University of California Berkeley Regional Oral History Office University of California The Bancroft Library Berkeley, California Western Mining in the Twentieth Century Oral History Series Marian Lane MINE DOCTOR'S WIFE IN MEXICO DURING THE 1920S Interviews Conducted by Eleanor Swent in 1995 Copyright 1996 by The Regents of the University of California Since 1954 the Regional Oral History Office has been interviewing leading participants in or well-placed witnesses to major events in the development of Northern California, the West, and the Nation. Oral history is a modern research technique involving an interviewee and an informed interviewer in spontaneous conversation. The taped record is transcribed, lightly edited for continuity and clarity, and reviewed by the interviewee. The resulting manuscript is typed in final form, indexed, bound with photographs and illustrative materials, and placed in The Bancroft Library at the University of California, Berkeley, and other research collections for scholarly use. Because it is primary material, oral history is not intended to present the final, verified, or complete narrative of events. It is a spoken account, offered by the interviewee in response to questioning, and as such it is reflective, partisan, deeply involved, and irreplaceable. ************************************ All uses of this manuscript are covered by a legal agreement between The Regents of the University of California and Marian Lane dated March 19, 1995. The manuscript is thereby made available for research purposes. All literary rights in the manuscript, including the right to publish, are reserved to The Bancroft Library of the University of California, Berkeley. No part of the manuscript may be quoted for publication without the written permission of the Director of The Bancroft Library of the University of California, Berkeley. Requests for permission to quote for publication should be addressed to the Regional Oral History Office, 486 Library, University of California, Berkeley 94720, and should include identification of the specific passages to be quoted, anticipated use of the passages, and identification of the user. The legal agreement with Marian Lane requires that she be notified of the request and allowed thirty days in which to respond. It is recommended that this oral history be cited as follows: Marian Lane, Wine Doctor's Wife In Mexico During the 1920s, an oral history conducted in 1995 by Eleanor Swent, Regional Oral History Office, The Bancroft Library, University of California, Berkeley, 1996. Copy no. Cataloguing information LANE, MARIAN (b. 1905) Mine doctor's wife Wine Doctor's Wife in Mexico during the 1920s, 1996, xv, 120 pp. Childhood in Indiana as Winnie Ruth McKinnell, marriage to Dr. William Judd, social life in Mexican mining camps, raids by Mexican revolutionary bandits, husband's narcotics addiction; treatment for T.B. in Pasadena, work as medical secretary in Phoenix, Winnie Ruth Judd's trial for 1931 murder, commitment to Arizona state hospital and escape after 29 years, a new life as Marian Lane in Piedmont, CA, discovery and pardon (1971). Interviewed in 1995 by Eleanor Swent for Western Mining in the Twentieth Century Oral History Series. Regional Oral History Office, The Bancroft Library, University of California, Berkeley. TABLE OF CONTENTS--Marian Lane PREFACE i INTERVIEW HISTORY- -by Eleanor Swent xii BIOGRAPHICAL INFORMATION xv I EARLY YEARS, 1905 TO 1924 1 A Methodist Minister's Daughter in Indiana 1 Marriage to Doctor William Judd 2 II A DOCTOR'S WIFE AT ASARCO MINES IN SAN LUIS POTOSf AND CHIHUAHUA, MEXICO 5 Matehuala, San Luis Potosi; A Life of Relative Luxury 5 The Harder Life of the Mexican Women 6 A Barbecue for Don Felipe 8 Don Anselmo's Birthday and Social Drinking 9 Cajeta de Membrillo and Other Delicacies 10 A Mine Doctor's Medical Practice 13 Narcotics Use by the Doctor 13 III SAN LUIS MINING COMPANY, TAYOLTITA, DURANGO, MEXICO 19 Riding Ninety Miles on Muleback 19 Good Food 21 A Nice Home Above the Hospital 23 Eighteen Months in a Sanitarium for Tuberculosis 25 Mexican Beans 27 Frightening Times During the Revolution 29 Jay Swent Strikes a Bargain with the Rebels 30 Good Things Done by President Calles 31 Leisurely Days in Tayoltita 33 Evacuating the Doctor on a Stretcher 35 IV WORKING IN ARIZONA TO SUPPORT DR. JUDD 42 Stenographer in the County Doctor's Office 42 Trying to Get a Job as a Practical Nurse 43 Marian's Letters to her Mother from Mexico 45 "Scared to Death of the Press" 46 V FURTHER RECOLLECTIONS OF MEXICO 48 Imported Food 48 Earning a Medical License 48 Mining Engineers Who Went from Nome, Alaska, to Mexico 51 Concerning Drinking and Gambling 52 VI WORKING IN PHOENIX 58 Caring for Mrs. Ford 58 Caring for Dr. Judd 59 Taking Dictation from Doctors at the Grunow Clinic 60 Cheracol Cough Syrup, a Narcotic 62 The Tragedy, October 16, 1931 62 VII THE YEARS IN ARIZONA STATE HOSPITAL, 1933 TO 1962 