Document text
August 22, 19.
Rev., Blies akipitares,
Ministeto
Masters Willeale Orthedex
Cemnunity Ohara,
"The Revelation of
t. Aohn Divine*
corner Lamm and Union
Streets,
Zaoksenville,Plerida.
Hose Shepherd, Writer,
UV. RLIA8 SKIPITARRS, (ORXME)
MUTER.
Greek Church, 'The Revelation of
St. John Divine"
Rev dkipitaree had made an appeintmont to be at the
officio at 9 a. m4, and promptly on the dot he was at the
head of the stairs.
hov. dkipitares is a largo Wn, with hurl gam*
black hair, deepaset gray eyes, with a handsome fellaigrowth
board. His skin la fineftgrained and smooth. with a slight
olive tinge. Dressed in his alp's* snit, with long flowing
coat, his bishop's collar, plain shirt, and no jewelry, he
could not be mistaken for any ether than a ainister of his
denomination.
Ho is a man of pleasing personality, with friendly
gestures and a ready smile; seemingly afraid of being thought
unobliging, he was more than willing to oo.operato in giving
any information.
"I sniffer greatly from the heat," he said. After being
seated comfortably in the hall by an open doer with the cool
26092
Rev. alias Skipitares 3.
the United States. I have a cousin, in fact, several raae.
tivee in Alexandria, ihgypt, but we talk things ever, ant
my parents decide things better for no in America. ftlY
did not object to my leaving hone it was just a question
as to whore I have the Loot future.
nephew came with me from Tripolis. I was tweet, and he
was a few years younger.
owe landed in New York City, staying evernight at the
Immigration Office at Allis Island. Late in the encloses of
the next day we take the night beat into New York. use SOD
put on a train for the west, in care oi the conductor, bound
for 1,an /francium.
The next day we arrive in Cincinnati. Ohio. and the
second day in It. Louie, Missouri. WO have to wait here
two hours for the train to the West. We were very holm.
as we did not like the American stuff they. served us on „the
train. They gave us 140W4peb, but we would net touch it.
and they charged a dollar for it, tee.
e took a walk outside the big Union Utation in lat.Loule
and I spied a Greek newspaper bey. I (Jailed him, so glad to
see one of my own countrymen, and he directed us to a *reek
restaurant nearby.
"We hardly started good, when the conductor who vas ewe.
posed to look after us, spied us, sailing to a polleseen that
we were running away* and bask we went into the dingy stetien
without a bite to eat.
Rev. 'ilia. akipitares 4.
0:hen the time was up, we were put aboard the train
again. The next stop was Denver, Colorado. We bad to wait
here three hours.
"we were famished by this time, so we watched our
chances, eluded the watchful conductor, and found a Greek
restaurant whore we ate everything on the bill of fart.
This was our first full meal since leaving allis Island, three
days before.
We went on to Cheyenne, Wyoming, where we ware held up
twenty.four hours on account of a wreck.' A polieeman watched
us here, so we had no chance to leave the station. when night
came, another took his place. It was getting pretty cold, as
we doubled our blankets and rolled up to sleep in the benches.
*The next morning, while the pelieemen were changing
watch, we were looking out the window and saw some schoolboys.
W• must have looked funny to them, there was an Italian boy
had joined up with us, and the first thing I knew one of them
had thrown a rock througt the window and hits* on the torsi,.
head. It eutta pretty deep place and started to bleed. I
had a pocketknife with a long blade t had brought with me
from the homeland. I took it from my pocket, opened it and
started out of the doer after the boy who had thrown the
rock. I chased him for a block or as, when I ran plank into
a policeman* Ho interfered, let the boy got away, and made
me put the knife back in my pocket and hie myself back to
the station.
"Later on when our watchman was temporarily off duty,
we left the station again and located a bar, where we ordered
hev. /Alias akipitares 5.
some beer. we'placed our money on the mounter, but they would
not let us have the beer, beeause we were young fellows. (Miners).
"I do not know it an officer was called, but about this
time a policeman grabbed us, and took us back to the station.
