Mortimer Downing

Released

Full name:Mortimer A. Downing

Date of birth:27. 08. 1862

Date of death:22. 06. 1948

Age:85^{† Deceased}

Gender:Male

Race:White

Era:1910s

State:California

Time Imprisoned:

6 Years 1 Month 21 Days

Support

Anti-War Anti-Militarism Industrial Workers of the World (IWW)

Biography

Mortimer Downing, secretary of the IWW chapters in Oakland and Stockton, California, at the time of his arrest, was convicted at the mass IWW trial in Sacramento and sentenced to ten years in prison. He served in Leavenworth Penitentiary from November 1917 to December 22, 1923. According to the Department of Justice, Downing was considered "a leader of the IWW on the Pacific coast." He had also been secretary of IWW chapters in Sacramento and Los Angeles. The Department of Justice described him as a "rabid anti-war agitator" with "misapplied intelligence." He was branded a "dangerous character" who had "a great influence over other men." After release from prison he was elected editor of the IWW paper The Industrial Worker?*