Biography
Mary Donovan Hapgood was a labor activist who had been a leading figure in the Sacco-Vanzetti defense. Mary Donovan Hapgood was arrested with her husband Powers Hapgood on March 4, 1928 at Pittston, Pennsylvania during the anthracite miners' revolt on a charge of "inciting to riot," of which she was later acquitted.
A fuller account, per the curator: Mary Donovan Hapgood (1886-1973) was a union organizer, a Socialist Party candidate for governor of Massachusetts, and a leading member of the Sacco-Vanzetti Defense Committee. After the executions of Sacco and Vanzetti she was arrested outside the funeral parlor where their bodies were held, on charges of advocating anarchy and inciting a riot, for carrying a placard quoting the judge who had sentenced the men: Did you see what I did to those anarchist bastards? - Judge Thayer. A year later, for speaking at a meeting of striking miners in Pittston, Pennsylvania, she was jailed four days - March 4 to March 8, 1928 - in the Luzerne County jail at Wilkes-Barre, on charges of disorderly conduct, inciting to riot, and a peace-bond proceeding, and released on bond of $2,500 individually, $5,000 combined.
The March 7 Wilkes-Barre dispatch says the Hapgoods had been in Luzerne County jail since Sunday, March 4, and reports Judge William S. McLean granting habeas writs with a hearing set for the next day. It gives $1,000 bail at this stage, differing from amounts in the later accounts already recorded. The headline’s freed wording and procedural writ are not used to replace the separately recorded March 8 physical release or four-day stay. Source: https://www.marxists.org/history/usa/pubs/dailyworker/1928/1928-ny/v05-n057-NY-mar-08-1928-DW-LOC.pdf#page=2
The August 25 Boston dispatch describes police entering the Langone undertaking parlor the preceding night, August 24, 1927, and arresting defense secretary Mary Donovan as she placed placards on the Sacco–Vanzetti coffins quoting Judge Thayer. This newspaper places the raid inside the parlor, while another account already recorded describes the arrest outside it; the scene variance is retained. It is the existing funeral case, separate from the four-day Pittston detention in 1928. Source: https://www.marxists.org/history/usa/pubs/dailyworker/1927/1927-ny/v04-n192-NY-aug-26-1927-DW-LOC.pdf#page=1
1920s custody review: The Daily Worker, August 26, 1927, page 1, has an August 25 Boston dispatch stating that Donovan was arrested the previous night, establishing August 24 rather than the publication date. The Bridgeport Telegram, August 30, page 1, reports the August 29 Municipal Court sentence, appeal and bail. Release is recorded only at August precision, because this does not resolve the first release after arrest versus subsequent appeal bail. No prison admission or year served is inferred from the sentence. Her separate 1928 Pittston case and existing photograph are unchanged.
