Mee Maw Talking About Her Father, Marion Robert Biddix

The following is from an interview on October 3, 2003 that began at 8:06pm.  My grandmother, Marion Ardella Biddix Hall (born 1927) was talking about her father, Marion Robert Biddix.

Papa (Marion Robert Biddix) wasn't old enough to be hired on the railroad as a hired hand when it was coming through Altapass so he carried water to the working men.  He worked his way up to Section Foreman and was over a crew.

Papa drove a rail car and smoked "the gentleman's tobacco" (my note:  I believe this was Prince Albert Tobacco in the can).  He had a telephone down the rail line that they would call him on every morning to tell him what time the train would be coming so he could be off the tracks.  Papa worked on the railroad from the time I was born and we lived in the railroad house the whole time I was home.  The railroad decided it was costing too much money to keep the houses up and pay the taxes so they tore them down - the section foreman's house (our house), lineman's house, boarding house and a brick house.

The brick house was for the night crew workers.  Joe Fouch lived there and my brother, Carter, worked with him.  The train would come in and the crew would spend the night in the boarding house.

Joe and Carter would keep the engine "hostled up" (fired up) since it was cool and to keep it ready.

The night Joe was shot in the depot, Mr. White was on duty.  Carl Letterman was the depot agent.  Neither Carl nor Joe were supposed to be there.  Joe had given me an orange earlier that night so I think it must have been around Christmas time.

Joe and Carl had been at odds because Carl said Joe had buried dead goats near the reservoir for the boarding house.  They were both in the depot and got into it and Joe cut Carl's throat.  Then Carl shot and killed Joe.

Carl said it was self-defense in the trial and he never served time.  Carl's wife rushed him to the Marion hospital where he had to have blood.  He lived.  That was the first murder I remember.

The night Joe was killed was also the night the diesel engine rolled into Altapass.  I remember going out to see the engine for the first time.

When they had the shooting, Joe's wife came running to see what was happening and nearly got hit by the train while running across the tracks.  It might have been the diesel train that she ran in front of.