Atlanta semi-weekly journal. (Atlanta, Ga.) 1898-1920, 1912-11-26
.ETTOR Offers HIS LIFE
ON THE ALTAR OF LABOR
ImpaSSioned and Eloquent Adj
dress to jury Makes Court
Officials Weep
lspeeial Dispatch to The journals

COURT HOUSE. SALEM, Mass Nov.
2S.-In eloquent. imprisoned pleas in
which they openly boosted that they
would welcome the opportunity to give
up their lives as sacrifices to the cause
for which they declared they long had
been fighting, Joseph Ettor and Arturo
Giovannitti, accused Of the murder Of
fellow-striker during the recent Law
renee mill strike riots, this afternoon
openly defied the jury in their case to
condemn them.
Never in the history of the common
wealth had such a melodramatic scene
been witnessed in a court Of justice.
Ettor, the fiery the impulsive, spoke
first, declaring that ne was ready for
any fate the twelve men might mete out
to him, and as he poured out his plea,
Giovannitti, the aesthetic, whispered
that ne, make it for both" and after
ward he also addressed the jury.
The speeches Of the defendants came
Just before Judge Quinn ANNOUNCED that
the trial would recess until Monday,
when he would deliver his charge to the
fury. The evidence and argument was
all in.
CROWD IN TEARS.
So great was the apparent sincerity
OF Ettor that half Of the crowd were
on their feet. There were few dry eyes
in the court room and little Caruso left
the ROOM unable to control her emo
ton $3.50
The tenor of Ettor's outburst was
that he and his associate d defendants
were prepared to accept without cutlery
any verdict the jury might render, but
he made IL plain that he desired a clear
cut. decisive verdict. no halfway meas
ures. He made IL plain to the jury
that he desired either to be set free or
sentenced to death.
"TI pay the penalty, do not worry
about that" cried Ettor. ''If you be-
lieve that I had any desire or motive
to cause the death OF Annie Lopizzo, I
ask for no mercy, no extenuation from
you. If I be guilty, I want to pay
the full penalty.
eff twelve men, chosen among promi-
Inent citizens, believe that I am guilty
of murder, I say to you that / will
stand before you erect, and take the
full penalty and my comrade has just
whispered to me, Say It for both of
us
IT believe in the death chair; If we
60 there II will be with cheers on our
lips and we win take the flag we are
carrying-the labors' fag-with us. I
make no threat, but hundreds OF work.
ing people viii take it up when 1T falls
from our hands and will carry 1t on
until IT waves over the world.
II knew the conditions in Lawrence
when I came. The shame does not fall
on Massachusetts,; the capitalists alone
have reduced the human beings they
control to mere appendages Of machin-
cry, Knowing this. gave my services.
.4 MURDERED BY PLOT.
ct branded the finding of dynamite as
a plant and in time 1 believe 1t will
be shown that the death Of Annie Lop-
izzo was plant 1 fully believe that
Annie Lopizzo. my sister, the sister of
Giovannitti, the sister of Caruso and
of thousands Of strikers, was. murdered
by a plot of the mill agents."
Giovannitti, usually the dreamy-eyed
poet, farely swept the court room off
it's feet with his opening declaration
that District Attorney Attwill was too
commercially inclined to comprehend
the higher ideals" @
Maybe we are fanatics, Mr.. District
Attorney" cried Giovannitti.
Like Socrates we prefer to drink the
fatal hemlock, like Christ we prefer
the cross rather than give up those
ideals"
Giovannitti predicted that neither Att
win nor the jury could dam the mighty
tide of the coming revolution" He
charged that any violence in Lawrence
was not caused by either himself or
Ettor but was the fault Of a wage
plan which he termed. "the system by
which one man controls another; owns
his tools, his house; makes him as much
OF slave as were the negroes In the
last century. 8 ~
81 GIoVANNTTTPS SPEECH
when Giovannitti rose from his place
beside his comrade. his face seemed
swollen with emotion, his eyes swelling
with tears He said that he was about
to make the first public speech he had
uttered in .'your beautiful language.
leaning toward Mr.. Attwill, the dis |
trict attorney, Giovannitd said in a
trembling voice: So
$50 solemn is this moment, so full with |
clashing emotions am now that LIDO
not know whether ever will conclude
what 1 have to say.
Then he Strengthened up in the cage
and for twenty minutes he talked. He |
did not discuss the evidence, but what he |
called ''the preposterousness of the idea" |
that such as he and his comrades could
have been guilty Of nlurderous thought.
whirling around with g violent gesture,
he said: ~
'If there is. a man in the court room
who has murder in his heart he Is not in
this cage" sst Es 4
He went on Il. tell of his life story. his
ambition. his seizure upon the cause of |
socialism as the solution of human Ills
and ended with fearful plea. Life was
sweet he said. a wife loved him, a
mother loved him and he had ideals ttat
he loved. He felt the passion Of living |
and did not want to die a martyr, but |
to live for the betterment of men. If he |
could live. he would go on as he had
been doing. If he had to die, he took |
solace in the thought that he would go to
a higher judgment seat.
There was a hush over the court room |
as Giovannitt sat down. Then Judge
Quinn. apologizing to the Jurors, an
nounced that he would be compelled to |
hold them further as he would not de-
liver his charge IN the case untn Mon- |