Biography
W. M. McGinnis was a Loray Mill striker and one of seven defendants convicted on October 21, 1929 of conspiracy in the death of Gastonia police chief Orville F. Aderholt during the June 7 police raid on the strikers’ tent colony. McGinnis received a sentence of twelve to fifteen years and jumped bail while his appeal was pending. Earlier text incorrectly replaced him with Robert Allen in the list of convicted defendants and said that every one of the seven fled to the Soviet Union. The sources located identify McGinnis as one of the seven but do not place him in Moscow.
Daily Worker, June 14, 1929, page 1: The June 13 bulletin prints Wm. McGinnis among thirteen Gastonia defendants charged with murder in amended complaints; fifty-eight others faced assault with intent to kill. Twenty-four unnamed prisoners had been released, but no strike leader or organizer was among them. These are initial changing accusations, not the October verdict or a release of this named person. Attorney Jimison had first interviewed the prisoners; Major Bulwinkle, the mill company attorney, directed the prosecution. Source: https://www.marxists.org/history/usa/pubs/dailyworker/1929/1929-ny/v06-n084-NY-jun-14-1929-DW-LOC.pdf
Daily Worker, July 22, 1929, page 3: Liston Oak’s July 21 dispatch names this existing Gastonia defendant among possible targets of the prosecution’s effort to narrow the case. The predicted reduction or dismissal of some charges is prospective. Fifteen remained in Gaston County jail and eight others were out on bonds collectively; this does not establish a new individual release or the final October verdict. Source: https://www.marxists.org/history/usa/pubs/dailyworker/1929/1929-ny/v06-n116-NY-jul-22-1929-DW-LOC.pdf
The November15,1929 issue explicitly includes William McGinnis among three Gastonia defendants just released on bail to address the New Star Casino meeting. Boilerplate in the same article still says five remained jailed, an outdated count. The explicit named release establishes freedom by this issue, contradicting the former November16 endpoint, but does not provide an exact physical discharge day. Month precision preserves that limit. Source: https://www.marxists.org/history/usa/pubs/dailyworker/1929/1929-ny/v06-n216-NY-nov-15-1929-DW-LOC.pdf#page=1
The August 26, 1929 report names this defendant among the sixteen assembled for the Charlotte Gastonia trial before Judge M. V. Barnhill. It distinguishes nine Southern Loray workers from seven organizers and discusses the defense’s planned police-violence evidence. The allegations are attributed defense accounts. Trial appearance is not a new arrest or proof that a previously bailed defendant had been returned to jail; later convictions and individually established bail releases remain separate. Source: https://www.marxists.org/history/usa/pubs/dailyworker/1929/1929-ny/v06-n146-NY-aug-26-1929-DW-LOC.pdf#page=5
Daily Worker, December 28, 1929, pages 1–2: The seven convicted Gastonia defendants are individually named among the textile delegation attending the International Labor Defense convention in Pittsburgh. The report describes sentences up to twenty years while placing them in the traveling delegation. These are imposed terms, not actual continuous imprisonment through the convention; no new arrest or exact bail-release day is established. The paper prints the last name Hendricks on page 1 and Hendryx on page 2. Source: https://www.marxists.org/history/usa/pubs/dailyworker/1929/1929-nat/v06-n253-NAT-dec-28-1929-DW-Q.pdf
Pages 1 and 3 individually name this Gastonia defendant among five still jailed while the ILD sought $20,000 bail. Beal and the man printed Red Hendryx were already out. The proposed Friday Harlem welcome did not itself prove this defendant released, and the later appeal/bail history remains preserved. The source adds a definite pre-release observation rather than uninterrupted custody or another sentence. Source: https://www.marxists.org/history/usa/pubs/dailyworker/1929/1929-ny/v06-n213-NY-nov-12-1929-DW-LOC.pdf
1920s custody review: The November 15, 1929 Daily Worker individually names William McGinnis among three Gastonia defendants already released on bail. This conflicts with the November 18 report’s Saturday-at-1:30 account formerly interpreted as November 16. The existing case correctly retains November 1929 at month precision rather than an exact physical-release day. These are bail-release reports, not completion of the imposed sentence. The later boilerplate statement that five remained jailed is not used to erase the named release.
Reported police violence during the Gastonia detention
The October 12, 1929 Daily Worker reports that Gastonia defense witness C. D. Saylors testified that he saw two policemen severely beat McGinnis in jail while trying to extract a confession. This is attributed witness testimony, not an independent judicial finding. It adds a specific account of treatment during the already recorded prosecution, without assigning a new arrest, admission, release, conviction or measured duration. The November 1929 bail release remains recorded at month precision; the exact physical-release day is unresolved across the contemporary reports.
Daily Worker, October 12, 1929, original pages 3. Accounts and allegations are attributed to the newspaper and reported witnesses.
The Raleigh dispatch dated August 20 reports that the North Carolina Supreme Court affirmed the Gastonia convictions. It individually names Fred Beal, Clarence Miller, Louis McLaughlin, George Carter, William McGinnis, Joseph Harrison and K. Y. Hendricks, and gives 117 years as a collective sentence figure. Its continuation describes the ILD’s criticism of Judge Barnhill’s instructions and a proposed further appeal to the U.S. Supreme Court. The collective term is not allocated to individual defendants or treated as actual service, and affirmance is not a new physical admission, discharge or exile endpoint. The source’s William McGinnis is matched by the same seven-defendant Gastonia case to the existing W. M. McGinnis record.
Daily Worker, June 14, 1929; relevant page stated in the accompanying profile note.
Daily Worker, July 22, 1929; relevant page stated in the accompanying profile note.
A jail letter about the Loray strike and his mother
A letter signed Bill McGinnis in the July 17, 1929 Daily Worker identifies its writer as a Loray striker held in Gaston County Jail on the murder charge. He pledges continued support for the union and recounts that his mother, a Loray spooler who joined the strike, was knocked down and had her glasses kicked off by hired thugs. This is his attributed account, not a judicial finding or a new custody record for his unnamed mother. The shared Gastonia prosecution and Loray context connect the source name Bill McGinnis to the existing McGinnis record; no name field, date, release or numerical custody total is changed.
Daily Worker, July 17, 1929, original page 2. Source statements and allegations remain attributed to the named writer and newspaper.
Daily Worker, December 28, 1929; relevant page stated in the accompanying profile note.
Daily Worker, November 12, 1929; relevant page stated in the accompanying profile note.
The November 25, 1929 Daily Worker prints a statement signed by Louis McLaughlin, Joseph Harrison, Clarence Miller, W. M. McGinnis and G. W. Carter, introduced as written in Mecklenburg County Jail before McLaughlin and McGinnis obtained bail. The signers accused former defense lawyers Jimison and Neal of withholding bail funds and defended the International Labor Defense’s support during their imprisonment and appeal. These are the prisoners’ contemporary allegations in a dispute over their legal defense, not judicial findings or a new sentencing or custody endpoint.
