Biography
Davis was identified by surname as one of five leaders of unemployed seamen arrested in Baltimore on September 30, 1934, after demonstrating against cuts in relief. The Daily Worker of October 26, 1934, page 1, in a Baltimore dispatch dated October 25, reports the trial of five unemployed-seamen leaders arrested September 30 for leading a demonstration against relief cuts. Judge Stanton imposed two-year penitentiary terms on Yates, Wagner, Davis and Allen, and four years on W. C. McCuistion, who additionally faced an assault-on-an-officer count. The judge then suspended all sentences, threatening the house of correction if they stayed on the waterfront and were arrested again. The packed courtroom walked out behind the five workers. The headline and departure establish freedom following the proceeding, but do not prove continuous custody from September 30 or an exact physical discharge day. The nominal suspended terms are not actual imprisonment totals. Bernard Ades assisted the self-represented defense; violence and frame-up claims are attributed to the newspaper. No given name, exact release day or complete actual custody duration is supplied. The qualified name keeps this source identity distinct from unrelated homonyms. Source: https://www.marxists.org/history/usa/pubs/dailyworker/1934/v11-n256-NAT-oct-26-1934-DW-LOC.pdf#page=1.
