William Burns

William Burns was arrested in Yosemite National Park for violating the California criminal syndicalism law by organizing for the IWW and "knowingly" becoming a member of the union. He was arrested in April 1923 and served approximately seventeen months in the county jail while awaiting trial. Because he was arrested in a federal park, Burns was tried in federal court. His jury consisted of a bank president, a "real estate shark, " a deputy sheriff, the superintendent of a bonding company and other persons with admitted prejudice against the IWW. Burns received a fifteen-month prison sentence, which he served in Leavenworth Penitentiary from November 1927 until May 14, 1928, when his sentence was commuted by President Calvin Coolidge.