Biography
Wm. Hudson was one of the Harlan County, Kentucky coal miners indicted for murder and held facing the electric chair after the 5 May 1931 Battle of Evarts, on framed-up charges arising from the National Miners' Union strike. The Harlan County, Kentucky coal war of 1931 pitted the Communist-led National Miners' Union against the operators, Sheriff John Henry Blair's deputies, and the state militia. After the 5 May 1931 "Battle of Evarts," in which a gun battle left several dead, more than a hundred miners were jailed: dozens were indicted for murder and faced the electric chair, dozens more charged with "banding and confederating" or criminal syndicalism. Clarence Darrow and the ILD led the defense.
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 roster places the Harlan defendant in Frankfort penitentiary under a life sentence and lists a wife and five children. This advances the earlier awaiting-trial account, without establishing his commitment or release day or life imprisonment actually completed. Labor Defender, September 1934, original PDF page 18. Source: https://www.marxists.org/history/usa/pubs/labordefender/1934/v10n08-sep-1934-orig-LD.pdf#page=18
Labor Age, October 1932, PDF pages 17 and 33: Printed William Hudson, the Harlan defendant received an imposed life sentence after a Madison County jury deliberated twenty minutes, according to Lawrence Seco. No individual conviction day or completed custody term is supplied. 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.
