Biography
Walter T. Nef was a Swiss-immigrant IWW organizer who in 1915 founded the Agricultural Workers Organization (AWO 400), the IWW's most successful affiliate, which organized harvest hands across the wheat belt. Later led Marine Transport Workers Local 8 in Philadelphia. Convicted in the 1918 Chicago trial; sentenced to 20 years at Leavenworth. Conditional commutation by Harding was reported in November 1922. Exact physical departure and separate periods of custody remain under review.
1920s remaining-entry review: Senate Document 159 (1922), page 14, individually lists Walter T. Nef, dates sentencing August 30, 1918, and expressly records 616 days out on bond. The full page was visually checked. The sentencing day is corrected. The inherited August 29 admission duplicated the wrong sentencing day and conflicts with the individual Kohn page 119 entry beginning September 7, 1918; the conflated admission is cleared, not replaced with an uninspected original-register claim. Kohn gives separate stays September 7, 1918-August 18, 1919 and April 25, 1921-October 30, 1922; the intervening bail interval equals the official 616 days, but exact endpoints remain secondary candidates. The Washington Times November 1, 1922 report, reproduced by We Never Forget, describes conditional commutation, not a verified day of physical exit. Existing arrest and release fields are retained pending original Leavenworth inmate 13110 and DOJ file 37-461; the unsupported 1923-amnesty prose is corrected. With admission unresolved, the duration remains blank during normal recalculation rather than counting bail time as imprisonment.
The March1922 official report lists Walter T. Nef in List1 of convicted prisoners or parolees. The government entry reports Conspiracy and violating the espionage act, etc. a sentence of August 30, 1918, 20 years Leavenworth; fined $20,000.. Imposed terms, projected term-expiration dates, parole eligibility and intervals on bond are different measures; none is entered as a complete actual custody total. This attributed government entry is retained alongside the independently established individual chronology. [PDF14]
Government Prosecutions under the Espionage Act, Senate Document159 (March1922), PDF page 14.