'We watched our chances and ran out again, going into
a big building like some sort of a club, where we wrote let*
tors to the folks back home and to our cousin in an :raw.
casco. Then we came out, we bumped right into a policeman mew
never have seen so many officers, they seemed to be every.
whore. V e ran back, darting in and out, when he came in
the fount door, we went out the back, finally lasing him,
*well, the tnWinkwas cleared of the wreck, and late in
the day we were off again, this time relating Galt Lake City.
"We thought we like the place, so we decide to stay
there. The mosquitoes were so much we could harly walk around.
4, had nets over our faces, but still they bite and bite.
"I look for work, and finally found a man who seemed kind
and he sent me to school for six months. Thou ILet work in
c3ncrete factory at $2.50 a day, working eight hours. I
stood it for two months, but the work was very hard, so I give
it up and start a milk station.
"There was a Greek settlement here, and I do very well,
u3 my people drink a great deal of milk. For the morning
meal they are each supposed to drink a quart. Milk was cheap
Rev* Alias Skipitares
out there* I bought it for nine cents a gallon and so/1 it
at five cents a quart. 'or eggs I pay ten mints a dozen,
chlekens 25 cents each, and lamb, seven cents a pound
There was a saloon close at band, and there we could get beer
at teenty.five cents a bucket* in those days, we all worked
hard, and ate heavy, and the beer was a great help.'
In answer to a direot question, he saids fres, we have
beer in Orooce, very fins beer, made with barley, but it is
quite expensive* Only the rich can affo d it, and people
come to the beer gardens and drink in the evening nothing
else like you here eat iceerean.
"Parents in the old country do net mind their young men
drinking beer, it is all moderate, and they are nest con.
to
corned, the father especially, as, the future of their children,
and they see always that they study and d') net be mush idle*
Se resumed his sterys "I sell =yank stand and we move
on to Missoula, Montana. Here I first contact the union.
It was in this town that the first union for dishwashers,
waiters, and other restaurant help, was put in operation.
A man was hung in a tree for disobeying rules.
"Here I work for this railroad the Chicago, Milwaukee,
and Lit. .Paul. It was a hard winter, much snow and sleet,
and the trains were stalled everywhere. This was in 1908.
I remember one time the snow plow started out and cleared a.
way the snow thirteen feet deep.
"On May 15, 1908, there was a three.toot snow in Montana,
and after this, the tracks were cleaned and the first train
passenger train went through to Chicago..
Rev. lilies akipltares 7.
We mots on that summer to Idaho, a small place
called Watrous whore the time is changed. There is a long
tunnel on the west of this tunnel where the train comes
through, is Western time, and at the oast end of the tunnel
is I.:antral 4tandard Time.
"We kept on going west and finally landed in 3pokane,
4ashington. Whls is the first time I see women wearing
overalls. They were picking strawberries. This was in
1908.
"In Spokane I sot the idea to enlist in the United
,itates Army. I went three different tines to the roo
ciuittr office, and each time I go there is nobody
there only a sign say to clme back at some later hour,
montioneu on the card on the door. I get discouraged
after the third time, and say to myself 6* Three times
ie enough. I do not go any mere."'
"I -took a job of construction work at Mansfield, Wish.
inLten. It is in the desert country, and everybody who
has the contract gets discouraged and 0,ves it up. llotody
completes the work, and the job is hanging fire.
"won, I Look the contract, brought some of my people up
there in wagons, and we start the work, but it is impossible
to complete it. It t)ok 2resident RooseVelt to finish this
job the famous 0ot000 Dm+
"Ws work at most anythim, because when you are a stress\
gor in a strange land you have to leek out for the dollar.
weo kept on until we got to Opokane, Washington, and iota
Rev. Silas okipitares 8.
at
job with a new power company,/liiantington,;,:tWash..* in the
snake River. They well, building a big dam to furnish
vo,
power to the states of Idaho, Washing on, and Oregon
a big electric plant to supply power from the Snake River.
This was desert country, too. Hardly anybody stayed. But
I hold my job and stayed riht there until the last concrete
was poured. It looked like a beautiful piece of work, but
in 1910 came a big flood and washing everything away.
