Biography
Pless Thomas was a Harlan County, Kentucky coal miner prosecuted after the May 5, 1931 Battle of Evarts. He was held at Harlan and later in the Clark County jail at Winchester, where he and eight other defendants faced a murder trial. The prosecution accused them of killing mine guard Jim Daniels during the battle. Thomas refused an offer of release conditioned on signing a statement that Judge D. C. Jones was impartial. He subsequently received a sentence of one to two years.
The New Leader, April 2, 1932, page 10, individually names Pleas Thomas among nine Evarts coal-strike defendants confined in Clark County jail at Winchester, Kentucky, facing proceedings over mine guard Jim Daniels' death in the May 5 battle. It says the miners had been confined since the battle, at Harlan and then Winchester after a change of venue granted by Judge D. C. Jones. It announces trial for the coming Monday before Circuit Judge D. S. Shackelford and appeals for General Defense Committee funds to bring defense witnesses from Harlan. This is contemporary pretrial custody and defense evidence, not a completed trial, death sentence or release. The battle date is not automatically each defendant's individual arrest day. Later outcomes remain preserved. Source: https://www.marxists.org/history/usa/pubs/new-leader/1932/v13n14-apr-02-1932-NL.pdf
