Biography
Arthur Connelly volunteered as secretary at Steel Workers Organizing Committee Lodge 1331 on Poland Avenue in Youngstown, Ohio, during the 1937 Little Steel strike. Police arrested him at the union office on the morning of June 23 and searched for firearms. They found none but seized clubs, signs and union records, including membership receipt books. Connelly was held in jail and released without charges. He later testified about the raid before the Senate committee investigating violations of free speech and workers' organizing rights.
William B. Smith’s contemporary report describes Connelly as a physically disabled volunteer secretary at the Poland Avenue union headquarters. During the Wednesday raid deputies seized union records and a gasoline can which they alleged contained poison gas, and took Connelly to jail. The supposed poison is an attributed police claim, not a proved substance or a new charge assigned to him. Source: https://www.marxists.org/history/usa/pubs/new-masses/1937/v24n03-jul-13-1937-NM.pdf#page=13
Connelly testified that he was held in jail about 36 hours after the June 23, 1937 raid on SWOC Lodge 1331 and released without charges. The seized receipt books identifying dues-paying members had never been returned. The approximate duration is retained without inventing an exact release day.
U.S. Senate, Violations of Free Speech and Rights of Labor, Senate Report No. 6, 76th Congress, 1st session (1939), part 3, printed 129, PDF 616.
