Biography
Elbert Shadrick was a Harlan County, Kentucky coal miner jailed and indicted for murder after the May 5, 1931 Battle of Evarts. The indictment concerned the death of mine guard Jim Daniels during the coal strike. His case was transferred from Harlan County to Winchester, where he and other miners remained in the county jail awaiting trial in April 1932. The International Labor Defense and General Defense Committee organized legal aid and support for the imprisoned miners and their families.
The September 12, 1931 Daily Worker includes this name in its Harlan murder-indictment list and describes the International Labor Defense’s preparations, including Franklin Reynolds and Leo Gallagher and challenges to alleged planted testimony. The list establishes the reported prosecution, but supplies no additional individual admission, discharge, conviction or completed custody total. Its claim to be a complete list does not justify inventing missing defendants. Source: https://www.marxists.org/history/usa/pubs/dailyworker/1931/v08-n220-NY-sep-12-1931-DW-LOC.pdf#page=2
The New Leader, April 2, 1932, page 10, individually names Elbert Shadrick among nine Evarts coal-strike defendants confined in Clark County jail at Winchester, Kentucky, facing proceedings over mine guard Jim Daniels' death in the May 5 battle. It says the miners had been confined since the battle, at Harlan and then Winchester after a change of venue granted by Judge D. C. Jones. It announces trial for the coming Monday before Circuit Judge D. S. Shackelford and appeals for General Defense Committee funds to bring defense witnesses from Harlan. This is contemporary pretrial custody and defense evidence, not a completed trial, death sentence or release. The battle date is not automatically each defendant's individual arrest day. Later outcomes remain preserved. Source: https://www.marxists.org/history/usa/pubs/new-leader/1932/v13n14-apr-02-1932-NL.pdf
The January 1932 Labor Defender reports that Elbert Shadrick and his father Charles were confined in Winchester awaiting trial over the May 5 Evarts battle. It states that Elbert’s wife had just given birth to a daughter. The planned trial next week is prospective, not proof of an actual trial day.
The New Leader, April 2, 1932; relevant page stated in the accompanying profile note.
Mrs. Charles Shadrick’s December 30, 1931 letter says her husband and oldest son are in Winchester Jail, while Cecil is now in Harlan Jail where Elbert had previously been. The existing family identification supplies the link to Elbert; the letter itself does not print the oldest son’s name in that sentence. It is corroboration of location and family circumstances, not an independently dated transfer, first admission or release.
