Billings, Warren K., 1893-1972

Laborer and union organizer.

From the description of Papers of Warren K. Billings, 1899-1973 (bulk 1920-1939). (Unknown). WorldCat record id: 71014443

Biographical Note

• 1893, July 4: Born, Middletown, N.Y.
• 1906: Moved with family to Brooklyn, N.Y.
• 1908: Graduated from high school
• 1908 - 1912 : Worked at numerous odd jobs between frequent stints of unemployment
• 1911: Convicted and given suspended sentence for possession of burglar's tools
• 1912 - 1913 : Lived on the road while traveling to San Francisco, Calif.
• 1913: Convicted and imprisoned for one year on a charge of possession of dynamite during an electrical workers' strike
• 1914 - 1916 : Blacklisted by employers because of his union activities
• 1916: Convicted on a charge of planting a homemade bomb during a San Francisco, Calif., Preparedness Day parade Given a life sentence and sent to Folsom State Prison, Folsom, Calif.
• 1926: Warren K. Billings Committee for Pardon organized
• 1939: Billings Defense Committee organized Billings' sentence commuted by Governor Culbert L. Olson of California
• 1940: Married Josephine Rudolph
• 1941: Chairman, Northern California Citizens Committee to Free Earl Browder
• 1947 - 1949 : Chairman, Vern Smith Defense Committee
• 1955: Delegate, AFL-CIO convention
• 1961: Pardoned by Governor Edmund G. Brown (1905- 1996) of California
• 1972, Sept. 4: Died, Redwood City, Calif.

From the guide to the Warren K. Billings Papers, 1899-1973, (bulk 1920-1939), (Manuscript Division Library of Congress)