Biography
Paul Brown (born Samuel Horowitz) was a Communist Party official who changed his name to avoid blacklisting and was then prosecuted for putting the new name on an automobile registration. He served six months in Minneapolis and spent nine more months fighting extradition to Milwaukee before a court dismissed the case in July 1956, ruling he had a lawful right to change his name with no intent to defraud.
The July 30, 1956 National Guardian reported that the Milwaukee case against Paul Brown was dismissed on July 10 because changing his name was lawful and no intent to defraud had been shown. This is the dismissal date, not proof of a physical release on that day. National Guardian, July 30, 1956, p. 3.
Portrait: native photograph captioned Paul Brown in National Guardian, July 30, 1956, page 3. Original source.
The February 20, 1956 National Guardian describes Brown’s May 1954 Minneapolis arrest over his driver’s license and vehicle registration under his adopted name. It reports a guilty plea followed by consecutive ninety-day terms on the two counts, then continued detention during the extradition fight. In Milwaukee, M. Michael Essin took over the defense and obtained $7,500 bail, posted on August 11, 1955 after fifteen months in jail. The article identifies William J. McCauley as the district attorney and says a January 3, 1956 dismissal motion had failed. These legal phases precede the later July dismissal already recorded here; the March 26 trial date in this earlier report was prospective. The case of Paul Brown, printed page 8.
