Biography
Allan S. Broms, also known as Allan Strong-Broms, was a St. Paul Socialist and World War I draft resister. His civilian draft and antiwar-speech arrests preceded military confinement. Douglas records release from the 1917 workhouse episode by October 19, transfer into Fort Snelling military custody on January 28, 1918, and a twenty-year court-martial sentence followed by Leavenworth imprisonment. Sources conflict on his precise 1919 military discharge; the prior March 18 day is no longer treated as established.
Douglas distinguishes civilian draft cases from the subsequent military confinement: the St. Paul resisters’ civilian sentences were reduced to time served on January 28, 1918, and the men were transferred to Fort Snelling before Camp Dodge. The March 11 court-martial terms and subsequent Leavenworth transfers do not establish that those nominal terms were actually served. William R. Douglas, The Germans Would Court-Martial Me, Too: St. Paul’s World War I Socialist Draft Resisters, Minnesota History 55(7), Fall1997 pp286–301, original PDF page 3. Source: https://storage.googleapis.com/mnhs-org-support/mn_history_articles/55/v55i07p286-301.pdf#page=3
Douglas reports that Allan Strong-Broms surrendered on June 20, 1917 in the civilian draft-registration case. This initial custody preceded his separately described speech arrests and the January 1918 transfer to military detention. William R. Douglas, The Germans Would Court-Martial Me, Too: St. Paul’s World War I Socialist Draft Resisters, Minnesota History 55(7), Fall1997 pp286–301, original PDF page 6. Source: https://storage.googleapis.com/mnhs-org-support/mn_history_articles/55/v55i07p286-301.pdf#page=6
Douglas describes another arrest after an August 1917 speech at Lake Manuella. The narrative and reproduced flyer disagree about the exact August day, so only the month is recorded. A later September Minneapolis speech arrest led to workhouse confinement from which he was free by October 19. These are separate from his subsequent military custody. William R. Douglas, The Germans Would Court-Martial Me, Too: St. Paul’s World War I Socialist Draft Resisters, Minnesota History 55(7), Fall1997 pp286–301, original PDF page 11. Source: https://storage.googleapis.com/mnhs-org-support/mn_history_articles/55/v55i07p286-301.pdf#page=11
Portrait: rectangular crop from the individually identified historical photograph, original PDF page 13. Photographer not credited. Source: https://storage.googleapis.com/mnhs-org-support/mn_history_articles/55/v55i07p286-301.pdf#page=13.
Writing as a former fellow prisoner, H. Austin Simons describes Allen Strong Broms as a St. Paul socialist and former railroad office engineer who taught Efficiency in Propaganda and a series of sociology classes at Fort Leavenworth. Simons also recalled a farewell meeting before Broms’s release, at which the remaining prisoners asked him to work for their freedom. Source: https://www.marxists.org/history/usa/culture/pubs/liberator/1919/09/v2n09-w19-sep-1919-liberator.pdf#page=43
The Senate hearing compilation lists A. S. Broms in Minnesota under section 5 with an eight-month judgment dated January 14, 1918; the date is carried by a ditto mark from the preceding row. This is a civilian draft-registration entry, distinct from the existing antiwar-speech and military court-martial accounts. The table does not establish execution of this judgment, so no additional custody interval or time-served total is entered.
Amnesty and Pardon for Political Prisoners (1921), printed page 130 (PDF page 137).
Writing as a former fellow prisoner, H. Austin Simons describes Allen Strong Broms as a St. Paul socialist and former railroad office engineer who taught Efficiency in Propaganda and a series of sociology classes at Fort Leavenworth. Simons also recalled a farewell meeting before Broms’s release, at which the remaining prisoners asked him to work for their freedom.
