Biography
Murray Melvin was a vice-president of New York's Allied Printing Helpers' Union who helped organize the 1935 strike at the Typographic Service Company. Arrested on December 29, 1935, he was accused of assaulting a strikebreaker. His union challenged the identification and organized a defense campaign chaired by Heywood Broun. Judge Morris Koenig sentenced him on April 6, 1936, to an indeterminate term with a three-year maximum at Rikers Island. After protests from unions and youth organizations, the Parole Board reduced the term to six months. Melvin was released on parole on September 1, 1936.
The Daily Worker of August 1, 1936, page 4, reports Building Service Employees leader James J. Bambrick requesting Governor Lehman grant Melvin a full pardon restoring citizenship rights. It names attorney Harry Sacher as preparing a memorandum and Heywood Broun as defense-committee chair. The article says held since April 7 and predicts parole on or about September 6; these differ from the existing April 6 commitment and verified September 1 release. The projected date is not adopted as an actual release. It describes six months fixed by the parole board and possible further parole of two and a half years, distinguishing those from completed imprisonment.
The June 3, 1936 Daily Worker prints Murry Melvin in the context of the New York printing-helpers union prosecution and a Newspaper Guild appeal for his freedom. His wife said he was home asleep when the alleged assault occurred. This printing-union context matches Murray Melvin’s existing case, rather than the separate Buffalo prisoner Murry Melvin. The indeterminate punishment is not counted as completed service. Source: https://www.marxists.org/history/usa/pubs/dailyworker/1936/v13-n133-NY-jun-03-1936-DW-Q.pdf#page=4
Page 4 prints Murry Melvin but identifies the New York Allied Printing Helpers vice-president, matching this record rather than the separate Buffalo organizer. Vito Marcantonio urged parole leniency, citing identification only two weeks after the alleged strikebreaker assault. It confirms an indeterminate three-year maximum at Rikers Island, names Heywood Broun defense chair and Frank Cremonesi secretary, and announces a June 10 meeting. A parole plea is not a decision or release, and the maximum is not actual service. Source: https://www.marxists.org/history/usa/pubs/dailyworker/1936/v13-n138-NY-jun-09-1936-DW-Q.pdf
Page 3 reports his actual September 1 release from Rikers Island and signing of papers placing him on parole for two and a half years, witnessed by union representatives at the Municipal Building. The paper describes six months in prison on the strikebreaker-assault charge. Frank Cremonesi announced a campaign for complete exoneration and a pardon request to Governor Lehman; neither was yet granted. The six-month reported service is distinguished from the remaining parole period and is not converted into invented day endpoints. Source: https://www.marxists.org/history/usa/pubs/dailyworker/1936/v13-n211-NY-sep-02-1936-DW-Q.pdf
Frank Cremonesi’s account prints Murry Melvin but identifies the New York Allied Printing Helpers vice-president, matching this profile rather than the Buffalo unemployed organizer of that spelling. It gives April 4 for Judge Morris Koenig’s sentence, differing from the existing April 6 account, and announces September 1 parole prospectively. The sentence-day discrepancy is preserved; neither six months fixed by the parole board nor two and a half years of reporting parole is substituted for actual completed imprisonment. Labor Defender, September 1936, original PDF page 18. Source: https://www.marxists.org/history/usa/pubs/labordefender/1936/v12-%5B10%5Dn09-sep-1936-orig-LD.pdf#page=18
The October 1936 photograph captions Samuel Dlugin, the New York ILD organizational secretary, and friends carrying Murray Melvin out of jail. It corroborates the established printer’s accomplished release without a new exact discharge day. This New York union case is kept separate from the existing Buffalo unemployment prisoner Murry Melvin. Source: https://www.marxists.org/history/usa/pubs/labordefender/1936/v12-%5B10%5Dn10-oct-1936-orig-LD.pdf#page=18
Daily Worker, August 1, 1936; relevant page stated in the accompanying profile note.
The page 6 notice prints Murry Melvin, age twenty-four, vice-president of the Allied Printing Helpers’ Union, convicted of striking a strikebreaker at the Typographic Service Company. It advertises a June 5 New York defense meeting with Vito Marcantonio, Heywood Broun and Ben Gold to raise appeal funds. Union, employer and sentence identify New York printer Murray Melvin, distinct from Buffalo unemployment defendant Murry Melvin. The three-year figure summarizes the imposed maximum; the notice supplies no completed service total or new release.
Daily Worker, June 9, 1936; relevant page stated in the accompanying profile note.
Daily Worker, September 2, 1936; relevant page stated in the accompanying profile note.
The Fur Floor Boys Union report says the union assisted the campaign to free young printer Murray Melvin, imprisoned for strike activity. The New York printer context distinguishes him from Buffalo unemployment defendant Murry Melvin; this support notice establishes no new sentence or release date.
The Third American Youth Congress resolutions pledge opposition to the frame-up of the New York union official, printed Murry Melvin. The New York union role identifies this reference with printer Murray Melvin rather than the separately recorded 1930 Buffalo unemployed demonstrator Murry Melvin. This is a defense resolution, without a new custody date or disposition.
In the June 22, 1936 Daily Worker, B. B. March describes visiting printing-union vice-president Murray Melvin at Rikers Island and explicitly reports that he was put there on April 6. The union role, strike and current prison visit identify the existing New York printer rather than the separate Buffalo defendant Murry Melvin. This corroborates the existing April 6, 1936 prison-admission chronology despite differing April 4 sentencing and April 7 confinement wording in other retained reports. The article describes a five-hour prison workday; this is a work schedule, not time served. Melvin’s May Day appearance was a large picture carried by supporters. Neither that picture nor the appeal to the Parole Commission establishes a release before the separately documented September 1 parole.
The April 27, 1936 Daily Worker reports the Murray Melvin Defense Committee’s concern that press attacks on the Parole Board after the Nancy Evans Titterton murder investigation could prejudice the campaign for Melvin’s release. It identifies committee chair Heywood Broun and secretary Frank Cremonesi and describes an ongoing letter-writing and appeal-fund campaign. The committee alleged that two prosecution physicians acknowledged being paid by Melvin’s employer; that allegation is attributed to the committee. The article corroborates the already recorded April 6 sentence by Judge Morris Koenig and the three-year maximum. Its stated age of twenty-three differs from a later notice’s twenty-four and is not converted into a birthdate. A requested parole action or pending appeal is not a completed release; the independently recorded September 1 release and all case dates remain unchanged.
Frank Cremonesi’s account prints Murry Melvin but identifies the twenty-four-year-old New York Allied Printing Helpers Union vice-president, matching Murray Melvin’s existing printer case rather than the Buffalo unemployment organizer. It reports his December 29, 1935 arrest, imprisonment at Rikers Island, original three-year maximum and reduction to six months following union and youth protests. The article is an appeal for release while he remained held; the imposed six months is not substituted for independently established actual service or a later parole date.
