John Johannessen

Era:1930s
State:California
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Biography

John Johannessen was a seaman of thirty years’ experience, including twenty continuously in American ships, who reported three distinct police arrests during the 1934 harbor strike: May 9, May 12 and May 25. The October Labor Defender reproduces his statement and the ILD brutality report. He described beatings at the Wilmington station and torture following the San Pedro May 25 seizure, after which police booked him on an illegal-entry allegation and jailed him. Earlier releases break the sequence, so these arrests are not counted as one continuous custody span. Age, nationality, exact prison-admission and final-discharge dates are not inferred. Source: https://www.marxists.org/history/usa/pubs/labordefender/1934/v10n09-oct-1934-orig-LD.pdf#page=18

Cases

Charges: Arrest for picketing at Berth 197 in the Los Angeles harbor strike.
Arrested: May 9, 1934
Sentence: Questioned before Captain Hynes and released two hours later. Actual subday duration described, but no clock times or exact individual physical discharge calendar day independently supplied. Source: https://www.marxists.org/history/usa/pubs/labordefender/1934/v10n09-oct-1934-orig-LD.pdf#page=18
Charges: Rearrest during Los Angeles harbor strike activity; formal count unreported.
Arrested: May 12, 1934
Sentence: Beaten by officers Hache and Cole, taken to the Wilmington police station and released after another beating. Exact discharge time and complete duration unestablished. Source: https://www.marxists.org/history/usa/pubs/labordefender/1934/v10n09-oct-1934-orig-LD.pdf#page=18
Charges: Entering the country illegally, alleged after a maritime-strike arrest at Beacon and Fifth Streets, San Pedro.
Arrested: May 25, 1934
Sentence: Taken to the station, questioned and tortured in a back room; booked on an illegal-entry allegation and put in jail. The next morning he was taken to Los Angeles and beaten again. The account gives no final discharge, conviction or completed duration. The quoted allegations are Johannessen’s statement, not adjudicated findings. Source: https://www.marxists.org/history/usa/pubs/labordefender/1934/v10n09-oct-1934-orig-LD.pdf#page=18

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