I Am A Monkey

"Butch" Weldy One morning, in a small hospital called Charlton Memorial Hospital in Fall River, Ma, James Weldy was born. He was a big baby with an unusual size head. He grew up in an apartment in downtown Fall River. The streets in which he grew up were dirty and hard. A lot of bad things happened around where he lived. His parents were alcoholics and they fought a lot. When he was about 7, he used to get into a lot of fights. He would be angry that his parents were fighting and he would take it out on someone else at school or someone walking home. James Weldy was known as the big bully of the area. This is where he got the name "Butch" from. "Butch" is supposed to mean "strong" and "tough". When he was about 16, Butch worked on a farm where he spent most of his time.

Butch

Butch waiting for Kevin

Butch playing in the sea

He took care of all of the animals. He made some good money but he spent it on bad things. He started to do drugs and drink excessively, just like his parents. He said that he felt good when he drank. Hello, my name is Eric Souza, I am a monkey, here me roar. Mwhahahahahahahahah One day after he came home from school and was about to go to work, someone told him to go home right away, something was wrong. When he went home, he saw his mother lying in bed lifeless. The doctor told him that her liver had shut down. From that point on, Butch promised himself that he would never drink again. His dad never stopped drinking, he actually drank more because he was depressed of his wife's death. Butch straightened out and met a nice girl on the farm. She rode one of the horses that he took care of. They started to see each other more and more and became good friends. They became really close and decided to be boyfriend and girlfriend. They hit it off right away. A year later they were married and awaiting twins. Butch knew that he needed a good job to support his wife and 2 children. He heard of a place that was hiring and they paid good money. It was called "canning works". Butch had to fill up a tank with gasoline every morning. The tank fed the blow-fires in the sheds to heat the soldering irons. What Butch didn't know was that someone had left a blow-fire going. As Butch poured the gasoline into the tank, it exploded and he was thrown 50 feet into the air. He had 2 broken legs and he was blinded for life. He went to court to sew the company for damages but the judge said that it was a co-worker and the owner wasn't responsible. The hardest thing about the whole accident is knowing that he would never see his children or wife again.

Butch on the bed

English: Plymouth Avenue, showing Granite Mills, F...

North Main Street, Fall River, MA, circa 1910