Biography
James Workman was a striking gold miner in Jackson, California. Sheriff Lucot arrested him and fellow union member Adolfe Canales on February 17, 1935. Workman suffered from silicosis and became seriously ill in jail. The International Labor Defense secured bail for him. His July 2 conviction was followed by an order for a new trial.
Mrs. James Workman’s signed appeal says the February 17, 1935 arrest was followed by a February 19 hearing setting $500 bail. Workman, suffering silicosis, had two hemorrhages in jail. An initial ILD representative brought an insufficient $300; a later representative brought $500 a week afterward and secured his release, with Canales bonded out at the same time. The account supplies no exact release day. Workman’s July 2 guilty verdict was followed by a granted retrial set for September 17, which was still prospective. Source: https://archive.ilwu.org/wp-content/uploads/2015/04/19350906.pdf#page=4
Printed page 5 identifies the Mother Lode Miners Union No. 48 striker and reports a September 25, 1935 Amador County Superior Court trial at Jackson on possession-of-deadly-weapons charges. It says a deputy found the weapons in a car after the union strikers had been locked up, and names ILD-retained attorney George Anderson. Although the bulletin is dated September 30, the item uses forward-looking trial language; it is retained as an announcement, not proof of a completed trial or verdict.
The July 13, 1936 Western Worker, printing the name Monty Workman, reports a July 7 state Supreme Court reversal in the Amador County miners’ concealed-weapon prosecution. It describes a two-by-four plank in another worker’s car, a prior one-to-fourteen-year San Quentin term, retrial and reconviction, and a second appeal. The announced likelihood that charges would be dropped remained prospective; no new physical release or measured service is inferred.
