Biography
John Sloan was a coal miner and union activist from Westville, Illinois. He served as chairman of the pit committee in United Mine Workers Local 5509 and ran for the union’s international presidency against John L. Lewis. In January 1938, amid attacks on labor organizers by the American Patriotic Club, police briefly detained Sloan when he accompanied an International Labor Defense attorney to see jailed miner Nathan Yagol. Deputies arrested him again later that month. He, Ernest Giuliani and Frank Suchaczewski were charged under Illinois’s criminal syndicalism law for distributing a leaflet opposing vigilante violence and calling a public meeting. At their February 3 preliminary hearing, Justice of the Peace Ben Seibert referred the case to the grand jury. Local supporters posted $6,000 bail, and the three miners were released.
Sasha Small distinguishes a brief initial police-station detention from the later criminal-syndicalism rearrest. Sloan was released half an hour after attorney Max Naiman left; that interval is not his complete custody duration. The initial episode occurred while Naiman sought access to Nathan Yagol in January 1938. New Masses, February 22, 1938, PDF page 12. Source: https://www.marxists.org/history/usa/pubs/new-masses/1938/v26n09-feb-22-1938-NM.pdf#page=12
Lillian Goodman of the International Labor Defense corroborates the February 3, 1938 preliminary hearing before Justice Ben Seibert, the referral to the grand jury, and immediate physical release after local friends posted $6,000 bail collectively for all three miners. The complaint signed by Sheriff Harry George relied on a leaflet condemning vigilante violence and calling a public meeting; the letter says all eight prosecution witnesses belonged to the American Patriotic Club. The group bail sum is not an individual amount. New Masses, March 8, 1938, PDF page 23. Source: https://www.marxists.org/history/usa/pubs/new-masses/1938/v26n11-mar-08-1938-NM.pdf#page=23
