Biography
Burt Lorton was a nine-year IWW member and secretary of its Chicago Recruiting Union. Burt Lorton was convicted at the mass IWW trial in Chicago for seditious conspiracy and conspiracy to obstruct military service. He was sentenced on August 30, 1918, to ten years in prison and fined $30,000. He served in the Cook County Jail and Leavenworth Penitentiary from September 7, 1917, to December 24, 1923.
Although Lorton was arrested for obstructing enlistment, confidential Department of Justice documents admit that "[n]o evidence was adduced, either oral or otherwise showing that [he] had written, said or done anything against the war." Nevertheless, the Department of Justice urged against releasing Lorton because of his eminence in the trade union leadership: " The Metal Machinery Workers Union had gained a decided increase in members because of his agitation." Lorton was placed in permanent segregation because of continuous conflicts with the prison administration. Among the pages of disciplinary write-ups, guards complained ferociously: Yesterday [Lorton] said he knew several persons who did not have the nerve to steal but made their living standing over prisoners with a club. This was intended as an insult.... [Action taken: ] Placed in isolation on restricted diet. After being notified to break rock smaller, he just looked up and laughed.... [Action taken: ] Reprimanded (already in isolation). Throwing dishes and creating a general disturbance in dining room.... [Action taken: ] Segregated indefinitely as a dangerous and irresponsible character. Permanent segregation undermined Lorton's health. According to a letter to Leavenworth Warden A. V. Anderson from Carolina Lowe, an IWW Defense Committee official: When he entered the penitentiary, he was strong and sturdy looking, a picture of robust health. When I saw him the other day, he looked like a different man, he looked so pale and has lost many pounds, I am sure, in weight.
The March 1920 One Big Union Monthly roster, printed as LORTON, BERT, reports: Federal . Indicted Chicago , Sept. 28, 1917. Conspiracy to violate Sections 6 , 19 and 37 and Section 4 of Espionage Act. Convicted , 10 -year sentence . Bail , $ 10,000 . Leavenworth Federal prison. The roster is a contemporary labor-defense account. Its indictment, bail and imposed-term information is kept distinct from actual admission/release and complete time served; no missing gate date is inferred. Source: https://www.marxists.org/history/usa/pubs/one-big-union-monthly/v02n03-mar-1920_One%20Big%20Union.pdf#page=14
In Charles Plahn’s signed account, April 14, 1919 Leavenworth discipline placed named IWW prisoners in the black hole for six days on bread and water and reduced them to third grade. The account distinguishes return to the main prison yard from release from prison. It lists him, under the name Bert Lorton, among prisoners still in permanent isolation at writing.
The March1922 official report lists Burt Lorton in List1 of convicted prisoners or parolees. The government entry reports Conspiracy and violating the espionage act, etc. a sentence of August 30, 1918, 10 vears, Leavenworth; fine, $20,000.. Imposed terms, projected term-expiration dates, parole eligibility and intervals on bond are different measures; none is entered as a complete actual custody total. This attributed government entry is retained alongside the independently established individual chronology. [PDF12]
Government Prosecutions under the Espionage Act, Senate Document159 (March1922), PDF page 12.
