Biography
Leo Thompson was a National Miners’ Union organizer and strike leader in the Pennsylvania, Ohio and West Virginia coalfields. He was held in the St. Clairsville, Ohio, jail during the June 1931 coal strike. Later that summer, he was tried in Washington County, Pennsylvania, on charges of conspiracy, unlawful assembly and inciting to riot. The prosecution questioned him about the union and its connections to the Communist movement. Judge Cummins sentenced him to two years in the Allegheny County Workhouse. During his confinement he was held in solitary confinement, including a three-month period. He had been released by May 20, 1933, when the union was arranging a welcome for him and two other imprisoned strike leaders.
The Daily Worker of January 4, 1932, page 3, explicitly names Leo Thompson among the 1931 coal-strike prisoners still confined in the Allegheny County Workhouse at Blawnox. The report supplies continued-custody evidence without a new individual arrest day, sentence, transfer date or release date.
The St. Clairsville, Ohio report says Tony Minerich and Leo Thompson were released from jail June 28, 1931 on $10,000 property bonds each in a criminal-syndicalism prosecution. Judge Harry Tyler had raised bail for fourteen defendants from $6,000 to $10,000. This Ohio case is distinct from the Pennsylvania strike prosecutions; no initial admission day or completed duration established. Daily Worker, June 29, 1931, page 1. Source: https://www.marxists.org/history/usa/pubs/dailyworker/1930/v07-n155-NY-jun-29-1930-DW-LOC.pdf (The local filename incorrectly says 1930; the printed masthead is June 29, 1931.)
The September 29, 1931 defense report says $5,000 had been raised toward the $8,000 required for Thompson’s release. It does not say the remaining money was raised or that he physically left jail. Anna and Stella’s accomplished release in the same article is not assigned to him. Source: https://www.marxists.org/history/usa/pubs/dailyworker/1931/v08-n235-NY-sep-30-1931-DW-LOC.pdf#page=3
The November 27, 1931 International Labor Defense appeal names Myerscough, Thompson, Adam Ghetto, Bob Young and Stella Rasefsky among twenty-nine miners sentenced during the preceding month to long terms at Blawnox after the coal strike. It supplies neither individual numerical terms nor exact sentencing or transfer days. The source calls the institution a penitentiary; the existing Allegheny County Workhouse identification is retained. Source: https://www.marxists.org/history/usa/pubs/dailyworker/1931/v08-n285-NY-nov-27-1931-DW-LOC.pdf#page=4
Page 1’s June 28 Bridgeport dispatch explicitly reports release that day from St. Clairsville jail on 10,000-dollar property bonds each. ILD attorney Mrs. Land’s request to reduce bond was followed by Judge Harry Tyler raising bonds for fourteen criminal-syndicalism defendants from 6,000 to 10,000 dollars. This confirms the existing Ohio release, not a new detention or known duration. Earlier citations using a 1930 archive path were misfiled; the verified original is June 29, 1931. Source: https://www.marxists.org/history/usa/pubs/dailyworker/1931/v08-n155-NY-jun-29-1931-DW-LOC.pdf
Pages 1 and 5 report his arrest at a Meadowland Canonsburg strike-committee meeting on UMW-instigated warrants, and a July 24 bulletin lists him among six defendants on inciting-to-riot allegations, held under 5,000-dollar bail. The earlier Meadowland dispatch describes Thompson and Redding taken by a detective and three troopers; the bulletin is a subsequent update. Bail being set is not release. This Pennsylvania prosecution is separate from the Ohio detention ending June 28; no uninterrupted interval is inferred. Source: https://www.marxists.org/history/usa/pubs/dailyworker/1931/v08-n178-NY-jul-25-1931-DW-LOC.pdf
Labor Defender, August 1932, printed page 155 (PDF page 17): The youth roster describes Thompson as twenty-four, held at Allegheny County Workhouse in Blawnox and serving a two-year sentence on an inciting-to-riot accusation at Canonsburg. This corroborates the Pennsylvania case and current location, without conflating it with his earlier Ohio detention or calculating completed service from the nominal term. Source: https://www.marxists.org/history/usa/pubs/labordefender/1932/v08n08-aug-1932-LD.pdf
An anonymous former Blawnox political prisoner, writing in the March 1933 Labor Defender, reports that Leo Thompson was seriously ill and had deliberately concealed his physical condition to preserve other prisoners’ morale. This is a contemporary attributed report about the existing workhouse imprisonment, not a newly dated custody episode. Source: https://www.marxists.org/history/usa/pubs/labordefender/1933/v09n03-mar-1933-lab-def.pdf#page=21
