Friday, August 28, 2015

No Clemency for Fred Erwin Beal, 1941

“Clemency for Beal Is Hinted” from the August 8, 1939, issue of the Burlington Daily Times-News

Governor Hoey, Turning Down Agitator’s Request Now, Expected to Act Before 1941

Raleigh, Aug. 8—(AP)—It was understood here today that Governor Hoey either would parole Fred Erwin Beal or shorten his sentence before January, 1941, when the governor will go out of office.

He declined today to pardon or parole Beal, a former Communist labor organizer who is serving 17 to 20 years in prison for conspiracy in the fatal shooting of a police chief at Gastonia during the 1929 textile strike. Beal has served 1 year, 10 months and 25 days of the sentence.

The governor, then a practicing attorney, aided in the prosecution at the trial, after which Beal posted bond and fled to Russia. He returned to this country and was put in prison Feb. 16, 1938. A hearing on his clemency petition was held June 8.

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