Biography
Jim Reynolds was a Harlan County miner prosecuted after the May 1931 Battle of Evarts. He was convicted of murder arising from the death of deputy James Daniels and sentenced to life imprisonment. Attorney J. M. Robsion represented him on appeal. Reynolds remained imprisoned with W. B. Jones, Chester Poore and Al Benson during the campaign led by the Kentucky Miners Defense. In January 1941 Acting Governor Rodes K. Myers commuted the sentences of Reynolds, Jones and Poore to twenty-one years, making them eligible for parole. They still had to obtain approval from the parole board and arrange employment before leaving prison.
The June 11, 1938 Socialist Appeal names Jones, Al Benson, Reynolds and Poore as Evarts defendants still serving life terms. It reports new Kentucky Miners Defense affidavits submitted to Governor A. B. Chandler challenging trial photographs and sightlines. Survey and tree-cover evidence was offered against the allegation that Benson fired from the Smith-Kelly building; the defense said the photographs used the wrong position and did not represent May 1931 foliage. These are attributed defense findings, not a court exoneration, pardon or completed life term. Source: https://themilitant.com/1938/0224/SA0224.pdf#page=1
The September 12, 1931 Daily Worker includes this name in its Harlan murder-indictment list and describes the International Labor Defense’s preparations, including Franklin Reynolds and Leo Gallagher and challenges to alleged planted testimony. The list establishes the reported prosecution, but supplies no additional individual admission, discharge, conviction or completed custody total. Its claim to be a complete list does not justify inventing missing defendants. Source: https://www.marxists.org/history/usa/pubs/dailyworker/1931/v08-n220-NY-sep-12-1931-DW-LOC.pdf#page=2
The February 1, 1941 Militant reports that Acting Governor Rodes K. Myers unconditionally pardoned Al Benson on January 22, 1941 on innocence grounds and that the release order was carried to LaGrange penitentiary; Benson had reached Louisville. It distinguishes the other three Evarts prisoners, W. B. Jones, Chester Poore and Jim Reynolds: their sentences were commuted to twenty-one years, making them eligible for parole, but parole-board approval and employment arrangements were still pending. Those commutations were not physical release. The source gives ages 44, 58, 36 and 50 respectively, without supplying birthdays. Source: https://www.marxists.org/history/etol/newspape/themilitant/1941/v5n05-feb-01-1941.pdf#page=4
Labor Age, October 1932, PDF pages 17 and 33: Lawrence Seco reports his conviction and imposed life term by a Jessamine County jury in the Harlan prosecutions. No exact individual conviction or release date is printed. Source: https://www.marxists.org/history/usa/pubs/laborage/v21n10-oct-1932-labor-age.pdf#page=17
Page 1’s May 21 Harlan dispatch individually names this person among earlier arrestees on murder indictments during the coal conflict. It identifies Evarts police chief Cusick, assistant chief Benson, town clerk Cawood, union president Hightower and secretary Jones. These are contemporary role and prosecution details; the item gives no new arrest day, verdict or individual release. Cawood’s description here as town clerk is preserved alongside the existing account of his property and sheriff candidacy.
Titler dates the conclusion of Jim Reynolds's trial to September 22, 1932 and says he remained imprisoned until 1941. The trial-conclusion date is not assumed to be the sentencing date. The memoir's general 1941 statement does not supply an exact physical discharge date or replace contemporary commutation and parole evidence.
