Biography
Milo Bentley was a Black Alabama sharecropper and member of the Share Croppers' Union. He was wounded during the December 1932 repression of union members around Reeltown and jailed at Tuskegee. Authorities transferred him to Montgomery County jail on December 23. Contemporary reports described untreated gunshot wounds and attempts to obtain medical attention for him and fellow prisoner Cliff James. Bentley died in December 1932, two hours after his transfer from the jail to the Kilby Prison hospital. His death and James's prompted protests and an International Labor Defense campaign on behalf of the surviving prisoners.
The Daily Worker of December 28, 1932, page 1, reports Bentley and Clifford James held incommunicado in Montgomery County Jail, lying on a cold cell floor with infected wounds and denied medical treatment and attorney visits. The December 29 report, page 1, describes Bentley's transfer to Kilby Prison hospital after James's death, followed by Bentley's death two hours after transfer. Its Birmingham December 28 dispatch says Bentley died that morning, but its detailed chronology places James's death at 4 a.m. Tuesday, December 27, and Bentley's death ten and a half hours later, after a 12:30 transfer. Because these statements conflict, Bentley's death is retained at December 1932 precision rather than assigned an unsupported day.
The December 26, 1932 Daily Worker names him among five sharecroppers transferred by Sheriff Riley to Montgomery County Jail on Friday, December 23. James, Bentley and Thomas Moss were seriously wounded and put in the hospital ward; Jiggy and Ivy Moss were the other two prisoners. The report describes incommunicado detention. James denied the hospital official’s account of his statements. This transfer is distinguished from the disputed initial arrest sequence; later death in custody is not a release to freedom. Source: https://www.marxists.org/archive/herndon/1932/dec-26-1932-DW.pdf#page=3
Allen’s memoir describes the December 1932 Reeltown confrontation over confiscation of work animals, wounds suffered by James and Bentley, the surrender of James to police by Tuskegee officials, and both men’s later deaths from untreated wounds while confined. This is retrospective corroboration, without an additional exact arrest, transfer or death day. Source: https://www.marxists.org/archive/allen/organizing-south.pdf#page=87
The December 31, 1932 Daily Worker book-committee and defense reporting supplies this contemporary context: The editorial discusses Milo Bentley’s death in custody after infected wounds and alleged denial of care. Its relative wording does not resolve the conflicting precise death dates in other reports. Source: https://www.marxists.org/history/usa/pubs/dailyworker/1932/v09-n313-NY-dec-31-1932-DW-LOC.pdf#page=1
The chronology places arrest December 21, 1932 and attributes to Sheriff Riley the claim that resistance required five shots. It says Bentley was moved from Montgomery jail after James’s December 27 death and died ten and a half hours after admission to Kilby prison hospital. This conflicts with earlier transfer/death chronology and the existing two-hour account; no exact date or total is overwritten. Source: https://www.marxists.org/history/usa/pubs/labordefender/1933/v09n02-feb-1933-lab-def.pdf#page=5
Page 1 attributes exposure of the deaths of Cliff James and Milo Bentley in custody to the ILD and says the resulting campaign forced release of three other unnamed sharecroppers from the same jail. This is contemporary death-in-custody and defense context; no additional exact death date or identity for the released three is inferred. Page 2 reports a Finnish Workers Club resolution denouncing James’s killing.
