Biography
Nicholas S. Zogg was a civil engineer and an anarchist. Nicholas S. Zogg was convicted in Los Angeles of violating the Espionage Act and was sentenced to ten years in prison. First confined in McNeil Island Penitentiary, Zogg was transferred to Atlanta Penitentiary because he was in an "advanced stage" of tuberculosis. Although they recognized that Zogg's health was rapidly de- teriorating, his jailers continuously denied him proper meals and placed him in isolation. TheDepartment of Justice classified Zogg as " a very dangerous anarchist" who was "absolutely defiant." He was incarcerated from October 15, 1918, to June 1924.
Joseph M. Coldwell's signed May Day recollection on printed pages 10-11 (PDF page 10) places Nicholas Zogg in Atlanta penitentiary's separate tuberculosis camp in May 1921. Zogg was ordinarily isolated there but joined the other prisoners for the observance. Coldwell links Zogg's imprisonment to opposition to the Mexican government and describes that government as reactionary; that is the writer's political characterization. This corroborates actual Atlanta confinement without changing established conviction or release details. Source: https://www.marxists.org/history/usa/pubs/socialist-call/v1n06-apr-27-1935.pdf
1920s custody review: Joseph M. Coldwell's May 8, 1924 account explicitly says Nick Zogg was still imprisoned. Tim Davenport's editorial footnote dates his final release to June 1924 and McNeil Island admission to October 15, 1918. This corrects the case field's incompatible 1920 release year and agrees with the existing biographical chronology. June is retained at month precision; no exact release day or exact day count is inferred. The National Archives Atlanta inmate index identifies Nicholas Senn Zogg as inmate 9657, convicted in Los Angeles under espionage laws. No identified portrait was located; the photograph in Coldwell's article depicts Coldwell, not Zogg.
The March1922 official report lists Nicholas Zogg in List1 of convicted prisoners or parolees. The government entry reports Conspiracy (espionage act). a sentence of August 31, 1918, 10 years at McNeil Island.. Imposed terms, projected term-expiration dates, parole eligibility and intervals on bond are different measures; none is entered as a complete actual custody total. This attributed government entry is retained alongside the independently established individual chronology. [PDF20]
Government Prosecutions under the Espionage Act, Senate Document159 (March1922), PDF page 20.
