Biography
William Hightower was president of United Mine Workers Local 5355 in Evarts, Kentucky. During the 1931 coal strike, he criticized Governor Flem Sampson and the state troops for protecting strikebreakers. On May 14, nine days after the Battle of Evarts, Hightower went to Evarts to arrange bond for four men already charged with murder. He was arrested on the same charges and taken to Harlan County Jail. He was convicted of murder and sentenced to life imprisonment. Governor Ruby Laffoon pardoned him in 1935.
The September 12, 1931 Daily Worker includes this name in its Harlan murder-indictment list and describes the International Labor Defense’s preparations, including Franklin Reynolds and Leo Gallagher and challenges to alleged planted testimony. The list establishes the reported prosecution, but supplies no additional individual admission, discharge, conviction or completed custody total. Its claim to be a complete list does not justify inventing missing defendants. Source: https://www.marxists.org/history/usa/pubs/dailyworker/1931/v08-n220-NY-sep-12-1931-DW-LOC.pdf#page=2
The Harlan defense report states that he and Elzie Philips had been freed during the preceding week. This corroborates the existing December 1935 release without inventing an exact individual discharge day or equating a pardon with a complete time-served figure. Daily Worker, December 17, 1935, original PDF page 6. Source: https://www.marxists.org/history/usa/pubs/dailyworker/1935/v12-n303-NY-dec-17-DW-Q.pdf#page=6
The January 9, 1932 New Leader reports that prosecutor J. B. Snyder sought death during Hightower’s Mount Sterling trial. Defense attorney Robsion challenged the alleged conspiracy, saying Hightower had never worked for Black Mountain Coal Corporation and became local union president only three days before the May 5 battle. Judge Prewitt denied a defense request to return the trial to Harlan despite witnesses’ inability to pay travel expenses, and barred Knoxville News Sentinel reporter John T. Montoux after the newspaper criticized the mine trials. The article concerns the trial preceding the existing conviction, not a new arrest or a death sentence. Source: https://www.marxists.org/history/usa/pubs/new-leader/1932/v13n02-jan-09-1932-NL.pdf#page=6
Labor Age, October 1932, PDF pages 17 and 33: Lawrence Seco reports his Mount Sterling conviction and imposed life sentence on January 14, 1932. This is a court outcome date, not an initial arrest or physical release day. Source: https://www.marxists.org/history/usa/pubs/laborage/v21n10-oct-1932-labor-age.pdf#page=17
The December 19, 1935 Daily Worker reported that William Hudson, Elzie Phillips and William Hightower had been released during the previous week. It described parole after commutation of their life sentences to four and a half years. This report establishes December release at month precision; the imposed term is not a measured served duration. The existing account calls Hightower’s relief a pardon; that terminology disagreement is preserved for further verification.
The New Leader of September 12, 1931 individually named W. B. Jones, secretary, and William Hightower, president, of the Evarts United Mine Workers local as having been in jail for months on murder charges arising from the May 5 killings near Evarts. Its report describes trial delays in the Harlan County labor cases. The report confirms ongoing pretrial confinement of these two union officers; it does not turn the May 5 confrontation into an individual arrest day or establish either man’s final release.
Page 1’s May 21 Harlan dispatch individually names this person among earlier arrestees on murder indictments during the coal conflict. It identifies Evarts police chief Cusick, assistant chief Benson, town clerk Cawood, union president Hightower and secretary Jones. These are contemporary role and prosecution details; the item gives no new arrest day, verdict or individual release. Cawood’s description here as town clerk is preserved alongside the existing account of his property and sheriff candidacy.
The strike narrative refers to the conviction of Jones and Hightower at Mount Sterling as a warning of prosecution against the Pineville organizers. It corroborates the separate Evarts prosecution without assigning the Pineville nine’s charges or threatened maximum to this defendant.
The January 2, 1932 New Leader reports that Hightower’s Mount Sterling trial began December 28, 1931. It describes his defense that he was in Harlan, nine miles away, when Daniels was killed, and disputes the prosecution’s conspiracy allegations.