"There wore two companies that handled this job; the
first, Rogers and Co.,. which went bust,,and the ether,
illiam Mhite Company, of New fork City. They put up
ten million dollars, finishing the job. But I left before
the flood.
"I went back to spokane, Washington and took a job
with lartleet uonstruction Company, then took up a hams
stead of three hundred and twenty mores at °ravine on the border between Washington, in the United States, and
Canada on the north. Aiter a year or so, I got some grainger
land 320 acres purchasing some horses and cattle.
I was there was 191* to 1914. I decided to atay right on
;,13 it took some time to prove up on a claim.
"In 1917 the war broke and I enlisted in the United
States service. About seventy»five boys enlisted in
ooptember 1917 at Oravillt, being sent from there to Camp
Lewis, &Wait fifteen miles outside of Tacoma, Washington.
It was a beautiful clamp.
"Fifteen days later, President Wilson sent near
Hey. bkipitares 9
eximption papers, on account of being a farmer. But I refused
to go back. I was assigned to the Ordnance Department,
had charge of a squad of fifteen men, mad each day we inepteted
five thousand rifles ft. grease and everything.
"When the Armistice was signed in 1918, I was transferred
to Aries, Ohio, to a training ground where they shot big guile
into the lake Lake Arie.
"Then I went beck to the farms
"Not so long afterwards, Until* Sam sent me to a voca-
tional training school, a part of the washington state
versity, at eeattle, Wkshington, where I studied to bilioa
doctor. Here I received my final naturalisation papers
from the government at walhington, D. C.
"kvhon I was still at the University of Washington.
I was receiving private instruction in Phrenology from
Mrs. B. 4• Puller, wife of Prof. Fuller, a famous phrenole•
gist, of Sew York City. After Prof. Fuller died, Mrs. Roy
6. Maier, his widow, married a °rook, named Chimes, and wont
t California, where she was known as Mrs. Fuller-Cheumms.
"biro. Fuller had a young lady pupil, also studying
phrenology, and she afterwards became my wife.
"I would not take anything for my knowledge of this
great subject, old as the hills, but meet, most useful.
I use it all the time, and it helps me to decide many prob.".
lamb that come up in my work as a minister.
"The young lady and I went to Salt Lake City first, where
we opened an office, she talking to and teaching the women,
the men.
Jlias 4kipitares
10.
"We went to aalt Lake City, opening offices there,
ad later in uan Francisco, where e were married. We
also opened an office in Los Angeles. The Bishop .of the
OrLhodox Greek Ohureh eine to sign Francisco on his first
visit, and I went up fram :Los Angeles to meet him. I
showed him my papers and my pest records, talked with him
as to what I had in mind, and he ordained me as a priest.
The service took place at Ghila, Nevada. For ..eix menthe
I traveled over the west
'"One of these trips was through the desert in Nevada,
so hot that the stones were like furnaces, and we hod to
travel at night. One day we started out from Arena, Nevada,
and traveled ninsty.nine miles, when we ran out of goo two
miles from the nearest, town, Goldfield, Nevada. The ell
station was behind a knell, so I left the Bishop in thirster
and walked the two hot miles, having a hard time to locakte
the little village, almost hidden behind a hill."
Asked about the exchange in use then to the wept,
tow. bkipitares saidi "There was no silver vnd no cur-
rency, juot five, ten, and twenty -dollar gold pieces.
Continuing his etorys "I took my pest as a priest
of the Greek Church in Los Angeles, and was there for two
years, when I was transferred to Fhoenix4 Arizona. I was
the firLA priest to hold services there, and a put up a nice
little church. There were a good many Greeks in the comm.
inanity, being out there to get relief from tuberculosis.
I stayed there during 1931 and 1932, having only seven
converts in all the territory of Artistes, which included
large towns like Nogales and Tleggatatt. also Diebes.
