Biography
Ray Peltz was the Communist Party section organizer in Chester, Pennsylvania. In January 1930, police arrested him and Trade Union Unity League organizer George Carter outside the Ford plant during their work among unemployed workers. Police also raided the party office and arrested Young Communist League organizer J. Holmes. Bail was denied, and the International Labor Defense took up their defense. Peltz was convicted of sedition under Pennsylvania’s Flynn Act on April 2, 1930, and sentenced to one to twenty years with a $5,000 fine. He remained in the Media County Jail in August 1930. Prisoners were made to work without pay on a Chester ballfield, and jail officials refused newspapers and magazines sent to him.
The January 14, 1930 issue’s Chester dispatch dated January 13 reports bail denied to Peltz and George Carter following their arrest at the Ford plant, and identifies J. Holmes as the Young Communist League organizer arrested in the related party-office raid. It supplies no precise arrest or physical release day. Source: https://www.marxists.org/history/usa/pubs/dailyworker/1930/v06-n267-NY-jan-14-1930-DW-LOC.pdf#page=2
The Chester report distinguishes an earlier Ford-gate unemployment-speech arrest with George Carter from the Viscose-leaflet sedition case. Peltz and Carter were held several days under $10,000 bail and released after $10 fines and costs. Precise custody endpoints unknown. Daily Worker, June 11, 1930, page 3. Source: https://www.marxists.org/history/usa/pubs/dailyworker/1930/v07-n140-NY-jun-11-1930-DW-LOC.pdf
The September 8, 1930 Laisve, page 5, reproduces an International Labor Defense political-prisoner directory. Its row prints Ray Pelz, a term of 1–20 years, the year 1930 in the sentencing-year column, and confinement or correspondence location Media County Jail, Chester, Pennsylvania, as printed. This is an attributed historical directory entry; printed years and nominal terms are not exact intake dates or measured time served, and mailing boxes do not independently identify a prison. The directory contains stale or conflicting chronology, so this row does not override independently established conviction, death or release facts. Source: https://www.spauda2.org/laisve/archive/1930/1930-09-08-LAISVE.pdf#page=5
George Carter’s Media-workhouse account names the Mercury and Forum as magazines rejected when sent to Peltz and quotes a guard worrying that allowing them would bring trouble. It says prisoners could not read even daily commercial newspapers and were required to work without pay constructing a Chester ballfield near the Ford plant. This is attributed censorship and labor-condition detail within the existing confinement, not a new term or precise discharge. Source: https://www.marxists.org/history/usa/pubs/dailyworker/1930/v07-n195-NY-aug-14-1930-DW-LOC.pdf#page=3
The caption reports Ray Peltz and Thomas Holmes convicted of sedition April2,1930 for National Textile Workers Union leaflets at the Viscose Textile Mills in Chester, Pennsylvania, and currently held without bail pending appeal. The ten-year figure is a maximum exposure, not an imposed or completed term. Source: https://www.marxists.org/history/usa/pubs/labordefender/1930/v05n05-may-1930-LD.pdf#page=12
The Behind the Bars directory on printed page 4 lists this prisoner under Media County Jail, Pennsylvania, with one to twenty years, 1930; printed Roy Peltz, matched through the same Chester/Media sedition prosecution. This is an attributed historical directory entry: the year and nominal term do not establish an intake day, uninterrupted imprisonment, completed service or physical release.
