Biography
A. L. Benson, known as Al Benson, was the assistant police chief of Evarts, Kentucky, and a member of United Mine Workers Local 5355. Authorities arrested him on May 9, 1931, with police chief Asa Cusick, union secretary William B. Jones and merchant Joe Cawood, after the Battle of Evarts. Benson was held in Harlan County Jail and prosecuted over the death of deputy James Daniels. He was convicted of murder and sentenced to life imprisonment. The Kentucky Court of Appeals upheld the conviction on May 23, 1933. He was released in 1941.
The June 11, 1938 Socialist Appeal names Jones, Al Benson, Reynolds and Poore as Evarts defendants still serving life terms. It reports new Kentucky Miners Defense affidavits submitted to Governor A. B. Chandler challenging trial photographs and sightlines. Survey and tree-cover evidence was offered against the allegation that Benson fired from the Smith-Kelly building; the defense said the photographs used the wrong position and did not represent May 1931 foliage. These are attributed defense findings, not a court exoneration, pardon or completed life term. Source: https://themilitant.com/1938/0224/SA0224.pdf#page=1
The February 1, 1941 Militant reports that Acting Governor Rodes K. Myers unconditionally pardoned Al Benson on January 22, 1941 on innocence grounds and that the release order was carried to LaGrange penitentiary; Benson had reached Louisville. It distinguishes the other three Evarts prisoners, W. B. Jones, Chester Poore and Jim Reynolds: their sentences were commuted to twenty-one years, making them eligible for parole, but parole-board approval and employment arrangements were still pending. Those commutations were not physical release. The source gives ages 44, 58, 36 and 50 respectively, without supplying birthdays. Source: https://www.marxists.org/history/etol/newspape/themilitant/1941/v5n05-feb-01-1941.pdf#page=4
The June 25, 1938 Socialist Call names two additional defense affidavits: Mose Buckhart, 79, said he had helped frame Benson because of a grudge; D. W. Jones, cousin of a dead mine guard, said he became convinced during the trial of Benson innocence. Survey and forestry evidence challenged the prosecution sightline and photographs. These are attributed defense submissions to Governor Chandler, not a release or court ruling in June 1938. Source: https://www.marxists.org/history/usa/pubs/socialist-call/call%204-25.pdf#page=4
Page 1’s May 21 Harlan dispatch individually names this person among earlier arrestees on murder indictments during the coal conflict. It identifies Evarts police chief Cusick, assistant chief Benson, town clerk Cawood, union president Hightower and secretary Jones. These are contemporary role and prosecution details; the item gives no new arrest day, verdict or individual release. Cawood’s description here as town clerk is preserved alongside the existing account of his property and sheriff candidacy.
Titler dates the conclusion of Al Benson's trial to January 8, 1933 and describes his imprisonment as lasting until 1941. The retrospective trial date is retained as an attributed statement; stronger contemporary evidence of his pardon and physical arrival after release remains controlling.
