Biography
Frank Prickett was one of eleven unemployed demonstrators imprisoned at Hillsboro, Illinois in1934. A June27 letter from his wife, published in the Daily Worker of July5, describes the family’s three children, censorship of letters and newspapers, and a successful hunger strike for better food and visits. The same issue reports that each defendant faced $8,000 bail while awaiting a grand jury that would not meet until November. His precise arrest and release dates and eventual disposition are unresolved.
The Daily Worker of February 7, 1935, page 3, identifies Mucci, Frank Pansick and Frank Prickett as three Taylor Springs village-board members and Hillsboro defendants endorsing a united-front conference to repeal the Illinois criminal-syndicalist law. The conference was scheduled for February 24 at the American Hall, Fourth and Adams Streets, Springfield. This documents civic office and the repeal campaign; it supplies no new individual arrest or custody endpoint.
The August 30, 1934 Daily Worker names him with George Reed as one of only three Hillsboro defendants who had obtained bail. It distinguishes eleven original May arrests from four later indictments and reports continuing jail conditions for the remaining prisoners. This confirms an actual bail release by the dispatch without establishing the precise day or complete duration. Source: https://www.marxists.org/history/usa/pubs/dailyworker/1934/v11-n208-aug-30-1934-DW-LOC.pdf#page=1
The December 1, 1934 Daily Worker, page 3 individually identifies this Hillsboro defendant in the caption accompanying the unemployed-worker prosecution report. The December 4 issue, page 1 reports all fifteen defendants pleaded not guilty on December 3 and trial was postponed to December 7 before Judge McWilliams. This is an interim procedural plea, not a replacement for any later settlement or plea. Sources: https://www.marxists.org/history/usa/pubs/dailyworker/1934/v11-n287-Nat-dec-01-DW-LOC.pdf#page=3 ; https://www.marxists.org/history/usa/pubs/dailyworker/1934/v11-n289-Nat-dec-04-DW-LOC.pdf#page=1
The June 4 dispatch names him among ten Montgomery County leaders said to have been arrested the previous day after protests against local restrictions on speech, assembly and picketing. It prints Wittenberg, Pancsik and Prisckett for the corresponding established defendants. The June 3 group chronology differs from the existing May chronology for some defendants; it is preserved as a contemporary discrepancy rather than creating a second Hillsboro arrest or replacing an established date. Daily Worker, June 5, 1934, page 3. Source: https://www.marxists.org/history/usa/pubs/dailyworker/1934/v11-n134-jun-05-1934-DW-LOC.pdf#page=3
The Journal-News retrospective of July 1, 2019, printed page 7A, names this person among fourteen arrested Hillsboro defendants and describes the January 7, 1935 negotiated disposition: all fourteen stipulated to guilt on the lesser charge of conspiracy to do an illegal act and were placed on nine months of parole. The original Illinois 1919 syndicalism indictment alleged advocacy of violence by speech and writing, without charging specific violent acts. George Hall prosecuted; Judge Paul McWilliams heard the December 1934 proceedings after transfer from T. M. Jett. Pretrial bail must be distinguished from the January parole disposition, which does not itself prove uninterrupted jail custody through January 7. The retrospective summarizes the arrests as June 1934; existing individual May/August chronologies are not overwritten. Source: https://cdn1.creativecirclemedia.com/journalnews/files/20190630-202614-HJN%207-1-19.pdf#page=7
Percy Shostac’s Hillsboro account identifies Prickett, JohnAdams and GordonHuchins among eleven unemployed-council leaders arrested June3,1934 by SheriffSaathoff. They remained held without indictment, initially8000dollars bail each, reduced to5000cash after protests. A six-day hunger strike won better food, visitors and censored mail after incommunicado detention. The prediction they would remain until the November grandjury is not an actual release date. The article identifies Prickett as TaylorSprings alderman and council chairman, with a home made available to traveling organizers. Source: https://www.marxists.org/history/usa/pubs/new-masses/1934/v12n03-jul-17-1934-NM.pdf#page=29
