PINNICK KINNICK HILL: AN AMERICAN STORY

Chapter Two

PINNICK KINNICK HILL 16 Marilena thought Gijon was a large city, but she was in for a big surprise when she saw Liverpool. When Juan made the rounds to see some of the friends he had made during his shore leaves as a crewman on the Mariposa, he left Marilena and Andres in a small hotel near the wharf. She sat at a second story window, watching the huge Clydesdale horses pulling enormous loads on wagons as they trotted down the cobble-stone street in front of the hotel. She could feel the vibration in her chair as each wagon rumbled past. Chapter Two W hen the Villanueva family sailed from Liverpool to New York City, they were one of the few Spanish families traveling first class. Juan had decided long ago that if he were to cross the ocean to America, he would go first class or not at all. The ocean was calm most of the time, and Marilena did not get seasick. Seven days after boarding the ship in Liverpool, they saw the Statue of Liberty. It was early in the morning. As the ship’s whistles began to blow, the deck was filled with people wanting to get a good view of the statue. It looked enormous. Juan promised his wife that they would not only visit the statue but climb to the torch in the great lady’s hand. Juan’s papers were all in order, and because of his knowledge of English, he, his wife and their son were processed through Ellis Island in record time. Instead of going to Valentin Aguire’s, as most persons arriving from Spain would do, Juan took his family to a hotel near 42nd Street and Broadway. Marilena thought Gijon was big; then she thought there would never be a city larger than Liverpool. Now she was in New York. After a week of sightseeing in the huge metropolis, including a visit to the Statue of Liberty, they were ready to make the long train trip from New York to the city on the Mississippi, St. Louis, Missouri. This is where Juan had decided he would go in America. The train sped through New Jersey, Delaware, Pennsylvania , Maryland, Ohio, Indiana and Illinois before crossing the Mississippi River to Missouri. It was June of 1904. The new Union Station in St. Louis was a beautiful building. The trains backed into the station proper, and when the passengers alighted, they walked through a spacious concourse and up wide steps to the street. There were hundreds of persons arriving from all points, for the Louisiana Purchase Exposition was going full swing in the 800-acre Forest Park on the western edge of the city. Juan had talked with some men on the train, and they told him about the St. Louis World’s Fair. Many of the passengers were coming from Milwaukee, Chicago , Detroit and towns and cities all over the mid-west, as well as from the East. A porter helped Juan and his wife and little son to the street and told them where they could find a streetcar to South St. Louis. Juan was to get off at PINNICK KINNICK HILL 17 Broadway in the 7000 block. There would be a saloon on the corner. Someone would be there who could direct him to David’s residence. The Edgar Zinc Company was located in the Carondelet section of South St. Louis between the Mississippi River and Broadway. Many Spanish workers had come here to work after being promised steady employment and good wages. Most of them had been employed by the Real Compania Asturiana in Arnao, Spain. In Spain, they had become tired of constantly being sent home or fired indiscriminately every time someone asked for better working conditions or more money or complained because the Tizadores treated them like slaves. Almost to a man, the Tizadores, the firemen in charge of each furnace, were tyrannical. A Tizador kept the men bending to his will, and if there was the least show of resistance, he would threaten to suspend or fire them. Not every Tizador was a tyrant at heart. But the majority of the firemen were, and always would be, “company men,” whether they worked in the smelter in Arnao or in Timbucktoo. Some were brazen enough to let workers know that if, for whatever reason, they didn’t want to go along with the costumbre, they might not be employed anymore. The Tizadores didn’t mention...