The Bridgeport evening farmer., 1913-02-20

One of the greatest injustices to a human being and possibly the grosseet miscarriage of justice which has ever been perpetrated against an indiv1d- ual in the State of Connecticut is about to be rectified and when the act is completed the man who was partly responsible for the act will have acquitted himself through his eff forts at restoring their liberty.
 Salvatore Iemrna and @Rania SaIva- tore, of Greenwich, convicted before the late Judge Ralph Wheeler of the Superior court, for shooting at Nal colm Merritt, with intent to murder, and sentenced to from ten to fourteen years of hard labor in the State peni- tentiary on Dec. g, 1909, are to be released upon parole through the eff forts of their former prosecutor, States Attorney Stiles Judson.
 The directors of the states prison have already acted favorably and their release is scheduled to follow within the coming week.
 Efforts to prevent the deportation of demn1a which is demanded by the United States government upon in formation that he was previously con victed in his native country have been vigorously contested as a partial re- paratipn for the great injustice which has been worked upon an almost as- suredly innocent man.
 
 gations by the States Attorney the guilty parties have confessed to their having committed the act for which the two innocent men have already served almost three years and a half in penal Servitude; and through which it is believed three other lives have been sacrificed through hunger and StarVation-it is known that both tn @ wife and two children of Iemna have died. In his letters from the peniten- tiary the prisoner recounted most pit r1et them. So intense are soIne of the let ters that publication has been with held.
 Two seIf-confessed aesailants of Merritt are now fugitivee from jus tice. They are Dominic Pati and Jo- Seph Corso, both of Greenwich, who were compelled to flee the state to low countrymen after the conviction of 1emma and Salvatore upon purely circumstantiaI evidence and were last heard from in Pennsylvania when they made full confession to the author1- ties.
 The case against the two men who are now to be liberated was worked up by Sheriff William E. Ritch and Policeman Talbot of Greenwich The prosecution was vigorously conducted by States Attorney Judson.
 The men who were apparently caught red-handed on the spot insist ed upon their innocence. Another Ita1- ian-speaking man was sought by the police and denied being owner of the gun, related by the prisoners. The paymaster who was in the enn- ploy of the John o. Merritt. Construc- ton Company was said to have $15,- 900 in his possession at the time -The case attracted considerable attention from the public as well as the legal fraternity.
 When informed of the proposed lib eration of the two men yesterday af- ternoon, Attorney Judsop consented to discuss the case at length and in go- ing over the heartrending papers at his disposal his eyes were often dim med with tears. He said:
 ''Salvator Iemma and Ra.nia Saliva tore were arrested on November 20, 1909, charged with assault with intent to murder. A paymaster on the reservoir work near Greenwich, a lonely road as he had started to pay off a gang of Iaborers and had con possession. It was a lonely stretch of country woods on both sides. There was every opportunity for criminal to rum away and places for conceal l meant with the greatest ease.
 Merritt came driving along. Two men separated to allow the team to drive between them and as he was passing through, out of line of vision one of them shot, the bullet going his OVercoat.
 Merritt 1ashed up his horse and went on for mile further, to house l where he telephoned for Sheriff vii liam E. Ritch. In the course of half an hour Rite and a policeman in full l uniform and brass buttons came over from Greenwich in an automobile
 'There were two idlers standing in | the road just where the crime had been committed. They could have seen | this policeman half a mile away on a | straight road-in uniform They made effort to. escape FSitch | jumped out and found one of them had l a revolver in which one shell had re- gently been exploded. Ritch put | them in the automobile, and instead of | giving them a chance in the road he | drove them right up to Merritt and | said"I have got them'' Thereupon | [enn1a said: You say I shot you!" | and denied it.
 Merritt, in court, identified them as the two men. I made the point that | the shot was not fired until they were ! abreast of the spot on which he stood | Italian speaking people often look