Biography
John Lapshansky was a Nokomis, Illinois miner active in the National Miners Union. Arrested in December 1929 during the coal strike, he was again arrested on June 3, 1934 after unemployed workers protested restrictions on meetings, strikes and picketing in Montgomery County. Lapshansky was among the Hillsboro defendants held under Illinois's sedition law. Supporters raised property bail before trial. On January 7, 1935, the fourteen defendants stipulated to guilt on a reduced conspiracy charge and were freed under nine months' parole.
The December 1, 1934 Daily Worker, page 3 individually identifies this Hillsboro defendant in the caption accompanying the unemployed-worker prosecution report. The December 4 issue, page 1 reports all fifteen defendants pleaded not guilty on December 3 and trial was postponed to December 7 before Judge McWilliams. This is an interim procedural plea, not a replacement for any later settlement or plea. Sources: https://www.marxists.org/history/usa/pubs/dailyworker/1934/v11-n287-Nat-dec-01-DW-LOC.pdf#page=3 ; https://www.marxists.org/history/usa/pubs/dailyworker/1934/v11-n289-Nat-dec-04-DW-LOC.pdf#page=1
The June 4 dispatch names him among ten Montgomery County leaders said to have been arrested the previous day after protests against local restrictions on speech, assembly and picketing. It prints Wittenberg, Pancsik and Prisckett for the corresponding established defendants. The June 3 group chronology differs from the existing May chronology for some defendants; it is preserved as a contemporary discrepancy rather than creating a second Hillsboro arrest or replacing an established date. Daily Worker, June 5, 1934, page 3. Source: https://www.marxists.org/history/usa/pubs/dailyworker/1934/v11-n134-jun-05-1934-DW-LOC.pdf#page=3
The Journal-News retrospective of July 1, 2019, printed page 7A, names this person among fourteen arrested Hillsboro defendants and describes the January 7, 1935 negotiated disposition: all fourteen stipulated to guilt on the lesser charge of conspiracy to do an illegal act and were placed on nine months of parole. The original Illinois 1919 syndicalism indictment alleged advocacy of violence by speech and writing, without charging specific violent acts. George Hall prosecuted; Judge Paul McWilliams heard the December 1934 proceedings after transfer from T. M. Jett. Pretrial bail must be distinguished from the January parole disposition, which does not itself prove uninterrupted jail custody through January 7. The retrospective summarizes the arrests as June 1934; existing individual May/August chronologies are not overwritten. Source: https://cdn1.creativecirclemedia.com/journalnews/files/20190630-202614-HJN%207-1-19.pdf#page=7
