Biography
Edward Woodworth was a Pacific Coast seaman and Marine Firemen’s Union member imprisoned in New Jersey during the 1936–1937 maritime strike. Hoboken police arrested him with Donald Brown and Anthony Panchelly on charges arising from a confrontation with a strikebreaker. He was sentenced to fourteen to fifteen years in state prison on March 18, 1937. The International Labor Defense and maritime unions campaigned for the three prisoners. Their convictions were upheld on appeal in 1938, and the unions sought parole for them in July 1940. Woodworth was held in the New Jersey State Penitentiary as prisoner No. 19021.
Voice of the Federation, July 6, 1940, page 6, names Donald R. Brown, Edward Woodworth and Anthony Panchelly as Marine Firemen convicted during the 1937 eastern maritime strike. It describes assault charges and fifteen-year terms for robbery, alleges no evidence that they possessed stolen money when seized, and reports three and a half years already spent in the penitentiary. That is an approximate interim service report, not completed custody or a calculated release date. A New Jersey parole-board appearance was expected that month; NMU and MFOW support and promised shipping rights were conditional on release. No parole grant is reported. Source: https://archive.ilwu.org/wp-content/uploads/2015/04/19400706.pdf
The Seattle district council resolution names Woodworth, Anthony Panchelly and Donald Brown as Pacific Coast Marine Firemen convicted of assault and robbery of a strikebreaker in Hudson County during the 1937 maritime strike. It reports their appeal refused by the New Jersey Supreme Court and their continued state imprisonment. The sentence is imposed punishment, not actual time served. The maximum number is obscured by the bound-page edge; the existing independently sourced fourteen-to-fifteen-year term is retained.
Voice of the Federation, July 6, 1940; relevant page stated in the accompanying profile note.
Page4 reports the three Hoboken maritime-strike defendants serving fourteen-year terms in NewJerseyStatePenitentiary after assault-and-battery and robbery convictions. It describes incommunicado detention and an investigators’ finding of denied rights. Panchelly’s two-week hospitalization and barred lawyer visit are individually reported, not assigned to the other two. The fourteen-year description is nominal sentence language, not actual completed custody.
Page4 reports the NewJerseySupremeCourt denied the three Hoboken maritime-strike defendants’ appeal that week. It describes fourteen-year robbery,assault and battery terms and the ILD considering further action. Appeal denial is not an added fourteen years, completed actual service or final physical discharge.
