Charles LeRoy Lewis - Special Collections - University of Baltimore

LEWIS; 099 I : 2 : 25
Harvey: That's what I wanted to ask you about: Did the
Junior Order of Mechanics or the or the Red
men's or any other ones have anything directly ta do with
the mills?
Lewis: Well, all the men worked in the mills and one thing
and the other it didn't hurt to belong to these organizations
if it would give you a little headway to talk to some of
them - the different bosses belonged to them all, And even
in those days, although they didn't mention it, the Ku Klux
Klan was out here; they was organized - they met out here.
Which it wasn't a bunch of radicals; they were average people.
Harvey: Did they have anything directly to do w ith the
mills?
Lewis: No, just working men; most of them were men that
worked there - different kind and in different rooms and
in different way. Most of the mills had their own blacksmith
shops and a11 that stuff; they made a lot. of their own mach-
inery and helped repair it.. They had a lot of activities,
like outings. The junior orders they sponsored a young
men's organization - they called them Junior Rifles. They
used to go to ~olchestex two weeks on an outing. They go
with rifles and all.. For many years; in fact until the
Grand Axmy got disbanded in World War I1 came, they
used to go up in St. Mary's Cemetery and decorate the graves
of the C ivil Wax veterans and the Spanish American veterans.
There were a few Spanish American vetexans buried at St.
~ary's. That was a big thing: everybody out here on Decor-
ation Day - you had good baskets of flowers do them up and