Biography
Frederick Esmond was an Oxford University graduate. Frederick Esmond was a newspaper and publicity agent for the IWW. Esmond headed the California Defense Committee for the Sacramento IWW Sedition Act defendants. After protesting the prison conditions endured by the Sacramento defendants to the U.S. attorney general, Esmond was himself arrested and charged with sedition. He was held in isolation for eight months and then tried along with the other "silent defendants" in Sacramento and sentenced to ten years. Esmond responded to the announced convictions by shouting: we, the outcasts, have been framed up, clubbed, beaten, slugged, martyred, and murdered. Is it any wonder that I do not consider myself bound to your procedures when this court and its proceedings are a disgrace to the United States? Esmond never recovered from the weakened state of health caused by his pre-trial confinement in isolation. He entered Leavenworth Penitentiary on January 25, 1919. On April 7, 1921, he suffered a complete mental collapse—becoming "maniacal, noisy, destroying clothing and bedding." According to the prison physician, Esmond reportedly started to have "delirious hallucinations" and became "homicidal." The physician attributed Esmond's breakdown to "overwork of his mental facilities, accompanied by worry and depression." Esmond was transferred to St. Elizabeth's Hospital where he slowly recuperated. He was pardoned and released from the asylum in February 1923.
The March 1920 One Big Union Monthly prisoner roster, under the printed name ESMOND , FREDERICK, reports: Federal . Indicted Sacramento , Feb. 8 , 1918 . Conspiracy to violate Sections 6 , 9 , 19 and 37 and Section 4 of Espionage Act . Convicted , 10- year sentence . Bail , $ 10,000 . Leavenworth Federal prison. This is the contemporary labor organization’s account. Indictment, bail and imposed sentence are distinguished from physical admission, actual release and complete time served; no missing custody endpoint is inferred. Source: https://www.marxists.org/history/usa/pubs/one-big-union-monthly/v02n03-mar-1920_One%20Big%20Union.pdf#page=10
The article uses Fred Esmond, identifies him as an Oxford graduate, and lists him with Downing among the Sacramento Silent Defenders. This is contextual identification rather than proof of a fresh admission or his continued presence in the general prison population on publication day; no later medical transfer or release is inferred.
The March1922 official report lists Frederick Esmond in List1 of convicted prisoners or parolees. The government entry reports Conspiracy and violating the espionage act. a sentence of January 17, 1919, 10 years, Leavenworth.. Imposed terms, projected term-expiration dates, parole eligibility and intervals on bond are different measures; none is entered as a complete actual custody total. This attributed government entry is retained alongside the independently established individual chronology. [PDF7] The entry explicitly records transfer to St.Elizabeths Hospital June21,1921. That is a custodial/institutional transfer, not discharge. [PDF7]
Government Prosecutions under the Espionage Act, Senate Document159 (March1922), PDF page 7.
