Biography
Frank L. Palmer was a labor journalist and editor prominent in 1920s Colorado. He edited the Colorado Labor Advocate, a Denver labor weekly, and was a correspondent for the Federated Press, the left-wing labor news service. During the 1927–1928 Colorado coal strike — the great walkout that culminated in the Columbine Mine Massacre, the killing of striking miners at Serene, Colorado in November 1927 — Palmer was a leading voice of the strikers, urging them to keep striking peacefully. He exposed corporate anti-union espionage in his 1928 book "Spies in Steel: An Exposé of Industrial War." A "fiery labor editor," he was, by a 1967 account, jailed more than once for his strike and organizing activity; that account also placed him in semi-retirement in Holland, Michigan, late in life. Contemporary reporting distinguishes his December 1927 detention at Longmont from a later Greeley confinement beginning January 20, 1928. The February 18 Daily Worker reported a February 16 release order; its March 3 issue reported that the state appealed and the men remained jailed because they could not furnish $1,500 bonds. Neither the order nor its date is recorded as physical release. Both release dates remain unknown.
1920s custody review: Contemporary reporting distinguishes his December 1927 detention at Longmont from a later Greeley confinement beginning January 20, 1928. The February 18 Daily Worker reported a February 16 release order; its March 3 issue reported that the state appealed and the men remained jailed because they could not furnish $1,500 bonds. Neither the order nor its date is recorded as physical release. Both release dates remain unknown.
Sources: New Leader, December 24, 1927, page 2; Daily Worker, February 18, 1928, page 1; Daily Worker, March 3, 1928, page 2. Original pages inspected.
An Associated Press dispatch printed in the December 16, 1927 Daily Reflector reports that Captain Charles White, of the adjutant general's staff, arrested ten alleged strike sympathizers while guardsmen broke up a miners' meeting at Longmont. It names Palmer and IWW organizer James Allander and reports an accusation of defying a National Guard patrol ordered to prevent demonstrations. The claim that Palmer led a disturbance is the report's allegation, not a proven conviction. This concerns his existing December 1927 episode; it supplies neither a precise jail admission nor a physical release date and does not establish a separate additional custody interval.