Rev. Xlias dkipitares 114
I covered the whole state in ny kledelmT Nord. One time
when we were in the mountains, the old thing balked, and
my wife had to get out and push the cars It was so het
on these travels that I carried two saoks of water, one on each
running board .0. the water mould boil in the tank, and I
had always to be prepared. During a long trip, both sacks
of water would be consumed.
"Then I went to Bakersfield, California, and built
another church. There are many sheep Madero and farmers
in that section, whore produce is mostly' wholesaled. Yin*
honey -dew melons arc raiued in tOat part of California,
and quantities of grapes. The climate there is like that
of Greco*. .6verybody worked0 and worked hard.
"The only lazy people I find are in the south.
averybody has servants. I do net mean particularly, Florida,
but aorth and 4outh. Carolina, Georgia. Alabama, and Missies.
ippi. The people buy everything. $hon fruit is plentiful
in the flarket, they d not can and preserve it for later use,
but bay, buy, all the time. /Ay exiaanation of this is that
the anglish people were first to settle in the ..4puth and they
had plenty of money, so there was no reason for them to soon.
maize. Then the colored people were brought into the pie..
Uwe, then slaves, and they had than to care for and to feed,
so why not let them do all the work i In the 'Yost, in the
north, and the aast, the housewives can peaches, pears,
grapes, tomatoes, and other fruits and vegetables, and there
is always plenty and a groat variety for the children to
eat."
Rev. Elias okipitares 114
7oturning to his work as a minister, Hr. ,akipitares
continueds
"Brom California I went to Massachusetts, fifteen miles
from the city of itoroester, where the Bishop though there
s
was a good field for ray work. The people in that titles%
were factory workers, but the factories were closed, and
everybody was hard pressed for money. The WA ha U taken
over one mill which Ivan placed in eperatiol. on a part time
basis. Lech 6aturday I vould go to the lelfare Department
and they would five me bacon, Sggs, riei, obsess, vegetables,
and sometimes most, which an sunday I would have my secretary
distribute shire and share alike to my congregation. The
church was $35,000 in debt, having a membership of only
twenty*five fumilies, yet I started out and in thirteen
months, I had all debts paid. I traveled over the entire
New Sngland states Rhode Island, Maine, Massachusetts,
Connecticut, Vermont and New flampshire. The entire amount
was donated, starting with five dollars, and en up, as
could be afforded.
"Next I was sent to Banger, Mains, but the altitude
was too high for ne there, and I was transferred to Raleigh.,
iiorth Carolina, whore I held services in a little hall. The
people there are poor, with no money to build a church. There
I stayed two years, coming to Jacksonville in 1938.
"The Greeks of New ngland are probably the most prosper*
owl of any in the United states, when the factories are in full
operation, as there is plenty of work, and they are paid well.
4
when the factories are closed, I de net' knew how they asisego.
Asir. Alias 4kipitares 13.
"I do net like Florida the climates I mean it
is too hot hers. I have been in the deserts of the west,
where it was so het I could not travel in the duytimes but
would drive ull nights yet I never suffered with the heat
as much GS I do here. I have moved to the beach read near'
the ocean, but it is hots now I have a house in tams which
is supposed to be cools yet it is hot. I find smor people
complain a great deal of headaehes here, caused by the
hot sun.
Referring to a former interview where dreams were
discussed, 1121. ,,kipitares *aids "Yes, i believe in drams.
That the interpretation le partly a gift. You remember
m Joseph was in prison, but God gave him the in. egt4e
terprat the dream.
As to tenting, that is as old as the world. Jesus
woe a human being, yet he fasted, and kept his health.
"dhen I vas a student of Hrs. Roy Fuller.Chmmass taking
phrenology* I Was also studying the effect ef eiectriultY
as a means of curing diseases and the use of the natural
electric currants of life from the sun. Yor instances
infantile paraljsis when properly treated is not fatal,
nor does it leave one crippled* if intelligently handled.
"One man in 4ipokane, Washington* came under my cares
for treatment of sleeping sickness. I had him up and around, but
his wife called the doctors who gave him shots of arsenics
which killed him.
"This work I do not got here, but from the Universities
in Greece,
ilee be colAinued)