Earl King, Ernest Ramsay, and Frank Conner were three merchant seamen convicted of murdering a ship's officer, George Alberts, aboard a freighter anchored in

Alameda, California Alameda ( ; ; Spanish for "Avenue (landscape), tree-lined path") is a city in Alameda County, California, located in the East Bay (San Francisco Bay Area), East Bay region of the Bay Area. The city is primarily located on Alameda (island), Alam ...

, on March 22, 1936. Their trial, appeals, and terms in San Quentin Prison made up a widely reported case that caught the attention of trade unionists, progressives, and radicals. The actions were prosecuted by Alameda County District Attorney

Earl Warren Earl Warren (March 19, 1891 – July 9, 1974) was an American attorney, politician, and jurist who served as the 14th Chief Justice of the United States from 1953 to 1969. The Warren Court presided over a major shift in American constitution ...

. King was the secretary of the Marine Firemen's Union, Ramsay was a union organizer, and Conner was the engine-room union delegate aboard the steamship '' Point Lobos'', which was on a trip for

Swayne & Hoyt Swayne & Hoyt was an American steamship company based in San Francisco, California, and in operation from the 1890s to 1940. During its tenure, the company witnessed the opening of the Panama Canal in 1914 and the massive shipbuilding program of W ...

's Pacific to Gulf Coast shipping lane and had crossed the

Panama Canal The Panama Canal ( es, Canal de Panamá, link=no) is an artificial waterway in Panama that connects the Atlantic Ocean with the Pacific Ocean and divides North and South America. The canal cuts across the Isthmus of Panama and is a conduit ...

on 7 March, heading for

Seattle, Washington Seattle ( ) is a port, seaport city on the West Coast of the United States. It is the county seat, seat of King County, Washington, King County, Washington (state), Washington. With a 2020 population of 737,015, it is the largest city in bo ...

. Union activists accused the prosecution of engaging in an anti-union plot, alleging prejudice by the judge and other irregularities. The three were not aboard the ship when the crime was committed. The actual assault was laid to a seaman named Sakovitz, whose first name was never revealed and who was never apprehended. Another sailor, George Wallace, admitted being aboard the ship with Sakovitz. Wallace admitted taking part in the crime and testified that Conner, who remained on the dock, had given a signal to begin the killing. Conner also confessed but he later attempted to repudiate his admission. The prosecution accused Ramsay and King of planning the crime.''Punishment Without Crime,'' published by the King-Ramsay-Conner Defense Committee (sponsor, Maritime Federation of the Pacific), San Francisco, undated Governor

Culbert Olson Culbert Levy Olson (November 7, 1876 – April 13, 1962) was an American lawyer and politician. A Democratic Party member, Olson was involved in Utah and California politics and was elected as the 29th governor of California from 1939 to 1943. ...

commuted the sentences of the trio to time served, and in 1953 Warren, who was then the outgoing governor of California, granted Ramsay a full pardon just hours before he left for Washington to take up his new duties as Chief Justice of the United States.George Garrigues, ''He Usually Lived With a Female: The Life of a California Newspaperman,'' Los Angeles, Quail Creek Press, pages 150, 152

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References

{{reflist People convicted of murder by California History of labor relations in the United States Criminals of the San Francisco Bay Area Seafarers International Union of North America Labor movement in California 1936 crimes

See also

References