Biography
William “Pete” Clay was a one-armed worker and Daily Worker newspaper seller who supported the 1936 East Coast seamen’s strike. On May 16, mounted New York police attacked the waterfront picket line, beat him unconscious and charged him with felonious assault. He was taken from a hospital to the Tombs. International Labor Defense attorneys Fannie Horowitz and Max Bloom took up his defense. After efforts to reduce the bail failed, the organization raised $1,500 and secured his release on May 25, 1936. He remained on bail while the prosecution continued.
Daily Worker, December 18, 1936, page 5: The paper reports that a jury acquitted Clay on December 17 after a trial beginning December 15, rejecting first-, second- and third-degree felonious-assault accusations arising from the May 16 waterfront picket. The jury was said to deliberate four minutes. The acquittal is distinct from his earlier May bail release. Source: https://www.marxists.org/history/usa/pubs/dailyworker/1936/v13-n303-XX-dec-18-1936-DW-Q.pdf
The May 22, 1936 Daily Worker describes mounted-police violence during his May 16 seamen’s-strike arrest, hospital treatment and his May 20 court appearance, with $1,500 bail still needed. The May 27 follow-up, page 4, confirms release from the Tombs on Monday, May 25 on ILD bail. A July 7 release appeal alone does not prove a later rearrest or continued imprisonment after that documented bail. Source: https://www.marxists.org/history/usa/pubs/dailyworker/1936/v13-n127-NY-May-27-1936-DW-Q.pdf#page=4 Source: https://www.marxists.org/history/usa/pubs/dailyworker/1936/v13-n123-NY-May-22-1936-DW-Q.pdf#page=4
Daily Worker, May 20, 1936, page 1, calls him William J. Clay and reports $15,000 bail after his May 16 waterfront arrest. The following issue, page 2, instead describes the May 20 hearing before Magistrate Leonard McGee: bail was reduced from $1,500 to $1,000 and then restored to $1,500, and further hearing was adjourned to May 27. The reports' conflicting bail figures are retained with their dates rather than silently reconciled. Fanny Horowitz, attached to the International Labor Defense legal staff, represented him. These pretrial proceedings do not replace the existing May 25 physical bail-release date or December acquittal. Sources: https://www.marxists.org/history/usa/pubs/dailyworker/1936/v13-n121-NY-May-20-1936-DW-Q.pdf#page=1 and https://www.marxists.org/history/usa/pubs/dailyworker/1936/v13-n122-NY-May-21-1936-DW-Q.pdf#page=2
The local report places his trial in General Sessions before Judge Jonah J. Goldstein and names defense lawyer Horowitz. It recalls the May waterfront beating and assault accusation. A trial observation does not replace his May bail release or the later December 17 acquittal. Laisve, December 16, 1936, original PDF page 6. Source: https://www.spauda2.org/laisve/archive/1936/1936-12-16-LAISVE.pdf#page=6
