Biography
Jim Howell was one of the Portland workers charged with criminal syndicalism. In the winter of 1930–31, Portland, Oregon revived its criminal-syndicalism law in a wave of raids on the Communist Party and Young Communist League, prosecuting members for their political affiliation. Ben Boloff was the first tried and drew a ten-year term; a mass defense campaign won acquittals for several of the others.
The September 15, 1930 Daily Worker, page 1, names James Howell among sixteen people held after the September 9 raid on Portland’s Workers Center at 312 Worcester Building. The newspaper lists the worker among the other eight held on vagrancy charges. Its September 9 raid date differs from September 10 in other accounts; the release date and total time held are not stated. Source: https://www.marxists.org/history/usa/pubs/dailyworker/1930/v07-n222-Nat-sep-15-1930-DW-LOC.pdf#page=1 The spelling differs from other accounts of the same raid.
The Behind the Bars directory on printed page 4 lists this prisoner under Multnomah County Jail, Portland, Oregon, with criminal syndicalism, 1930. This is an attributed historical directory entry: the year and nominal term do not establish an intake day, uninterrupted imprisonment, completed service or physical release. The substantive article on PDF page 10 separately names the Portland criminal-syndicalism and deportation defendants and attributes the raids to informer M. R. Bacon. The threatened ten years is potential exposure, not a sentence already imposed.
