Biography
Ted Baer was the Communist Party's Sioux City section organizer. In September 1939 police arrested him and two companions after a private meeting at the Jackson Hotel, confiscating a suitcase of political literature. They then raided his house and arrested Bob Carson, Wilbur Howard and Carl Martin. Baer's wife Emma appealed to the International Labor Defense, which obtained the six men's release from Sioux City Jail on $500 bond each. The defendants faced accusations of inciting hostilities against the government and belonging to an organization advocating its overthrow by force under Iowa's criminal-syndicalism law. In 1936 he served as the party's Iowa state chairman and helped organize a conference on relief for farmers affected by the drought.
The page 5 Sioux City notice identifies Bob Carson as Iowa Communist Party state organizer and Ted Baer as Sioux City section organizer. They and four unnamed party members were arrested September 14, 1939 following a meeting at the Jackson Hotel, charged with exciting hostilities against the government. Illinois ILD arranged legal defense. No release, conviction or measured duration is reported; the four unnamed defendants are not invented as individual profiles. Source: https://archive.ilwu.org/wp-content/uploads/2015/04/19390928.pdf
The September 14 Associated Press dispatch on printed page 6 (PDF pages 6 and 14) names Theodore Baer, age 31, of Sioux City among six arrested in Sioux City on accusations described as inciting government hostilities. Iowa Communist Party officials denied advocating overthrow of the government. The article also prints Carl Friedman, Rudy Holly and Joe Phillips. The context supports the Carson and Baer name variants in the established cohort. Its reference to accusations the preceding day conflicts with another newspaper's September 14 arrest report and the independently recorded September 13 release; this article does not settle those chronology conflicts or justify overwriting existing custody dates. No new judgment or additional detention episode is established. Source: https://dailyiowan.lib.uiowa.edu/DI/1939/di1939-09-15.pdf
Bob Wirtz’s ILD letter reports a September 13 telegram from Emma Baer saying that six men were in Sioux City jail, with literature confiscated. ILD obtained release within four hours on $500 bond each. Carl Martin’s quoted letter describes Ted Baer and two unnamed companions arrested after a private Jackson Hotel meeting, followed at 2:30 the next morning by a raid on Baer’s home and the arrests of Bob Carson, Wilbur Howard and Martin. Initial open charges became inciting hostilities against the government and membership in an organization advocating violent overthrow under Iowa criminal-syndicalism law. This is the existing September case; the account supplies the September 13 release, but does not unambiguously date the preceding meeting or first arrests, and no exact continuous custody total is inferred.
Voice of the Federation, September 28, 1939; relevant page stated in the accompanying profile note.
The Daily Iowan, September 15, 1939; relevant page stated in the accompanying profile note.
