Biography
Matthew Schmidt was an anarchist and union ironworker connected to the McNamara brothers' bombing of the Los Angeles Times building on October 1, 1910, which killed 21 workers and shattered the Open Shop war between organized labor and the National Erectors' Association. After years as a fugitive, Schmidt was captured in 1915, convicted of murder in connection with the bombing, and sentenced to life imprisonment at San Quentin and later Folsom.
Daily Worker, December 24, 1935: William Z. Foster’s page 1 Christmas prisoner-relief appeal individually names him among the labor prisoners then confined and urges aid for prisoners and their dependent families through the ILD Prisoners’ Relief Department. This is contemporaneous continuing-custody and defense-campaign evidence; collective sentence ranges are not applied as a new individual term or measured service. Source: https://www.marxists.org/history/usa/pubs/dailyworker/1935/v12-n309-NY-dec-24-DW-Q.pdf
The September 9, 1936 Daily Worker reports a pardon petition supported by forty-eight people for McNamara and Schmidt. Its twenty-five-year reference concerns McNamara and does not establish the same service for Schmidt. A pardon petition is not a pardon or physical release. Source: https://www.marxists.org/history/usa/pubs/dailyworker/1936/v13-n217-NY-sep-09-1936-DW-Q.pdf#page=8
Pages 1–2’s ILD statement individually includes him among San Quentin prisoners denied the organization’s weekly news letters, working-class literature and much personal mail. It appeals for protests against prison censorship. This supplies conditions and defense context, not another personal arrest, measured term or physical release. Source: https://www.marxists.org/history/usa/pubs/dailyworker/1935/v12-n125-NAT-may-25-1935-DW-Q.pdf
The International Labor Defense holiday roster in the December 29, 1925 Daily Worker lists this prisoner, printed as M. A. Schmidt, at San Quentin California. Its printed identifier is 25314; this is a prison number or mailing designation, not a year or a custody date. This documents confinement at the roster’s reporting time, without establishing an admission, transfer, release, new conviction or complete duration. Existing independently sourced custody chronology remains separate. Source: https://www.marxists.org/history/usa/pubs/dailyworker/1925/1925-ny/v02b-n297-NYE-dec-29-1925-DW-LOC.pdf#page=5
Phil McCann’s San Quentin memoir describes Schmidt’s jute-mill and furniture work, service as prison fire chief, glass eye and imposing stature. The biographical and work details concern the existing long confinement and are not another admission or a new measured duration. Labor Defender, December 1936, original PDF page 16. Source: https://www.marxists.org/history/usa/pubs/labordefender/1936/v12-%5B10%5Dn11-dec-1936-orig-LD.pdf#page=16
The September 4, 1936 pardon petition claims the earlier McNamara plea arrangement included non-prosecution of Schmidt and David Caplan if they stayed outside California; it says later prosecutor Thomas Lee Woolwine did not honor that arrangement. The petition describes twenty-one years of Schmidt’s existing imprisonment and asks for full pardon. These are attributed defense claims and a request, not an independent finding of an enforceable agreement, completed release or another custody episode. Chester Arthur’s Steffens retrospective on PDF page 8 records continued family support for Schmidt’s freedom. Source: https://www.marxists.org/history/usa/pubs/labordefender/1936/v12-%5B10%5Dn10-oct-1936-orig-LD.pdf#page=10
A letter signed M. A. Schmidt at San Quentin, Box30704, thanks the defense committee for a one-dollar payment and jokes about bankers entering prison. This corroborates his current confinement and prisoner-relief support, without a new admission or discharge date. Page25. Source: https://www.marxists.org/history/usa/pubs/labordefender/1933/v09n07-jul-1933-lab-def.pdf
The January 28, 1924 issue of The Daily Worker individually listed Mathew Schmidt among the political and class-war prisoners at San Quentin State Prison in California, in an appeal to fund newspaper subscriptions for imprisoned people. This is a contemporary custody observation; the publication date does not establish admission, release, or a total period served.
The February 26, 1924 Daily Worker political-prisoner roster individually prints Math. Schmidt with historical prisoner number 30704. The entry appears under San Quentin State Prison, California. This is a contemporary institutional identifier, not a federal BOP register number. No admission or release date, individual sentence length, actual duration, organizational membership or present status is inferred.
In his San Quentin letter printed in the September 1926 Labor Defender, Schmidt gives his birthday as February 13 without a year. He explains that prisoners were not permitted to manufacture articles for outside sale, despite an earlier period when this had been allowed. The source establishes the month and day only, so the structured birth date remains unset rather than inventing a year.
Daily Worker, December 24, 1935; relevant page stated in the accompanying profile note.
The editor of Ernst Toller’s account says that during his western visit Toller spoke with McNamara and Schmidt, imprisoned at San Quentin. A fuller account is promised for February; that announcement is not an account of an additional event, release or transfer.
Daily Worker, May 25, 1935; relevant page stated in the accompanying profile note.
The Mooney Congress resolution includes life prisoners Matthew Schmidt and J. B. McNamara among those whose release it demands. This documents the campaign and does not establish a new sentence or transfer.
The Behind the Bars directory on printed page 4 lists this prisoner under San Quentin State Prison, California, with life, 1915. 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.
Vic Johnson’s holiday column names Matt Schmidt among the labor prisoners at San Quentin and describes his craft skills and spirit. The rounded twenty-year reference is commemorative and does not establish exact admission, discharge or complete custody duration.
The ILD endorsed a petition from forty-eight labor leaders and liberals, submitted through Elinore M. Herrick to Governor Merriam, requesting a pardon. The article describes twenty-five years for McNamara and twenty-one for Schmidt as time imprisoned to that reporting point. These rounded campaign descriptions are not complete lifetime totals. A petition and calls for supporting resolutions are not pardons granted or actual releases.
Foster’s defense appeal describes Schmidt still imprisoned and calls the term twenty-one years. This rounded contemporary description is not converted into a measured total.
Bert Grant’s Working-Class February column says the birthday of the San Quentin prisoner it prints as Matt A. Schmitt falls on February 15. This conflicts with the February 13 birthday in Schmidt’s own September 1926 prison letter already retained in the record. The magazine’s conflicting day is preserved as an attributed claim; no exact birthday or birth year is installed from it.
The San Quentin overcrowding item says a proposed removal of life-term and repeat prisoners to Folsom would include Tom Mooney, Matt Schmidt and J. B. McNamara. It describes a proposed transfer, not proof that this prisoner had already been moved.
Anton Johannsen’s account says Schmidt had been imprisoned since February 13, 1915 and distinguishes his life sentence from David Caplan’s ten years. It identifies Schmidt’s arrest in New York and Caplan’s in Seattle, and their later Los Angeles trial over alleged assistance in acquiring the Times-bombing dynamite. The source supplies no actual discharge or new exact sentence day.
