00:00 [KISERv1: Lewis Kiser was a tough bare-knuckle fighter (00:00-05:40)]

Don Kiser: Well, you remember Mom said every Sunday (I’d guess Dad [Cecil] was like 12 or 13 years old), and here come him and Grandpa [Lewis]. Grandpa has him on his shoulders. Because he was the only boy grandchild, all the aunts and uncles loved him, too. She said he was going up to Bare Knuckles—he was going up to fight. It was up the road in Bentree there—I don’t know exactly where it was at. He had Dad on his shoulders because they babied him to death. [Kate said she did not know where it was.]

_____________________________

Nancy Miller: What was that story you were telling about that fight where either Grandpa or Daddy took on those guys downtown?

Don: Oh, them. There were two colored guys...back when they had the streetcars track. Now Grandpa had to be in his 40’s then. Grandpa and Dad stopped at Thornton Street and South Main Street. Can you remember what that looked like out there Kate? [She replied, “Sort of.”]

Well, it is nothing like that today; it has all changed. Dad stopped there and two black guys ran into the back of them. So, Dad gets out, and they start mouthing off. Grandpa got out and he said to Dad, “Cecil, are you having a problem here with these guys?” And Dad said, “Why are they are mouthing off at me Dad.” Grandpa said, “If you’ll just step over behind me, Cecil, I’ll whip their fanny for them.” Both of them were bigger than Grandpa. Dad says to the two guys, ”If I were you, I would just get in my car and go. As soon as I step out from in front of my dad here, he is going to hurt you.” They did not believe him…by the time the police got there, neither one of them could get up off the ground. The policemen laughed, and said, “What happened to these two guys?” Dad [Cecil] said, ”Well, I told them to get back in the car and leave before my dad turned on them…they didn’t do it.” And both of them were like 220-250 pounds.

_____________________________

Mike: So, he was the on the way to the “bare knuckles” fight?

Don: Yeah, and Grandpa had to be in his 40’s because this was after Mom and Dad moved up there. Dad had to be in his 20’s or 30’s, I don’t know.

Mike: So how big of a man was he?

Don: He was probably 5’ 10-1/2” and weighed 190 lbs. But his arms were like Goliath’s. He was slinging that 16# sledgehammer when he died. He had great big hands, but his arms were like gigantic. I can remember that.

Nancy: Well, Daddy was tough, too.

Mike: Now what was his name?

Don: Lew. Lewis, but they called him Lew Kiser. Mom would say I can hear the people who were coming to the post office, and they would say, “Well, Lew Kiser has beat the tar out of the guys up there again today.” And she said it was just a 50-mile radius, but it was 150 miles away that they knew of Lew Kiser, the bare knuckler.

But Dad was tough, too. I have seen Dad whip that guy next door up there. Now, that was after Dad was in business. There was a beer joint next door. I was up there that day, me and Joe Green. Dad went over there. And it was a wop [Italian slur]—the guy probably weighted 250 lbs. I don’t know if Dad was in a bad mood that day, you know. The guy said something smart. Joe and them was drinking…they always drank, you know. But Dad did not order any booze, because he did not drink. The guy said something smart, and it hit Dad wrong. Dad told him to get out on the sidewalk. He was the owner. Dad put him down in one shot. Knocked him colder than a cucumber in one shot, boy. How I found out Dad could fight was when I was fighting Rory. Every time Dad hit him it cracked. He could hit, boy.

_____________________________

Nancy: He could pinch, too!

Mike: I always remember he had that stub finger or thumb, and he would pinch your leg.

Don: Yes, Dad was a good fighter. He could handle his dukes. He was like greased lightning. Because I watched him when he went out there on that sidewalk; that big ole wop thought he was going to have it easy…but, oh, boy, Dad put him out in one shot.

Mike: You did not inherit that did you?

Don: I did a little bit of fighting there at one time. But regardless how tough you are, there is always somebody tougher than you. You don’t have to be bigger, but they may be tougher.

01:10 [KISERv2: Recollections about Lewis Kiser; bad eater; kind to grandchildren (01:10-05:03)]

Mike: Do you remember any other stories about Lewis? What was his middle name?

Kate: I don’t know. I was thinking about that the other day. I have no idea.

Kate and Nancy: They were not sure if he had a middle name.

Nancy: Maybe Betty would know because her name is Lou, but spelled LOU.

Kate: Remember the time we stole the bicycle?

Don: You guys got in trouble; it wasn’t me!

Nancy: It was me and you. It wasn’t Don.

Kate: They had moved, and we thought that they had left it. So, me and Nancy went over and got it. And it was a boy’s bike, so we pounded the bars down. Pa got us out of that one. He paid for it because they came back for it. Pa gave them $25 for it.

Don: That was a lot of money back in them days.

Kate: That was a lot of money. But he got us out of it.

Mike: What else do you know for stories Don?

Don: I remember going to there to eat supper, and Grandpa he come home. No wonder he had that stomach trouble. He ate that bacon and Grandma would have that great big skillet had that much grease in it, you know. And Grandpa would get that kettle of beans and take that grease and pour every bit over it. Well, you would have to have stomach trouble, you know what I am saying. And then, he would pour his coffee out to cool off in his saucer, you know. I was just a kid, and I had seen him do it. And so, I did it, and Grandma gave me the devil. He looked at her and said, “Now shut up. He’s doing alright. Just let him alone. Shut up, I don’t want to hear no more.” And she never said any more.

Mike: Where did they live?

Don: That little house out there on Hayne Road where the old house was. They was living there, and I could walk over. I’d go over there when Grandpa would get home from work.

Kate: We couldn’t do anything wrong by him.

Don: No, but Grandpa he saved me from a whippin’. Harry Howell and Harmon Hollister, you remember them two characters, don’t you? Well, they were over next door there working on a car just cussing and carrying on working on the car. I don’t know how old I was. You remember that great big old rock Dad dug out when he was drilling that well. The well for the water. There was this big stone shaped exactly just like an egg. This great big old thing. I was setting there just a cussing. I heard those fellows cussing you know. And Mom come out there and she said, “What are you saying, boy!” So, she whipped me. She said you will get another one when you Dad home. I remember that I ran over to Grandpa’s house about the time he got home, you know. Grandpa got home before Dad did. Here comes Dad after me. And Grandpa says, “well just on back home Cecil, he is going to stay here with me.” He knew, you know. But I was just a cussing just saying everything those two guys were saying, every other word was a cuss word.

Mom whooped me and she said you are going to get another one when your dad gets home.

08:05 [KISERv2: Lewis was the “boss” (08:05-08:42)]

Kate: Yeah! I don’t remember what was the matter with Eleen. You don’t remember, you weren’t there, but Granny slapped me over Eleen. Yep, slapped me right across the face.

Don: Granny could be right sassy.

Kate: Oh, yeah, she was sassy! And Pa jumped up and he said, “Lola, don’t you ever do that again!”

Don: Boy, she listened to Grandpa. He was…

Kate: He was boss, and that is what she needed.

00:00 [CAWv2: Grandma Lola Kiser was not a nice person (00:00-01:42)]

Kate: We was sitting on the porch. Can you remember we kinda had a cement porch out front? Well, me and Nancy was sitting out there with Granny Kiser. Granny was hateful, and I said something (I don’t know what it was, I don’t remember). And Granny said “Well, you little devil you.” And I said, “Well, if I am a little one, you are a big one.” I don’t remember what else was said; I cannot remember. Nancy kinda remembers that. Granny was a sight.