Biography
Bedros Donegian was an Armenian weaver and National Textile Workers Union activist in Lawrence, Massachusetts. During the 1931 textile strikes he refused police demands to inform on other workers. Arrested again on October 7, he was committed to Danvers State Hospital for observation and subsequently held at the East Boston Immigration Station under a deportation warrant. Edith Berkman described his confinement and involuntary medical procedures in an account of the strike. Authorities sought to deport him to Soviet Armenia. Donegian later fought in Spain with the Mackenzie-Papineau and Lincoln-Washington battalions of the International Brigades, arriving on July 3, 1937. He was captured during the retreats at Caspe. He died in December 1975.
The October 23, 1931 Lawrence dispatch published October 26 says Donegian was held at Danvers for observation for over ten days after his October 7 arrest. It alleges that he received only half a glass of milk daily, unidentified injections and a spinal puncture, and became very ill. ILD habeas proceedings obtained his release from the asylum, followed immediately by rearrest on a Lawrence default warrant. The report places him in the Lawrence lockup facing deportation. These are attributed contemporary accounts; no final discharge or invented exact asylum-transfer date is supplied. Source: https://www.marxists.org/history/usa/pubs/dailyworker/1931/v08-n257-NY-oct-26-1931-DW-LOC.pdf#page=3
Edith Berkman’s December 31, 1931 account says Donegian, a Lawrence weaver and NTWU member resident for eight years, had been held at East Boston immigration station for approximately ten weeks. It distinguishes an earlier February police interrogation and rejected offer to inform from the autumn arrest. The account alleges a forced spinal puncture at Danvers State Hospital, illness after beating and poor food, a later hospital visit, and return to immigration custody. The hospital movements and earlier habeas/rearrest evidence are preserved; ten weeks is approximate custody observed so far, not a completed total or a new exact intake day. Source: https://www.marxists.org/history/usa/pubs/dailyworker/1931/v08-n314-NY-dec-31-1931-DW-LOC.pdf#page=1
The January 5, 1932 issue again describes Donegian and the prisoner printed Ivan Kracevich as held in East Boston for roughly three months while the ILD challenged their deportation proceedings. This corroborates continued immigration custody, not three months completed in a single uninterrupted facility or a physical release. Source: https://www.marxists.org/history/usa/pubs/dailyworker/1932/v09-n004-NY-jan-05-1932-DW-LOC.pdf#page=1
The November 9, 1931 Lawrence strike report individually lists this worker among those actually arrested between October 5 and November 5 during textile-strike repression. The date range is the roster’s coverage, not an exact individual arrest or an uninterrupted month in custody. The account gives no individual final judgment, precise physical discharge or completed duration. Daily Worker, November 9, 1931, original PDF page 3. Source: https://www.marxists.org/history/usa/pubs/dailyworker/1931/v08-n269-NY-nov-09-1931-DW-LOC.pdf#page=3
