Biography
Herman Suhr was an IWW organizer who, with Richard "Blackie" Ford, led the August 1913 hop-pickers' protest at the Durst Ranch in Wheatland, California. After a sheriff's posse opened fire and a deadly riot ensued, Suhr and Ford were convicted of second-degree murder and sentenced to life imprisonment despite no evidence that either had killed anyone; their case became a national labor-defense rallying point.
IWW Durst Farm local secretary convicted of second-degree murder for the 1913 Wheatland Hop Riot in California alongside Richard "Blackie" Ford. The Wheatland defense became one of the IWW's longest-running legal campaigns; both men were sentenced to life. Suhr was later pardoned.
The June 1925 labor-press political-prisoner birthday notice lists him at Folsom Prison, Represa, under prisoner number 9266, with a June 16 birthday (no birth year is given). The notice appears to print a middle initial O., while the Wheatland prisoner is usually recorded as Herman D. Suhr — the initial awaits independent verification.
Daily Worker, June 15, 1926, page 2: J. Louis Engdahl’s editorial includes Mooney and Billings, Ford and Suhr among California labor-prisoner examples while criticizing the political establishment. This broad retrospective list is preserved as advocacy context, without replacing the individual’s better documented case outcome or inferring a fresh arrest or continued custody from the editorial alone. Source: https://www.marxists.org/history/usa/pubs/dailyworker/1926/1926-ny/v03-n131-NY-jun-15-1926-DW-LOC.pdf
The International Labor Defense holiday roster in the December 29, 1925 Daily Worker lists this prisoner, printed as Herman Suhr, at Folsom California. 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 July 24 retrospective says Suhr had later been released and names E. P. McDaniel as the first Wheatland trial judge. This supplies an upper bound by publication, not a precise physical discharge or resolution of the two existing overlapping case records. Source: https://www.marxists.org/history/usa/pubs/dailyworker/1929/1929-ny/v06-n118-NY-jul-24-1929-DW-LOC.pdf#page=6
Contemporary labor and defense account, August 1925
Thurber Lewis’s report of the June 28, 1925 founding conference of International Labor Defense names Ford and Suhr among the imprisoned workers for whose unconditional release the organization called. This is contemporary evidence of the existing imprisonment and defense campaign, not a new case or a precise admission, release, or actual-served duration.
Daily Worker, June 15, 1926; relevant page stated in the accompanying profile note.
The San Quentin overcrowding item says Ford, Suhr and Warren Billings were already serving their sentences at Folsom. This is an institutional observation by the issue date, without an individual transfer or discharge day.
