Biography
Ed Sears was a Black union miner in Bessemer, Alabama, and an International Labor Defense activist. He and fellow Black Communist Nathan Strong were expelled from Mine Mill's Bessemer local because of their political affiliations. In 1935 police took Sears off a trolley, jailed him and denied him access to counsel. Within three hours he was tried and sentenced to ten months on the chain gang and a $100 fine for carrying Sasha Small's Scottsboro pamphlet, Act 3. The International Labor Defense and National Committee for the Defense of Political Prisoners challenged the anti-radical ordinance. Circuit Judge Gardner Goodwin ruled it unconstitutional in September, and Sears was freed.
The September 24, 1935 New Masses supplies two accounts of the existing Bessemer case. Its printed page 5 calls the seized material Sasha Small’s pamphlet on Angelo Herndon, whereas Robert Wood’s printed page 22 letter specifically identifies Small’s Scottsboro pamphlet Act 3. This internal subject discrepancy is preserved rather than silently changing the earlier identification. Wood says Sears was taken from a trolley, held incommunicado and denied time or counsel to prepare; officials obstructed the ILD’s bail and appeal efforts and insulted and threatened its lawyer. This is a contemporaneous report of obstacles during the detention, not a contradiction of the later judicial invalidation and release already recorded. The ten months were imposed, not proof of actual completed service. Sources: https://www.marxists.org/history/usa/pubs/new-masses/1935/v16n13-sep-24-1935-NM.pdf#page=5 and PDF26 (printed22).
The report says Judge Gardner Goodwin invalidated the Bessemer literature ordinance and Sears was released. Its ten-month sentence and $100 fine are imposed penalties, not actual completed service. The existing September release and source discrepancy remain unchanged. Daily Worker, October 1, 1935, original PDF page 1. Source: https://www.marxists.org/history/usa/pubs/dailyworker/1935/v12-n235-NAT-oct-01-1935-DW-Q.pdf#page=1
September 1935 custody and release
A Birmingham report dated September 29 and printed September 30 says Ed Sears had been arrested two weeks earlier and jailed without access to counsel. It reports that Judge Gardner Goodwin held the Bessemer literature ordinance unconstitutional the previous day, and explicitly states that Sears was released. This establishes actual arrest, confinement and release in September 1935, but not an independently stated exact physical release day. The stored September month values are not September 1 events and do not establish a one-day stay; actual elapsed custody remains unknown. The September 28 decision date is not substituted for an exact release day.
This issue describes a twelve-month sentence; the October 1 report says ten months. That discrepancy is preserved without replacing the existing ten-month sentence or treating either imposed sentence as actual time served.
Daily Worker, September 30, 1935, original PDF page 1, Gag Law Voided in Bessemer.
Printed as Edward Sears, the Bessemer miner is reported sentenced on September 4 to ten months on the chain gang for possessing Sasha Small’s Scottsboro pamphlet Act Three and denied contact with a lawyer. An ILD appeal was planned. This imposed term is not treated as ten months actually served or a new case.
