Biography
Tom Boich was a miner imprisoned after the 1931 coal strike in the Pittsburgh district of Pennsylvania. He received a twenty-month sentence at the Allegheny County Workhouse in Blawnox. While imprisoned, he suffered from stomach trouble and hemorrhoids. The International Labor Defense campaigned for the release of Boich and other jailed National Miners’ Union strikers.
Labor Defender, October 1932 (PDF page 21): The Blawnox roster reports Boich currently under a nominal twenty-month sentence and very ill with stomach trouble and piles. This corroborates the existing imprisonment and reported illness; twenty months is the sentence rather than independently established actual time served. Source: https://www.marxists.org/history/usa/pubs/labordefender/1932/v08n10-oct-1932-LD.pdf#page=21
The November 24, 1931 Daily Worker lists Boich among workers then serving sentences at Blawnox for activity in the miners strike. This corroborates the existing Pittsburgh-area imprisonment; the roster does not state his individual sentence length, admission, release or amount actually served. The damaged given-name printing is preserved in the retained page image rather than treated as a separate identity. Source: https://www.marxists.org/history/usa/pubs/dailyworker/1931/v08-n282-NY-nov-24-1931-DW-LOC.pdf#page=2
Page1’s Opeck-Orloff report names Tom Boich among miners still imprisoned from the previous strike and describes an ILD campaign from606LyceumBuilding,Pittsburgh. This corroborates ongoing custody in the existing coal-strike case, without new intake or discharge endpoints.
Pages1and3 report the Canonsburg prosecution after the July19 confrontation,with JudgeCummins charging the jury. The bulletin explicitly says Anna was convicted only of unlawfulassembly and PeterWagner acquitted on all counts. The page1 bulletin and detailed trial roster disagree: the bulletin lists MaryRasefski,StanleyBarko,MikeSkwarlo,MikeSholtz and BessieKowlenski,while the detailed account lists StellaRasefske,EdgarGreene,HenryStark,WillMcQueen,JuliusHollis and LouisFazzio. No unsupported individual conviction is inferred from this conflict. Defense allegations of judicial bias,witness misconduct and restricted access are attributed,not independent findings.
