Biography
Portius Sell was the son of Arcadia, Nebraska farmer Bert/Burt Sell and a defendant prosecuted with Mother Bloor following the June 14,1934 Loup City strike confrontation. Contemporary reports distinguish the arrested son from his seriously injured father. A September 1935 account identifies the imprisoned son by that relationship, printing his name as Portens Sells, and places him with Carl Wiklund and John Squires. His exact jail-admission and release dates and completed custody duration remain unverified.
Page 3 discusses the Nebraska Supreme Court appeal heard June 5 concerning the June 14, 1934 Loup City confrontation. It names Bloor, Harry MacDonald, Portius Sell, John Squires, Carl Wicklund and Floyd Booth, and separately confirms Booth’s wife was arrested. The account says the lower-court prosecution shifted from riot to unlawful assembly when evidence showed deputies initiated violence; no new Supreme Court result is reported. It identifies Sell, the wounded son on crutches, separately from his hospitalized father Bert Sell. The newspaper criticizes the Booths’ later political loyalty, but this editorial judgment does not undo the fact of their arrests or create another prosecution. No exact jail term served is inferred from the appeal campaign. Source: https://www.marxists.org/history/usa/pubs/dailyworker/1935/v12-n153-NAT-jun-27-DW-Q.pdf
The October 7 report prints Hortens Selles among the Loup City defendants. Other contemporary rosters and the existing profile identify the wounded son Portius Sell. The spelling is retained as a source variant, not used to create a separate father or son identity or an additional arrest. Daily Worker, October 7, 1935, original PDF page 2. Source: https://www.marxists.org/history/usa/pubs/dailyworker/1935/v12-n240b-NAT-oct-07-1935-DW-Q.pdf#page=2
Page 2's September 20 Loup City dispatch reports the seven defendants' district-court appeal hearing had begun the previous day, following their June 29 convictions arising from a poultry-strike solidarity meeting. The newspaper lists unlawful assembly, inciting to riot, resisting an officer, disturbing the peace, and assault and battery as the prosecution's charges collectively, without assigning every count to each person. Defense attorneys challenged the jury selection; the appeal result was still pending. It calls Booth's wife Loretta, a contemporary spelling retained here without changing the profile's identity or treating her as a separate person. This article dates the initial meeting June 13, differing from other accounts' June 14; no existing exact date is overwritten. Source: https://www.marxists.org/history/usa/pubs/dailyworker/1934/v11-n227-sep-21-1934-DW-LOC.pdf
The August 8, 1935 Ord Quiz identifies Portius as a son of Arcadia farmer Burt Sell, supplying a family and locality bridge to the Loup City defendant. It reports a separate trespass prosecution over a disputed threshing machine removed July 7: Burt, Orville and Portius were found guilty August 6, with Portius fined $20 plus costs. Attorney John P. Misko appealed and the account explicitly reports the prisoners released on bond. The August 1 account prints his given name as Portis and reports the arrests, not-guilty pleas and $100 appearance bonds each. This separate property dispute does not establish additional political imprisonment, a completed jail duration, or a new Loup City custody endpoint. Source: https://ordlibrary.org/ordquiz/1935/1935%2008.pdf#page=16 (August 8, printed pages 1 and 8; PDF pages 9 and 16), and https://ordlibrary.org/ordquiz/1935/1935%2008.pdf#page=1 (August 1, printed page 1).
Rowley identifies Portius as the son of Burt Sell, the hospitalized Arcadia farmer and implement dealer. Portius appeared in the June 26, 1934 docket while his father could not attend because of injury. The son received an initial 20-day/$25 judgment and later 30-day/$100 district penalty; do not assign the son’s jail service to the father. Pages 27-30,34-36. Source: https://history.nebraska.gov/wp-content/uploads/2017/12/doc_publications_NH1966LoupCity.pdf
Identity and evidence limits
The September 21,1934 account explicitly identifies defendant Portius Sell as the son of Bert Sell of Arcadia. The June 27,1935 article distinguishes the arrested son from his hospitalized father. The Sherman County court collection also names Portius. A September 30,1935 prison account uses “Portens Sells” for the son of the injured farmer and names the same co-defendants; the relationship and case context bridge the reports, not name resemblance alone. That spelling is not inserted as a formal AKA. No exact birth, admission, release or served-time total is verified, and no forecast fine-default days are counted.
Daily Worker, September21,1934, PDF2; June27,1935, PDF3; September30,1935, PDF5; Ord Quiz, June28,1934, front page; Sherman County District Court collection.
Daily Worker, June 27, 1935; relevant page stated in the accompanying profile note.
Daily Worker, September 21, 1934; relevant page stated in the accompanying profile note.