Biography
Asa Cusick was the police chief of Evarts, Kentucky, during the 1931 coal strike. Authorities arrested him on May 9, four days after the Battle of Evarts, and charged him with three counts of murder over the deaths of deputies Jim Daniels, Otto Lee and Howard Jones. He was held in Harlan County Jail alongside assistant chief Al Benson, union secretary William B. Jones and merchant Joe Cawood. Defense lawyers challenged the refusal of bail and the impartiality of the court. Cusick was subsequently released on bond. In October 1931 he traveled to New York to speak at a dinner raising funds for the Harlan defendants. Cusick had lost his left arm after being shot during an earlier confrontation in February 1930.
The September 12, 1931 Daily Worker includes this name in its Harlan murder-indictment list and describes the International Labor Defense’s preparations, including Franklin Reynolds and Leo Gallagher and challenges to alleged planted testimony. The list establishes the reported prosecution, but supplies no additional individual admission, discharge, conviction or completed custody total. Its claim to be a complete list does not justify inventing missing defendants. Source: https://www.marxists.org/history/usa/pubs/dailyworker/1931/v08-n220-NY-sep-12-1931-DW-LOC.pdf#page=2
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.
Arnold Johnson’s November 12 letter says Cusick was his Harlan County cellmate for 37 days and faced triple murder charges from the May 5 Evarts battle. Johnson personally met him in New York October 9–11, rebutting an impostor allegation. The 37 days are a shared-cell interval, not an independently complete personal custody total.
