March 22, 1919: 102 years ago, Mar 22 1919, Oakland police arrested Russian IWW member [...]

102 years ago, Mar 22 1919, Oakland police arrested Russian IWW member Pavel Melnikov on suspicion of the murder of prominent local banker George Greenwood’s wife. Greenwood’s home by Lake Merritt had been dynamited four nights before

Melnikov, who had participated in revolutionary groups in Russia, was arrested at the IWW’s Jack London Memorial Library. On scant evidence, he was accused of plotting the murders of local capitalists as a member of an alleged IWW secret society, the Cat’s Claw Club

His case was taken up by the International Worker’s Defense League, an IWW-linked legal defense group known for defending high-profile radicals like Joe Hill and Tom Mooney. Melnikov’s defense was unsuccessful, and he was sent by train to New York to be deported in December 1919

Some Wobblies on Melnikov’s train managed to escape deportation at the last minute, including Melnikov’s close comrade Basil Saffores. However, he was not identified in the papers as one of those who escaped

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