Biography
Named as Mrs. Merta in the IWW’s partial Red Special deportation-detention roster. The report says the group left Seattle February 6, 1919 and arrived at Ellis Island February 11. It does not individually establish a final release or deportation. This establishes actual U.S. immigration custody connected with IWW repression, not a criminal conviction or proof that deportation was ultimately carried out. Original arrest date and full detention duration unknown. Source: https://www.marxists.org/history/usa/pubs/one-big-union-monthly/v02n06-jun-1920_One%20Big%20Union.pdf#page=39
The federal digest identifies the wife of Peter Williamson Merta as Elsie and records her arrest on January 24, 1919, followed by a February 4 deportation order and transfer to Ellis Island on February 11. A July 31 letter confirms official detention and disputes counsel's claim that she was there voluntarily to accompany her husband. Counsel alleged severe separation restrictions; the official denied solitary confinement and described permitted daytime visits. August 30, 1919 was approval of temporary bond release, without a separately established physical departure day or completed deportation. Her husband's later release evidence is not substituted for her own unknown endpoint. Source: https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/2/27/Hearings_before_the_Committee_on_Immigration_and_Naturalization_-_H._of_R.%2C_66th_Congress_%28IA_cu31924051624827%29.pdf#page=642
The federal digest identifies the wife of Peter Williamson Merta as Elsie and records her arrest on January 24, 1919, followed by a February 4 deportation order and transfer to Ellis Island on February 11. A July 31 letter confirms official detention and disputes counsel's claim that she was there voluntarily to accompany her husband. Counsel alleged severe separation restrictions; the official denied solitary confinement and described permitted daytime visits. August 30, 1919 was approval of temporary bond release, without a separately established physical departure day or completed deportation. Her husband's later release evidence is not substituted for her own unknown endpoint.
