Biography
Anton Trzpiot was born 1888 in Zarechye, Russia (present-day Ukraine).
Born 1888, Zarechye, Russia (present-day Ukraine). Ukrainian. Laborer. Served three years in the Russian Army. Migrated to Canada 1913; from there migrated US 1915 (entered without inspection). 1917 joined the Russian Federation of the Socialist Party of America in Cleveland. Also a member of the Ukrainian Dramatic Club. May 1, 1919, participated in a May Day parade in which he was carrying “a little red flag”; became a “riot” when police dispersed the marchers. Arrested with 27 other Russian radicals identified by Cleveland police and members of the Loyal American League on baseless suspicion of involvement in June 2, 1919 bombing of Mayor Harry L. Davis’s home. Answering immigration inspectors in broken English, he admitted to being a member of the Socialist Party and the “Russian Workers of the World,” which immigration authorities “presumed,” without any supporting evidence, to be the same as the Union of Russian Workers. His first deportation warrant was canceled for insufficient evidence, but he was arrested again November 28, 1919, in possession of copies of the Socialist papers Novy Mir and The Ohio Socialist were confiscated. Although Trzpiot was almost certainly not a member of the URW, this alleged affiliation became the basis for his deportation. Deported on the Buford. Subsequent activities unknown.
INS file 54616/222
Adapted from Kenyon Zimmer, Red Scare Deportees (kenyonzimmer.com), compiled from INS deportation case files.
