Biography
Joe Graber was from Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. Joe Graber was convicted at the mass IWW trial in Chicago, sentenced to five years in prison and fined $30,000. He served in the Cook County Jail and Leavenworth Penitentiary from July 4, 1917, to October 18, 1919, and from April 21 to August 3, 1923. Graber was a delegate and organizer for the Marine Transport Workers Industrial Union in Baltimore and for the Coal Mine Workers Industrial Union in Scranton, Pennsylvania. He was convicted despite the Department of Justice's admission that the "record" in his case "contains no proof that Graber did or said anything" to interfere with the war effort.
The March 1920 One Big Union Monthly prisoner roster, under the printed name GRABER, JOE, reports: Federal . Indicted Chicago , Sept. 28 , 1917. Conspiracy to violate Sections 6 , 19 and 37 and Section 4 of Espionage Act . Convicted , 5-year sentence . Bail , $ 5,000 . Leavenworth Federal prison. This is the contemporary labor organization’s account. Indictment, bail and imposed sentence are distinguished from physical admission, actual release and complete time served; no missing custody endpoint is inferred. Source: https://www.marxists.org/history/usa/pubs/one-big-union-monthly/v02n03-mar-1920_One%20Big%20Union.pdf#page=11
The March1922 official report lists Joe Graber in List1 of convicted prisoners or parolees. The government entry reports Conspiracy and violating the espionage act, etc. a sentence of August 30, 1918, 5 years Leavenworth; fined $30,000.. Imposed terms, projected term-expiration dates, parole eligibility and intervals on bond are different measures; none is entered as a complete actual custody total. This attributed government entry is retained alongside the independently established individual chronology. [PDF9]
Government Prosecutions under the Espionage Act, Senate Document159 (March1922), PDF page 9.
