Biography
Olin B. Anderson was a press agent for the IWW from Kalispell, Montana. Olin B. Anderson was convicted at the mass IWW trial in Chicago, sentenced to five years in prison and fined $30,000. His Leavenworth imprisonment began September 7, 1918, but was interrupted by bond release on September 12, 1919. He later returned to prison and was paroled June 30, 1922. Anderson joined the IWW in 1917 and was hired as a press agent during the Fortina River drivers strike in Montana. After his arrest in Chicago, Anderson awaited trial in the Cook County (Illinois) Jail, where he suffered a physical breakdown and contracted tuberculosis. After returning to Leavenworth, Anderson petitioned for release. His spirit and health broken, Anderson wrote: "bitter experience and grim facts have brought a shocking disillusionment and convinced me of the utter futility of a continued sacrifice and suffering, shut away from life, liberty and love for what I once held dear as an ideal." Anderson was paroled on June 30, 1922. According to an FBI report on his post-prison activities, Anderson never regained good health. His tuberculosis worsened, and, in 1924, he was committed to the Montana State Hospital for the Insane. Local authorities informed the FBI that he was "far gone with tuberculosis" and would die very soon. The FBI's reaction to Anderson's condition was blunt: "As this disposes of this IWW probably permanently, the matter will be considered closed."
The March 1920 One Big Union Monthly prisoner roster provides a contemporaneous procedural account. The roster reports that he was out on $10,000 bond pending appeal in the Chicago IWW prosecution. Source: https://www.marxists.org/history/usa/pubs/one-big-union-monthly/v02n03-mar-1920_One%20Big%20Union.pdf#page=6
1920s custody-date review: The federal report identifies Olin B. Anderson, Leavenworth number 13149, as released on bond 1919-09-12, then returned after 603 days outside prison. The initial and later terms are separated. Neither a later parole eligibility date nor a calculated return day is substituted for an observed custody event.
Source: Government Prosecutions under the Espionage Act (1922), pages 77-78.
White reports that Anderson actually died within two years of release at the Montana State Hospital for the Insane. This is additional reported outcome evidence beyond the earlier prognosis; no exact death day or unbroken incarceration total is inferred.
Ahmed White, Under the Iron Heel (University of California Press, 2022), physical PDF pages 206, 220; printed page = physical minus 11; source193 SHA256 7c24fb0ba336fcbf379fb9720f70dcdbf754d796a50dee77b39e38e0f9bd2868.
The March1922 official report lists Ollin B. Anderson in List1 of convicted prisoners or parolees. The government entry reports Conspiracy and violating the espionage act, etc. a sentence of August 30, 1918, 5 years Leavenworth; fine $25,000.. 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. [PDF3] The appendix reports September12,1919 bond release and return after603days outside prison. Parole recommendation September15,1921 was later postponed, not granted. The interval on bond is excluded from imprisonment totals. [PDF77]
Government Prosecutions under the Espionage Act, Senate Document159 (March1922), PDF page 3.
