Biography
Thorvald Nielsen was the brother of Victor. Thorvald Nielsen was held five days in a Minot cell — one of the Westby, North Dakota / Plentywood, Montana farmers of the United Farmers' League arrested by U.S. Marshals in 1935 and charged federally with 'conspiracy to defraud the United States government' for organizing 'penny sales' and blocking foreclosure auctions. The indictment was later thrown out as defective, but the men were held on bond.
Robert F. Hall’s April 9, 1935 New Masses account individually identifies Thorvald as Victor Nielsen’s brother and says he was arrested several days before the six January 26 arrests and kept five days in a vermin-infested Minot cell. This supplies the cell-condition detail and identifies the seventh defendant absent from the six-name February newspaper list. Five days is actual reported custody, already recorded; no precise earlier arrest or discharge day is back-calculated. The article dates the underlying penny sale September 1933, conflicting with the September 1934 year in the February report. Source: https://www.marxists.org/history/usa/pubs/new-masses/1935/v15n02-apr-09-1935-NM.pdf#page=25.
