Oral History Interview with Martin Tschirhart, August 27, 2014 Page: 2

                                
MARTIN TSCHIRHART: August L. He had an uncle named August but he insisted on being called
August L. Leo was his middle name. And grand-dad's name was Leo. His daddy. And he just,
we never went hungry. My sisters and I, before they both passed away. We always talked
about, he never let us go without. We had three full meals a day. Regardless of what he did.
FLOYD COX: And this was during the Depression era, wasn't it.
MARTIN TSCHIRHART: Depression days, yeah. The '30s, yeah.
FLOYD COX: So you got out of school, you quit school -
MARTIN TSCHIRHART: I went to work for my uncle. To harvest the corn. He done hired me
before I quit school. And then in '37, January the 1st, '37, I went to work for my other uncle and
aunt on the ranch.
FLOYD COX: How much did you get paid?
MARTIN TSCHIRHART: $9.00 a month, room and board. Believe that or not. People don't want
to believe that but that's what I got paid.
FLOYD COX: I believe it.
MARTIN TSCHIRHART: And room and board. I did what I wanted to and in '39 we dried out.
And I left the farm. I said the heck with that noise.
FLOYD COX: Dried out. By that you mean you had -
MARTIN TSCHIRART: No rain.
FLOYD COX: Right.
MARTIN TSCHIRHART: The corn got up about 33-34 inches, 35 inches. That's it. At 4:00 in the
morning, we'd get up and cut it off of the ground. Pile it up. The next morning at 4:00, we'd
take it, drag it, take strings and go tie it off at that. Well we hauled that out of the field. Then I

left.
FLOYD COX: And where did you go and what did you do?
MARTIN TSCHIRHART: Well I worked for a guy. I cleaned out farms and stuff. I worked manual
labor the whole time. And I took care, at the end of the year, a lot of trapping line. And I
trapped at this guy's place. I took care of his cattle. And then in 1940, I went to work with his
brother with the feedstock store in Hondo. In Hondo, Texas. And I stayed there till '41. Then I
moved to town. Then I worked for a beer dealer. A hot shot all over town.

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