Biography
J. C. Heffner was a Loray mill striker. J. C. Heffner was one of the sixteen Gastonia defendants held in the Gaston County jail on the first-degree murder charge — facing the electric chair — after the 7 June 1929 killing of Police Chief Aderholt. The murder charge against the defendants outside the convicted seven was dropped before the October retrial. On 7 June 1929, police attacked the National Textile Workers Union tent colony at the Loray Mill in Gastonia, North Carolina, and Police Chief O. F. Aderholt was killed in the exchange of fire. Sixteen strikers and organizers were charged with his murder — a frame-up, the defense held, aimed at breaking the communist-led Southern textile drive. The International Labor Defense mounted a national campaign for the Gastonia defendants.
Daily Worker, June 14, 1929, page 1: The June 13 bulletin prints J. C. Hafler among thirteen Gastonia defendants charged with murder in amended complaints; fifty-eight others faced assault with intent to kill. Twenty-four unnamed prisoners had been released, but no strike leader or organizer was among them. These are initial changing accusations, not the October verdict or a release of this named person. Attorney Jimison had first interviewed the prisoners; Major Bulwinkle, the mill company attorney, directed the prosecution. The Hafler spelling is retained as a possible reference to existing Gastonia defendant J. C. Heffner; exact name equivalence remains unresolved and no asserted alias or duplicate profile is created. Source: https://www.marxists.org/history/usa/pubs/dailyworker/1929/1929-ny/v06-n084-NY-jun-14-1929-DW-LOC.pdf
Daily Worker, July 22, 1929, page 6: A caption identifies Mrs. Heffner with two of Jack Heffner’s brothers and reports her support for her jailed son, one of the fifteen Gastonia defendants. The pictured people are his relatives, not an identified portrait of the imprisoned defendant. Jack is a possible familiar name for the existing J. C. Heffner; no unverified full-name expansion or photo substitution is made. Source: https://www.marxists.org/history/usa/pubs/dailyworker/1929/1929-ny/v06-n116-NY-jul-22-1929-DW-LOC.pdf
The August 26, 1929 report names this defendant among the sixteen assembled for the Charlotte Gastonia trial before Judge M. V. Barnhill. It distinguishes nine Southern Loray workers from seven organizers and discusses the defense’s planned police-violence evidence. The allegations are attributed defense accounts. Trial appearance is not a new arrest or proof that a previously bailed defendant had been returned to jail; later convictions and individually established bail releases remain separate. Source: https://www.marxists.org/history/usa/pubs/dailyworker/1929/1929-ny/v06-n146-NY-aug-26-1929-DW-LOC.pdf#page=5
The October 4, 1929 Gastonia report individually names the nine defendants physically released Monday, September 30 after the prosecution ceased pursuing them in the Aderholt murder case. Its collective four-month description is not an individually measured custody total. This is the existing Gastonia prosecution. Daily Worker, October 4, 1929, original PDF page 1. Source: https://www.marxists.org/history/usa/pubs/dailyworker/1929/1929-ny/v06-n180-NY-oct-04-1929-DW-LOC.pdf#page=1
1920s custody review: The Daily Worker of October 4, 1929, pages 1 and 3, prints a statement by nine Gastonia defendants describing their jail detention and release. The signature list explicitly includes this defendant (Delmar Hampton appears as Del Hampton). This establishes custody and release in 1929. Both are recorded at year precision only. The report describes Monday morning release, but its collective wording includes women already released on bail earlier; dismissal of charges must not automatically be equated with each individual physical discharge. Exact admission and discharge remain unresolved. No exact duration is calculated. The inherited arrest date is not independently confirmed by this statement.
Source: Daily Worker, October 4, 1929, pages 1 and 3, original pages visually inspected.
Daily Worker, June 14, 1929; relevant page stated in the accompanying profile note.
Daily Worker, July 22, 1929; relevant page stated in the accompanying profile note.
Reported birth date: May 1, 1912. LD1929.
