know, school hours as

00:24:34.230 - 00:24:51.040

a delivery boy and so on. What, what, what, um, what was your high school experience like? Oh, I had a great time. I, I loved it. I did, um, I had. I had played soccer, you know, which is, that was one of the sports in Ireland

00:24:51.450 - 00:25:07.890

and especially in the city. And uh I was a soccer player and uh the school in Brooklyn, New York, uh the high school had a soccer team and I made the varsity and I had my big M for my, my varsity and I was, you know,

00:25:08.020 - 00:25:29.470

I could strut. I had a varsity letter like these other guys and uh what was the M for? What did the M stand for? Manual Training High School. You want me to sing again? Absolutely. Oh, a student's life in the manual high is a round of

00:25:29.470 - 00:25:53.080

fun for the work's worthwhile and the play is real. When study is done, we send out teams that are filled with zeal to win as we hear our far flung cry. And it's cheer, cheer, cheer once again for the good old manual. How I will shout

00:25:53.080 - 00:26:13.390

for the team, etc. etc. I laugh at uh. Oh, it's a funny thing about me and songs, uh. My brother Bill, I told you, sent me this article about the Christian Brothers apologizing. And I, that was the school was the North Monastery. It was just up

00:26:13.390 - 00:26:31.690

the hill above that, that, uh, church spire there. And, uh, and, uh, so I'm reading about it and all of a sudden I'm reading Bill's letter, uh, and the article about the apologize. And by God, the, the, the song for that school 9 years old, suddenly

00:26:31.690 - 00:26:45.390

comes into my head and I sang the whole song for my brother Bill, uh, you know, when he, he called me up a week later or something I said, oh Bill, by the way, listen to this, and he said, Where did you find it? Where did

00:26:45.390 - 00:26:58.350

you find it? I said, in my head. It just came into my head. He said, oh, I should have known you and singing all the music, and I got that from that wonderful mother of my mother McCree, uh. Uh, well, you might as well add that

00:26:58.370 - 00:27:17.900

song. You might as well add a line or two from that song. Oh, the monastery. Oh, why not? Hooray for the Mon boys, steady and strong boys like true Irishmen will never yield courage and skill, boys back and lusty will, boys, leads to victory on this

00:27:17.900 - 00:27:41.400

glorious field, blue. Blue and white now floating o'er us tell us of a mother brave and true. Raise the mon flag, chant our chorus. Listen, a monaster, a riot as a monaster, a boo. That's Gaelic. That's that's all honest to God, I had that suddenly there

00:27:41.400 - 00:28:04.430

it was. I could hear the song again and I was. What? 789 years old, I guess. Yeah. Um, Uh, where was I? Well, um, Manuel High School. Oh, And, uh, then I, my, a friend of mine, myself, uh, we, uh, it was 1933. 32 and 33,

00:28:04.450 - 00:28:21.540

I guess. We organized, the two of us, a chapter of the American League Against War and Fascism, and here we were, 1516 year old wild radicals in high school, I gotta ask you, OK, how, how do you get into that? How do you figure out who

00:28:21.560 - 00:28:36.180

those guys are, you know, what were, what were the connections, the political connections? Also, was your dad, did your dad ever get back into unions? Uh, no, as a matter of fact, you know something, uh, when Aunt Nancy, the one who footed the bill, uh, I've

00:28:36.180 - 00:28:52.180

learned from my brother later that one of the things she said she made my father promise that he would not get involved in unions in the state because look at all the trouble you've got houses being raided and all of this in there and, uh, you

00:28:52.180 - 00:29:14.670

know, this was 19 before 1934, you know, before the CIO and the, the vast. See change that took place in the depression, um. So he was never involved, you know, he'd be a member of the union but not in its leadership. So, but the whole family,

00:29:14.780 - 00:29:28.090

we were, uh, uh, you know, a liberal working class family and all of our history and everything else was tied up in this. But I guess what I'm saying is what was the connection that was made so you got into the, into the, into the, well,

00:29:28.140 - 00:29:47.640

I was aware, you know, I could read a paper at age 15 and so on, and I was And the conversations at home, my, my brothers, especially Brother Bill, similar thing on political issues on Mussolini was, uh, you know, the, the, the, the, the, the arch

00:29:47.640 - 00:30:04.420

Ethiopia was on at that time. That's right. That's right. And, uh, you know, we talked, talk in the home would be about these things and, uh, you know, that was my interest and uh were your brothers politically active? Not to the extent, no, not that I

00:30:04.420 - 00:30:20.190

was. Brother Bill was, brother Pat wasn't. OK, so you and this, but I mean what I'm saying is like you and this other fellow, did you take it upon yourselves or were there other kids in school involved? No, there was just the two of us originally,

00:30:20.360 - 00:30:39.710

you know, we were both, uh, uh, we were pals. He was of Swedish origin, uh, you know, mine, and what was his name? Palmer Thompson. OK, yeah, he was later a screenwriter, I think we lost touch on him. I doubt if he's still around and uh

00:30:39.960 - 00:30:45.750

good guy. Dan, OK, we're gonna pursue it. However, I think I want to turn it over. We're gonna call this the end of side one.