Arizona republican., 1914-11-23
Rarely Has the Taking of a Human Life Aroused Such Sentiment for a Slayer as in the Case of Frisco IabOl-er
DEFENSE FUND
 QUICKLY RAISED
Subscriptions Are AlsoI Pouring ill for Relief of Lococo'S Family, and Bat tcry of Attorneys is Pro
 vidcd by Newspaper
Special to The Republican,

Especial to The Republican,
 SAN FRANCISCO Nov. 22.-Rarely has the taking of a human life aroused such sympathy for the slay- CT as in the case of Joseph Lococo, who last week shot and killed George Gray, of the contracting firm of Gray Brothers after Gray had re- fused to pay him overdue wages of $17.5e, earned in the firms quarry.
 The coroners jury on Friday ren- dered q verdict that is unique It follows:
 Said deceased came to his death at the hands of Jos. Lococo under circumstances of extreme provoca- tion We however, do not feel like iustiiying Lococo in said act but we recommend that he be held for pro- 2 CT tr i df to th" evidence of the iustifiability of the crime.
 The jury also took occasion to at tack laws which permit the with holding of wages, a practice which led to the killing of Gray.
 Subscriptions for Lococo's family have been pouring in to the news papers for week and one daily has opened a bureau for the handling of these funds. Another newspaper has employed a battery of attorneys Ito defend Lococo. Policemen have raised fund among themselves and sent it to the slayer's family.
 Lococo. who came to San Fran cisco from Detroit. Mich. in July, .l913. worked for Gray Brothers from October 9th to 18th. when he was discharged. For this period of work he had $17.50 due him
 He needed the money. for he had been sick much of the time since he came 10 the coast, and there was no food in the house except what the Ineighbors. poor themselves. brought
 in. and no money to pay the land- lord
 For fourteen days, Mrs. Locoeo says, she and her children. one IS months old and the other an eight months-old babe. with her husband, had neither money nor food except just enough to keep us alive" Finally. married by the landlord who threatened to throw him into the street unless he paid the S3 due for the sorry shelter which protected him and his loved ones from the winter cold, Lococo decided to make one more effort to secure the money which had repeatedly been refused him
 He staggered through miles of streets and sought George Gray at the Gray quarry. Gray listened to his story. to the tale of a wife and 1.-two babies starving. crying for food land of a landlord ready to turn them into the street Lococo was faint and gasping and he wept as he begged Gray for d little money. the money that Gray owed, a very little money, but enough to stop the cries of his wife and children and save the shelter he had won for them.
 Gray listened and then turned away. Lococo says he laughed at the tale of his misery. Then Lococo shot him and tried to run home to his starving wife and children to tell them that he had to do it and to cry in his wife's arms. But they caught him and he spent the night crying in a. cell. not so much for the deeu l he had done as for the wife and children he had left at home and who might starve before he could get out ! to help them. l In the city prison Lococo sobped ott the story of the deed. It IS as follows: .u
 "I am 26 years old" he said. All of my life I have worked hard, but always before I got my pay. Llttle as if was. | never had any trouble getting my money, but this tune they
 would not pay. My wife was SICK My babies were hungry.
 we had nothing to eat m the house. I myself had been without
 food for two days. So the sick Wiie and so the babies. who cried cried' cried all night long.
 "So what could l do? There was
 no money to pay rent The landlord
 was going to put us on the street
 My money was due me on the loth of october | had worked ten days.
 My pay checks called for *l'' u
 was little enough. but, oh, we needed
 it so badly. ..Thev told me could get 1t al
 Cray Brothers office on the 9th oi November. So l waited from Octo-
 Der 18th to November 3th All thls
 time no money
 1 "On November 5th the wife was
 (Continued on Page Four)