Biography
Homer Barton was active in the struggles of Tampa tobacco workers. A January 17, 1933 dispatch in the next day's Daily Worker reports that federal agents had arrested him and were holding him incommunicado, with charges unknown. The International Labor Defense was seeking habeas corpus relief. The source does not establish unreported custody endpoints or total time actually served.
The January 1936 Labor Defender editorial, printed page 3, recalls the arrest and severe beating of Homer Barton and Frankie Guido in Tampa about a year after the 1932 Gordon-Crawford attack. It identifies them as Communists. This adds a contemporary allegation of physical abuse; the relative chronology does not establish an exact arrest date or prove a separate detention from the already documented 1933 arrest.
A January 19, 1933 Tampa report places Barton’s arrest on Monday night, January 16, as he went to an unemployment meeting. Federal custody was followed by city charges. Attorney E. L. Bryan was denied access on January 17; a habeas effort was met with a new charge. The paper describes a five-day city-ordinance sentence for being a Communist and being found in Tampa, and says he remained jailed. This imposed term does not establish five days actually served or a release date. Source: https://www.marxists.org/history/usa/pubs/dailyworker/1933/v010-n017-NY-jan-20-1933-DW-LOC.pdf#page=3
The Young Worker of February 1, 1933, printed page 2, prints a January 27 Tampa dispatch reporting Barton’s third arrest and that he was sentenced to a chain gang under a Tampa ordinance that the paper characterizes as punishing Communist presence in the city. It says the International Labor Defense was preparing an appeal. This conflicts in emphasis with the January 27 dispatch already retained in the record, which describes continuing immigration detention and a threatened future state arrest. The accounts are preserved separately; this report does not establish an intervening release, a distinct completed custody episode, an exact sentence day or a term actually served. Source: https://www.marxists.org/history/usa/pubs/youngworker/v11n01-10-yw-1933-Jan-June.pdf#page=4.
A last-minute bulletin explicitly reports habeas corpus release on Saturday January 21, 1933 followed immediately by county and immigration rearrest, with continuing detention and no stated charge. The preceding five-day city term remains nominal rather than time served. The immediate transfer between authorities is not represented as a safe end to custody or a measured release interval. Source: https://www.marxists.org/history/usa/pubs/labordefender/1933/v09n02-feb-1933-lab-def.pdf#page=9
Pages 14-15 describe ordinance 487 A and explicitly say Barton served five days before release because the Communist-presence accusation was not contained in that ordinance. They then report successive county, state and federal rearrests and releases, including habeas proceedings. Five days describes the initial city phase, not the total across rearrests. The source quotes a hostile editorial linking prosecution to his circulars advocating racial equality. No individual date for the final discharge is supplied. Source: https://www.marxists.org/history/usa/pubs/labordefender/pamphlets/tampa-terror.pdf
Source and limits
Daily Worker, original PDF page 3
Homer Barton was active in the struggles of Tampa tobacco workers. A January 17, 1933 dispatch in the next day's Daily Worker reports that federal agents had arrested him and were holding him incommunicado, with charges unknown. The International Labor Defense was seeking habeas corpus relief. The source does not establish unreported custody endpoints or total time actually served.
Labor Defender, January 1936; relevant page stated in the accompanying profile note.
The January 27 Tampa dispatch reports Barton still held by immigration authorities without a stated charge and asserts that he was an American citizen. County Solicitor Givens threatened another state arrest if federal authorities released him. The threatened rearrest is not entered as an actual separate case or release.
The January entry corroborates the five-day Tampa sentence for the same political accusation as Armando Lopez; it does not establish the completed actual term or exact physical release.
