Biography
F. M. Bratcher was an Evarts miner jailed in the Harlan roundup after the 5 May 1931 Battle of Evarts, one of the more than a hundred National Miners' Union miners and sympathizers jailed in the Harlan County, Kentucky coal war. The Harlan County, Kentucky coal war of 1931 pitted the Communist-led National Miners' Union against the operators, Sheriff John Henry Blair's deputies, and the state militia. After the 5 May 1931 "Battle of Evarts," in which a gun battle left several dead, more than a hundred miners were jailed: dozens were indicted for murder and faced the electric chair, dozens more charged with "banding and confederating" or criminal syndicalism. Clarence Darrow and the ILD led the defense.
The New Leader of January14,1933 reports that former senator J.M.Robison would defend Bratcher and describes one previous acquittal and two hung juries in prosecutions arising from the Evarts battle.
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
Labor Age, October 1932, PDF pages 17 and 33: Lawrence Seco describes a first mistrial with a Whitley County jury voting 11–1 for acquittal, a second mistrial after a Mercer County jury deadlocked for 75 hours, and a third trial resulting in acquittal. He was remanded on another Evarts killing count, but the article says he was out on bond by publication. Its photograph caption describes the earlier post-acquittal jail stage; neither supplies an exact bond-release day. Source: https://www.marxists.org/history/usa/pubs/laborage/v21n10-oct-1932-labor-age.pdf#page=17
