Biography
Sam Opeck was a coal miner jailed with Joseph (Osip) Orloff after a July 25, 1932 confrontation during the New England Fuel and Transportation Company strike. Orloff's letter in the Daily Worker of November 15, 1932 states that two mine guards attacked them, one guard died in the fight, and both miners had remained in Monongalia County jail since then. The letter reports that the ILD obtained postponement of the trial to November 21. The account is the defendant's testimony rather than a court finding. The source does not establish unreported custody endpoints or total time actually served.
The November 8, 1932 Pittsburgh report published November 9 publicizes a November 10 meeting demanding the release of the two miners and says their murder trial was scheduled for November 21. Orloff’s unnamed wife was to speak. The shared mining case identifies the established Sam Opeck and Osip/Joseph Orloff records; a proposed meeting and trial are not actual release, a verdict or an intake date. Source: https://www.marxists.org/history/usa/pubs/dailyworker/1932/v09-n268-NY-nov-09-1932-DW-LOC.pdf#page=2
The November 21 report identifies the National Miners Union defendants as held in Washington, Pennsylvania prison awaiting the murder trial announced that day in Pittsburgh. The threatened death penalty is not a sentence already imposed. No new detention episode or complete duration is inferred. Daily Worker, November 21, 1932, original PDF page 2. Source: https://www.marxists.org/history/usa/pubs/dailyworker/1932/v09-n278-NY-nov-21-1932-DW-LOC.pdf#page=2
Source and limits
Daily Worker, original PDF page 3
Sam Opeck was a coal miner jailed with Joseph (Osip) Orloff after a July 25, 1932 confrontation during the New England Fuel and Transportation Company strike. Orloff's letter in the Daily Worker of November 15, 1932 states that two mine guards attacked them, one guard died in the fight, and both miners had remained in Monongalia County jail since then. The letter reports that the ILD obtained postponement of the trial to November 21. The account is the defendant's testimony rather than a court finding. The source does not establish unreported custody endpoints or total time actually served.
The November28 Morgantown dispatch states that Judge Baker’s court unconditionally released Sam Opeck that day with a not-guilty verdict. This supplies the physical release endpoint missing from the later annual summary; allegations about company influence and a frame-up are attributed to the paper.
