Biography
Delmar Hampton was a Loray mill striker. Delmar Hampton was one of the sixteen Gastonia defendants held in the Gaston County jail on the first-degree murder charge — facing the electric chair — after the 7 June 1929 killing of Police Chief Aderholt. The murder charge against the defendants outside the convicted seven was dropped before the October retrial. On 7 June 1929, police attacked the National Textile Workers Union tent colony at the Loray Mill in Gastonia, North Carolina, and Police Chief O. F. Aderholt was killed in the exchange of fire. Sixteen strikers and organizers were charged with his murder — a frame-up, the defense held, aimed at breaking the communist-led Southern textile drive. The International Labor Defense mounted a national campaign for the Gastonia defendants.
Daily Worker, July 22, 1929, page 5: Vern Smith’s retrospective kidnapping article individually states that Hampton went to Gaffney, South Carolina, was arrested there, and was rushed across the state line by officers sent for him without extradition. This is a distinct transfer detail within the already stored Gastonia prosecution, not a second arrest or independently dated custody total. Source: https://www.marxists.org/history/usa/pubs/dailyworker/1929/1929-ny/v06-n116-NY-jul-22-1929-DW-LOC.pdf
The August 26, 1929 report names this defendant among the sixteen assembled for the Charlotte Gastonia trial before Judge M. V. Barnhill. It distinguishes nine Southern Loray workers from seven organizers and discusses the defense’s planned police-violence evidence. The allegations are attributed defense accounts. Trial appearance is not a new arrest or proof that a previously bailed defendant had been returned to jail; later convictions and individually established bail releases remain separate. Source: https://www.marxists.org/history/usa/pubs/dailyworker/1929/1929-ny/v06-n146-NY-aug-26-1929-DW-LOC.pdf#page=5
The October 4, 1929 Gastonia report individually names the nine defendants physically released Monday, September 30 after the prosecution ceased pursuing them in the Aderholt murder case. Its collective four-month description is not an individually measured custody total. This is the existing Gastonia prosecution. Daily Worker, October 4, 1929, original PDF page 1. Source: https://www.marxists.org/history/usa/pubs/dailyworker/1929/1929-ny/v06-n180-NY-oct-04-1929-DW-LOC.pdf#page=1
1920s custody review: The Daily Worker of October 4, 1929, pages 1 and 3, prints a statement by nine Gastonia defendants describing their jail detention and release. The signature list explicitly includes this defendant (Delmar Hampton appears as Del Hampton). This establishes custody and release in 1929. Both are recorded at year precision only. The report describes Monday morning release, but its collective wording includes women already released on bail earlier; dismissal of charges must not automatically be equated with each individual physical discharge. Exact admission and discharge remain unresolved. No exact duration is calculated. The inherited arrest date is not independently confirmed by this statement.
Source: Daily Worker, October 4, 1929, pages 1 and 3, original pages visually inspected.
The July 11, 1929 Daily Worker individually reports that Delmar Hampton was arrested in Gaffney, South Carolina on June 27 and taken to Gastonia, where he was held in jail on the Aderholt murder charge without an initial preliminary hearing. This corrects the inherited June 7 arrest, which was the date of the shooting rather than his reported arrest. The report follows his July 4 habeas appearance, July 5 preliminary hearing, later hearings before Judge Harding and Judge Thomas J. Shaw, and continued detention after the July 10 ruling. Its claim that he was moved across the state line without extradition papers and its criticism of the evidence are attributed to the newspaper. No October dismissal day is assumed to be an individual physical-release day; the existing year-precision release and unknown total remain.
Daily Worker, July 22, 1929; relevant page stated in the accompanying profile note.
A Gastonia jail letter printed as Dall Hampton
The July 17, 1929 Daily Worker introduces Dall Hampton as a Gastonia striker held on a murder charge and prints his letter from Gaston County Jail under the same name. He describes conditions in the Loray mill, strikers being evicted with their families, and police acting against workers. He denies criminal wrongdoing and says that he and the other jailed strikers were trying to improve working conditions. These claims remain attributed to Hampton and the newspaper. The letter gives no precise admission or release date or measured custody duration.
Daily Worker, July 17, 1929, original page 2. Editorial introduction and complete letter signature both identify Dall Hampton.
Labor Defender’s September 1929 biography identifies the Gastonia striker Delmar Hampton as born July 24, 1900, near Murphy, North Carolina. Original biography, printed page 186.
