Biography
Richard Brazier was an Industrial Workers of the World organizer, General Executive Board member and former Spokane-based officer of the union, prosecuted in the federal government's mass Chicago IWW case during the First World War. He joined the IWW in 1908 and became a national organizer. Convicted of conspiracy under wartime federal law, he was sentenced on August 30, 1918 to twenty years and fined $20,000, and served at Leavenworth Penitentiary as inmate 13103. He had already been held since about September 1917, and remained in federal custody until August 3, 1923, when he was handed to the immigration authorities for deportation. The Industrial Worker of May 1923 gives his birthday as May 18; no birth year is recorded.
The National Archives index confirms the inmate number. NARA notes that most Leavenworth files of this period contain a mugshot, so his file is worth requesting.
