Biography
G. J. Terrill was one of the Los Angeles Industrial Workers of the World defendants known as the "Twenty-Seven", prosecuted under California's Criminal Syndicalism Act. Contemporary prisoner rolls give his name as G. J. Terrill, San Quentin number 38132; this record previously carried the shortened form "G. Terrill".
He was released from San Quentin State Prison with Joe Varella on December 12, 1926, the report identifying the two as the last prisoners still held from the Twenty-Seven case.
His admission is PROBABLE BUT NOT DOCUMENTED: the cohort was admitted on July 12, 1923, and the named prison roll confirms his custody but not that admission date, so no incarceration date is entered.
This was a state prosecution. An earlier version of this record classified it as a federal Espionage or Sedition Act case.
POSSIBLE DUPLICATE, flagged and not merged: this database also holds a record for "C. J. Terrill", likewise an Industrial Workers of the World member from Los Angeles at San Quentin from July 12, 1923. C and G are easily confused in transcription and the two may be one man, but nothing found here establishes it.
The International Labor Defense holiday roster in the December 29, 1925 Daily Worker lists this prisoner, printed as G. J. Terrill, at San Quentin California. Its printed identifier is 38132; this is a prison number or mailing designation, not a year or a custody date. This documents confinement at the roster’s reporting time, without establishing an admission, transfer, release, new conviction or complete duration. Existing independently sourced custody chronology remains separate. Source: https://www.marxists.org/history/usa/pubs/dailyworker/1925/1925-ny/v02b-n297-NYE-dec-29-1925-DW-LOC.pdf#page=5
The Daily Worker political-prisoner Christmas roster of December 17, 1924, lists G. J. Terrill at San Quentin State Prison with historical prisoner number 38122. This establishes a contemporary custody observation, not an admission or release date and not a total duration. Its printed number differs from the existing identifier; the existing identifier is preserved pending reconciliation. The inherited twelve-month actual-duration override lacks an individually documented served term and is removed; existing supported endpoints and nominal sentence information are preserved.
