Biography
Ira Silbar was the defense attorney for the three petition solicitors, himself jailed alongside his clients and who was jailed at Lewistown (Fulton County), Illinois in July 1940 and charged with two counts of 'treason' under the state's revived criminal-syndicalism law for canvassing Communist ballot-petition signatures — part of a sweep of over a hundred Communists across nineteen Illinois counties, with a combined $80,000 bail and penalties of one to ten years.
The Daily Worker of November 27, 1935, page 3, identifies Judge Thomas A. Green as the judge who ordered Silbar arrested after an exchange on the street outside the police station, then sentenced him to five days at Bridewell. It says Silbar spent fifteen minutes in initial custody before being brought to court, served two days of the five-day term, and obtained release on bond after filing an appeal. The appellate court reversed because the court had not been in session when the remarks occurred. Two days is the reported actual service, five days the imposed term; the account supplies no exact admission, release or reversal day.
Contemporary November 1935 custody report
A Chicago report datelined November 26 in the November 27, 1935 Daily Worker (p. 3) describes a separate contempt case before Judge Thomas A. Green. The paper says Silbar was ordered arrested after speaking to the judge outside court, sentenced to five days in Bridewell, actually served two days, and was released on bond after filing notice of appeal; the appellate court then reversed because court was not in session when the remarks were made. The exact arrest, admission, bond-release and reversal days are not given. Five days was the sentence imposed, not the time actually served. This 1935 episode is distinct from his 1940 petition prosecution.
Source: Daily Worker, national edition, volume 12 number 286, November 27, 1935. Political allegations and commentary are attributed to the paper.
Daily Worker, November 27, 1935; relevant page stated in the accompanying profile note.
