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Debs (EUGENE VICTOR an American)

EUGENE VICTOR, an American socialist; born in Terre Haute, Ind., Nov. 5, 1855. He received a common school education and became a locomotive fireman. He was elected to the Indiana Legislature in 1885 and was later an official of the Brotherhood of Locomotive Firemen, and, from 1893 to 1897, president of the American Railway Union. He conducted the strike of 1893 in Chicago, and was later sent to jail for contempt, because of his management of the same, though he pleaded innocence of any crime and requested to be tried by a jury and be allowed to summon witnesses in his defense. Since 1897 he has been prominent in the Socialist movement, and in 1900 was the candidate of the Social Democratic party, and in 1904, 1908, 1912, and 1920 DEBT of the Socialists, for President of the United States. In 1915 he was appointed Chancellor of the People's College, a working-class institution at Fort Scott, Kan. He was convicted of violating the Espionage Law by opposing the draft laws in 1917, and was sentenced to im- EUGENE V. DEBS prisonment for 20 years. In spite of this he was nominated for the presidency by the Socialist party in 1920.