Biography
John M. Lynch was a West Virginia coal miner serving a ten-year sentence at the Moundsville penitentiary on what he and the ILD described as a frame-up growing out of the mine wars — listed on the International Labor Defense's 1929 roster of class-war prisoners.
The October1931 Labor Defender roster lists JohnM.Lynch at Frametown, WestVirginia, serving ten years. Earlier rosters place him at Moundsville; the later listing is preserved without assuming an undocumented transfer date.
A letter signed John M. Lynch in the July 1930 Labor Defender, page 148, thanks the International Labor Defense for its May 12 letter and financial assistance. Lynch said the aid helped him provide necessities for his wife and son. The letter has no separate prison dateline, so the nearby San Quentin heading belonging to McNamara's letter is not treated as evidence that Lynch had transferred there.
The September 8, 1930 Laisve, page 5, reproduces an International Labor Defense political-prisoner directory. Its row prints John M. Lynch, a term of 10 years, the year 1927 in the sentencing-year column, and confinement or correspondence location 818 Jefferson Avenue, Moundsville, West Virginia. This is an attributed historical directory entry; printed years and nominal terms are not exact intake dates or measured time served, and mailing boxes do not independently identify a prison. The directory contains stale or conflicting chronology, so this row does not override independently established conviction, death or release facts. Source: https://www.spauda2.org/laisve/archive/1930/1930-09-08-LAISVE.pdf#page=5
A letter signed Mrs.John Lynch from Flemington, WestVirginia says her husband had been gone two years and two months and hopes he can return. This is an attributed relative family report, not a precise intake date or proof of continuous custody with independently fixed endpoints. Source: https://www.marxists.org/history/usa/pubs/labordefender/1930/v05n05-may-1930-LD.pdf#page=32
His signed letter printed in the June 1931 Labor Defender carries the explicit heading Prison Road Camp, No. 40, Frametown, West Virginia. He thanked the defense organization for financial assistance to himself and his wife and requested reading material during his confinement. This establishes the road camp as his reported location at that time, alongside earlier Moundsville references; it supplies no exact transfer, admission, release or completed custody total. Source: https://www.marxists.org/history/usa/pubs/labordefender/1931/v06n06-jun-1931-LD.pdf#page=15
A letter printed in the June 1931 Labor Defender gives John M. Lynch's address as Prison Road Camp No. 40, Frametown, West Virginia. He thanks the defense organization for a five-dollar check and requests reading material. This places him at the road camp by publication, earlier than the previously documented October 1931 letter; no exact transfer date is established. Source: https://www.marxists.org/history/usa/pubs/labordefender/1931/v06n06-jun-1931-LD.pdf#page=15
The Behind the Bars directory on printed page 4 lists this prisoner under Moundsville prison, West Virginia, with ten years, 1927. 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.