67 Some Doctors Were Very Good 67 Making Prize-Winning Doll Clothes and Crochet Work 68 Singing Songs 72 Seven Escapes from the Hospital 75 VIII LIFE AS AN ESCAPEE IN CALIFORNIA, 1962-1971 78 Caring for a Blind Woman 78 Companion and Housekeeper for Mrs. Henry Nichols 80 Marian Lane 81 A Visit to the Herman Nichols Home in Hawaii 82 The Dogs, Nicky and Cutie 83 Living Across the Street from Mr. Swent 84 Recalling a Party with the Morels in Mexico 87 Life with the Blemmers at Green Valley Farm 91 Capture and a Two-Year Fight for Freedom 94 IX FURTHER RECOLLECTIONS OF MEXICO 99 The Maids at Matehuala 99 The Church at Catorce 106 The Fear of Pancho Villa, a Wicked Man 107 "One of the Few Times I was Ever Afraid"; Difficulty at the Border 109 A Gold Mine near Madera, Chihuahua, Two Days on Horseback 110 A Cat from the Chinaman 112 Recalling the Night of the Tragedy 114 TAPE GUIDE 119 INDEX 120 PREFACE The oral history series on Western Mining in the Twentieth Century documents the lives of leaders in mining, metallurgy, geology, education in the earth and materials sciences, mining law, and the pertinent government bodies. The field includes metal, non-metal, and industrial minerals. In its tenth year the series numbers thirty-five volumes completed and others in process. Mining has changed greatly in this century: in the technology and technical education; in the organization of corporations; in the perception of the national strategic importance of minerals ; in the labor movement; and in consideration of health and environmental effects of mining. The idea of an oral history series to document these developments in twentieth century mining had been on the drawing board of the Regional Oral History Office for more than twenty years. The project finally got underway on January 25, 1986, when Mrs. Willa Baum, Mr. and Mrs. Philip Bradley, Professor and Mrs. Douglas Fuerstenau, Mr. and Mrs. Clifford Heimbucher, Mrs. Donald McLaughlin, and Mr. and Mrs. Langan Swent met at the Swent home to plan the project, and Professor Fuerstenau agreed to serve as Principal Investigator. An advisory committee was selected which included representatives from the materials science and mineral engineering faculty and a professor of history of science at the University of California at Berkeley; a professor emeritus of history from the California Institute of Technology; and executives of mining companies. Langan Swent delighted in referring to himself as "technical advisor" to the series. He abetted the project from the beginning, directly with his wise counsel and store of information, and indirectly by his patience as the oral histories took more and more of his wife's time and attention. He completed the review of his own oral history transcript when he was in the hospital just before his death in 1992. As some of the original advisors have died, others have been added to help in selecting interviewees, suggesting research topics, and securing funds. The project was presented to the San Francisco section of the American Institute of Mining, Metallurgical, and Petroleum Engineers (AIME) on "Old-timers Night," March 10, 1986, when Philip Read Bradley, Jr., was the speaker. This section and the Southern California section of AIME provided initial funding and organizational sponsorship. The Northern and Southern California sections of the Woman's Auxiliary to the AIME (WAAIME) , the California Mining Association, and the Mining and Metallurgical Society of America (MMSA) were early supporters. Other individual and corporate donors are listed in the ii volumes. Sponsors to date include seventeen corporations, four foundations, and ninety-six individuals. The project is ongoing, and funds continue to be sought. The first five interviewees were all born in 1904 or earlier. Horace Albright, mining lawyer and president of United States Potash Company, was ninety-six years old when interviewed. Although brief, this interview adds another dimension to a man known primarily as a conservationist . James Boyd was director of the industry division of the military government of Germany after World War II, director of the U.S. Bureau of Mines, dean of the Colorado School of Mines, vice president of Kennecott Copper Corporation, president of Copper Range, and executive director of the National Commission on Materials Policy. He had reviewed the transcript of his lengthy oral history just before his death in November, 1987. In 1990, he was inducted into the National Mining Hall of Fame, Leadville, Colorado. Philip Bradley, Jr., mining engineer, was a member of the California Mining Board for thirty-two years, most of them as chairman. He also founded the parent organization of the California Mining Association, as well as the Western Governors Mining Advisory Council. His uncle, Frederick Worthen Bradley, who figures in the oral history, was in the first group inducted into the National Mining Hall of Fame in 1988.