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Mill
manager paid
big price by
dismissing
‘untouchable’
By W. T.
Block
Reprinted
from Beaumont
Enterprise,
Saturday
February 12,
2000.
NEDERLAND—In
1902 Kirby
Lumber Co.
transferred
Joseph
Marriott from
Silsbee to
Bessmay, when
the latter
sawmill site
consisted only
of piles of
lumber,
stacked out in
the forest.
Joe was to
retain his
title of
carpenter
foreman at
Bessmay for
nearly 40
years—that is,
except for the
two weeks that
the mill
manager fired
him.
Within
18 months, Joe
and his
carpenter
crews had
built an
entire town,
all mill
buildings,
office,
commissary,
hotel,
boarding
house, post
office, and
200 tenant
houses. When a
small storage
warehouse was
emptied, Joe
asked Mr.
Preston, the
mill manager,
if he could
use it for a
carpenter
shop. Joe,
being
unmarried,
walled off a
small room in
the rear for
his living
quarters,
where he kept
only a bed, a
wood stove,
and some
cooking
utensils.
Joe
quickly
ingratiated
himself with
all the
children in
town, who
adored him.
Every night or
weekend, Joe
worked in the
shop, making
toy
locomotives,
baseball bats,
and every
conceivable
plaything a
little tot
might enjoy.
Since his
earthly needs
were so few,
he spent each
extra dime for
dolls and
other
childhood
trinkets,
which he
delivered door
to door to
every child in
town on
Christmas Eve.
Joe’s
other method
of
“socializing”
was to build a
set of end
tables or a
rocking chair
for each new
family in
town. And all
the pay he
ever expected
was a woman’s
surprise or a
child’s
radiant smile,
when he
knocked on the
front door.
About
1910 an
infectious
disease left
Joe deaf in
his right ear,
and greatly
impaired
hearing in his
left ear. As a
result, he
requested that
the assistant
mill manager
write out the
carpenter
instructions
daily for him.
He would then
relay them to
his work crews
- a new roof,
door or window
on a tenant
house, or
repair a table
in the filing
room.
Many
mill managers
came and left
while Joe was
there, and in
1928 the last
mill manager
was promoted
to
superintendent
of sawmills at
Kirby’s
Houston
office. As a
result, a Mr.
“Williams”
(fictitious)
was
transferred
from
Roganville to
Bessmay to
replace him.
Mr.
“Williams” was
known as a
no-nonsense
supervisor,
who would
rather “fire
than hire.”
Each morning
Dave Bird, the
assistant mill
manager, was
still writing
out the daily
carpenter
instructions
for Joe. And
whenever Mr.
“Williams”
found out
about the
written
instructions
to compensate
for Joe’s
deafness, he
was furious.
He
called Joe
into his
office and
fired him,
then told Joe
to pack his
bags and leave
the mill
property at
once. And Joe,
not having
understood a
single word,
nodded his
head, returned
to the
carpenter shop
and went back
to work. For
the next two
weeks, Joe
kept busy in
the carpenter
shop, luckily
without the
mill manager
knowing he was
still there.
When
the next
week’s time
vouchers were
mailed to
Houston, the
payroll office
noted there
was nothing
for the
carpenter
foreman. And
when the
carpenter
foreman was
omitted from
the following
week’s
vouchers,
“Williams” was
called to the
Houston office
to explain.
When
“Williams”
stated that he
had fired Joe
Marriott
because he was
deaf, the
superintendent
of sawmills
fired
“Williams,”
and promoted
Dave Bird to
take his
place. The
superintendent
observed that
everyone else
at Bessmay,
including the
mill manager,
was
expendable,
but that Joe
Marriott, the
“father of
Bessmay,” was
“untouchable,”
- that even if
he approved
it, the
residents of
Bessmay would
not tolerate
Joe’s
dismissal.
The
last the
writer ever
heard about
Joe, he was
still living
in the back of
the carpenter
shop in 1940,
even though he
was officially
retired. And
if there is a
carpenter shop
in heaven, Joe
is probably
still
chiseling out
toys for all
the tiny tots
up there.
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