Labor Defender, October 1932 (PDF page 21): Hy Kravif reports Thompson’s failing eyesight and inability to afford glasses, repeated solitary and confinement in the “hole,” where he allegedly received only three hours out every ten days. The account says he could hardly walk afterward and remained barred from visitors as late as July. Its stated age twenty conflicts with other contemporary ages and is retained only as an attributed source claim, without changing birth data. Source: https://www.marxists.org/history/usa/pubs/labordefender/1932/v08n10-oct-1932-LD.pdf#page=21
The November 24, 1931 report individually lists this National Miners Union strike prisoner at Allegheny County Workhouse, Blawnox. The roster establishes actual confinement during the mine-strike repression. It does not supply an individual statutory count, exact initial arrest, physical release or completed custody duration. Daily Worker, November 24, 1931, original PDF page 2. Source: https://www.marxists.org/history/usa/pubs/dailyworker/1931/v08-n282-NY-nov-24-1931-DW-LOC.pdf#page=2
The September 27 report distinguishes them among thirty-six miners still confined after Myerscough and Young obtained parole. It does not transfer those two men’s release to the remaining defendants or establish complete time served. Daily Worker, September 27, 1932, original PDF page 1. Source: https://www.marxists.org/history/usa/pubs/dailyworker/1932/v09-n231-NY-sep-27-1932-DW-LOC.pdf#page=1
The August 28, 1931 Daily Worker reports Thompson's testimony at Washington, Pennsylvania on August 26 in the trial of nine men and two women for conspiracy, unlawful assembly and incitement to riot. He defended the National Miners Union as led by elected miners and denied ordering a violent disruption of the UMWA meeting at Curry Field. The article describes Judge Cummins limiting comparisons between the unions and District Attorney Warren S. Burchinal questioning Communist connections. This is testimony in his existing 1931 prosecution, not another arrest. Source: https://www.marxists.org/history/usa/pubs/dailyworker/1931/v08-n207-NY-aug-28-1931-DW-LOC.pdf#page=1
The January 1932 Labor Defender’s Winter Aid spread explicitly identifies its lower-right portrait as Leo Thompson, the nineteen-year-old National Miners Union strike leader. The original printed caption maps that position directly to his name. The two-year sentence in the caption is a nominal term, not independent proof of actual time served.
Daily Worker, June 29, 1931; relevant page stated in the accompanying profile note.
Daily Worker, July 25, 1931; relevant page stated in the accompanying profile note.
The photo spread identifies the strike leader, printed Lee Thompson, speaking at the Lafferty mass meeting before the June 11 march to St. Clairsville jail, and shows him in the St. Clairsville County jail after arrest at that protest on June 11, 1931. The shared place, date and union role connect this printed variant to the existing Leo Thompson Ohio case, rather than a namesake. The identified jail portrait is retained in the audit; his existing profile photograph is preserved.
Labor Defender, August 1932; relevant page stated in the accompanying profile note.
Page1’s Opeck-Orloff report names Leo Thompson among miners still imprisoned from the previous strike and describes an ILD campaign from606LyceumBuilding,Pittsburgh. This corroborates ongoing custody in the existing coal-strike case, without new intake or discharge endpoints.
Pages1and3 report the Canonsburg prosecution after the July19 confrontation,with JudgeCummins charging the jury. The bulletin explicitly says Anna was convicted only of unlawfulassembly and PeterWagner acquitted on all counts. The page1 bulletin and detailed trial roster disagree: the bulletin lists MaryRasefski,StanleyBarko,MikeSkwarlo,MikeSholtz and BessieKowlenski,while the detailed account lists StellaRasefske,EdgarGreene,HenryStark,WillMcQueen,JuliusHollis and LouisFazzio. No unsupported individual conviction is inferred from this conflict. Defense allegations of judicial bias,witness misconduct and restricted access are attributed,not independent findings.
The Blawnox strike account specifically lists Leo Thompson, Adam Ghetto and Eddie Sherwood as still in prison and asks readers to write via Box56, Blawnox. The mailing address corroborates confinement, not an exact transfer day or a separate prison identity. Later independently documented releases are retained and no individual new term is inferred from the roster.
