Mugged

By Gert Geisler, 1986

For many months the road between Tarentum and New Kensington was closed for construction. We had a choice of driving North to Freeport, taking a ferry at Tarentum, or going away out through the country into Springdale and then back to the bridge. All ways were inconvenient and took much time. Also, the ferry was expensive and slow.

The other choice was by train and walking across the bridge. That explains why I was walking on the bridge after dark on a cold November day. I was going home from work--Bill was going to pick me up at the station in Tarentum.

Two weeks after I was mugged a man was caught after beating up an old girlfriend and the police said it was mistaken identity when he hit me. He made no attempt to take my purse. I heard him walking close behind me for several steps and just as I turned--thinking it was someone just catching up with me--he struck.

Three men who were customers were riding by and saw it happen. They ran from their car and tried to stop me as I was running around in a circle confused. I wouldn't let them near me. However, a policeman came and they said I grabbed him and hugged him. I guess his uniform made me feel safe. The three men teased me later and said they would never come to my rescue again if I were so choosy.

I had to go to the police station and go through books of mug shots but I didn't really see his face.

The hospital bill for one night and through the noon the next day plus x-rays was $26. On the receipt my mother paid the $20 and one week later, I paid the six.

Bill had waited long at the station thinking I had missed that train. I finally got someone at the hospital to call Bill's house (we didn't have a phone). Fred went to get Bill and Mama and they came to the hospital by way of the ferry.

It was a scary experience--especially since it happened a couple of days after Halloween. It took me a long time before I was comfortable walking alone without constantly looking over my shoulder.

Ration Coupons

By Gert Geisler, Winter 1986

When I come to writing class some Monday mornings, there are many people in lines where they are giving out free food. I never go past it that I don't thank God that I don't have to do that. I've stood in many lines for many reasons, but fortunately I've never been in the position of needing free food. However, during World War II, in order to buy many things we had to line up with coupons for many items.

We lived in the Detroit area and the county had more than doubled its population because of the influx of war workers in the auto factories (most were now making equipment for the army, navy and airforce). However, most of the store rationing quotas for many items were based on the population of the earlier census; the coupon merchandise never seemed to be enough to go around.

The only way to be sure of getting your choice of items was to get to a particular store on the day the trucks arrived. We learned when the butcher's beef would be due, or a certain grocery store's schedule for receiving canned goods, or sugar or whatever you wanted to buy that week. Some of the ration points had to be used within a certain week, some coupons were dated by the month.

When Janis was about four and Ric was one (1944 and 1945), my friend Peg and I had a good system. Her two boys were the same ages. You could not take another person's coupons and shop for them, so we would all go in one car--very early in the morning--take the kids breakfasts and while one stood in line and saved our space the other would feed all four kids. Then when the store opened we would all six take our place in line and go into the store.

As you see by the coupons on these pages, there was a lot of rationing. Shoes, just a couple of pairs a year, except small children and by doctors orders you could get extra pairs if you had a foot problem or were pregnant. Janis wore "corset shoes" with metal stays in the sides because her ankles bent slightly inward. She could get extra, but at the price, we settled for one at a time until she grew out of them.

I wish I had kept samples of all the different coupons, but I suppose the reason I didn't was because I used them all. There was rationing on coffee, tobacco, liqueur, most canned goods, meat, some clothes, gasoline, sugar and tires.

We could trade off some things and we could always get extra coupons for sugar and canned goods by giving up our cigarette or liqueur coupons. We did a lot of fruit and vegetable canning and people who didn't would trade off their sugar for something else. The most inconvenient for us, of course, was gasoline. With the food stuff you could get along well through trading or eating stuff which might not have been your first choice. However, with our "A" ticket, which entitled us to three gallons of gasoline a week, we were able to go only to the grocery store, doctors and church. I would drive Bill once in a while to the railroad station if the weather was too bad. Otherwise, he walked from Myandotte Avenue to the station at 10 mile road.

The ration books were to be kept intact and the grocer or gas attendant was to take out the stamps, so if there was a suspicion of theft, you had to show identification before the sale. It slowed down any line.

Bread was not rationed but it was always scarce and lines formed always when the bakery trucks arrived. We did a lot of our own baking.

In our area meat was really hard to get and things like bacon, sausage and ham were just impossible. One year for Christmas, Bill's mother who didn't have the meat problem in Tarentum, Pennsylvania, thought a pound of bacon would be nice for us. She put it in with the Christmas package and I think the mail department must have had it stored near a radiator or something. What a mess! There was grease on every gift--some had to be discarded.

On January 1, 1946 the rationing stopped.