SR. MATILDE ROMERO
Recorded by Romelia Gomez, Field Reporter

Sr. Romero has been in Bisbee since 1912, coming from his birthplace of Zacatecas, Mexico, where he left his parents. His first wife (now dead) was from the state of Jalisco.

Mr. Romero worked for eighteen years at the Shattuck Denn., working at the powerhouse, tending to the boilers, cleaning them and seeing that they had enough heat all the time, fixing anything that went wrong at the powerhouse, and doing any kind of job that was assigned to him. His wages were $3.30 a day; later being lowered to $2.50. One of his co-workers here was John Campbell, now postmaster of Bisbee, who was then an engineer at the powerhouse. He remembers that one of his bosses, Billy White, who liked the Mexican workers and was anxious for their welfare, urged them to go to school to learn the English language. He had evening classes set up for them twice a week at Central School and got a man-teacher for them. He told them, logically enough, that they should know at least a little English, so that if an accident happened to a Mexican worker, the foreman wouldn’t have a chance to say, “Well, I warned him about this accident, but evidently he didn’t understand what I said to him, as he doesn’t speak English.” Billy White even went after some of the Mexicans to their homes when some of them neglected to attend the classes. They all liked him very much.

The “Fiestas patrias”, or patriotic celebrations, of the “Cinco de Mayo” and “Dieziceis de Septiembre” were very gay affairs in Bisbee, there being much cooperation among the Mexican people in commemorating the independence of their native land. Every one of the workers contributed something towards these celebrations. There were always three or more candidates for “Reina de las fiestas patrias” (queen of the celebrations) and much good natured rivalry existing among the mine workers as each one worked for the nomination of his choice for queen among the fair contestants. Often $300 was spent for these fiestas, celebrated with speeches, songs, and dancing at the City Park.

Mr. Romero belonged to two large Mexican organizations, the Club Hidalgo, composed of all the laborers and having charge of the fiestas patrias, money-making activities like dances, suppers, etc. for the benefit of the sick and poor of the district. This club had as many as 500 members at one time. He also belonged to the Catholic Club, which put on many activities for the benefit of the church. There was another social organization, “La Cruz Azul” (The Blue Cross) which held its meeting at the K. P. Hall on O.K. Street.

Mr. Romero had been working at Copper Creek for four years until recently when the plant shut down, throwing many people out of work, several of whom have their families in Bisbee. He is now receiving unemployment benefit checks and that supports his family, consisting of himself, his wife, and two small sons, but he intends to look for work out of town soon, as he is convinced that he will not find employment in Bisbee at present. He likes Bisbee and says it is a very nice place compared to other larger cities in Arizona, for it has a good climate, much orderliness, and its inhabitants are nice, but its one drawback is that there isn’t much work for the people.

Mr. Romero is 52 years of age and lives on Opera Drive.