Biography
Fritz Bode Sr. was a National Miners Union supporter in the Taylorville, Illinois coal strike. In a January 7 letter published in the January 18, 1930 Militant, he reports being arrested on a Friday the thirteenth. Joe Natterman provided $2,000 bond, but the sheriff forcibly escorted Bode home and guarded the house so that he could not leave the yard. Posting bond therefore did not restore unrestricted liberty. His trial had been postponed three times, with January 13 still a proposed hearing when he wrote. The letter does not establish the initial jail length, end of guarded-home confinement or full custody duration. December 13, 1929 is a possible calendar reading of Friday the thirteenth, rather than an explicitly printed full arrest date. Bode recalls participating in the German miners’ strike of 1889 and forty-two years of revolutionary activity. Conflicting birthday-age wording prevents assigning a birth year. Source: https://www.themilitant.com/1930/0303/MIL0303.pdf#page=8
