The toiler. [volume] (Cleveland, Ohio) 1919-1922, 1921-08-27

is nausea which comes with the
sight of some person being torn to
pieces by grinding machinery into
which he has fallen. That kind Of
nausea has seized many people in
this section as they contemplate the
verdict in the case of Sacco and Van
zetti, the two Italian labor organizers
lately convicted of payroll murders
at Braintree
Wherever the twelve jurors in that
case walk they are met with question
ing eyes. They know that great hue
and cry has gone up against that
verdict; that even the conservative
newspapermen who covered the trial
for the Boston dailies declare that the
conviction was never justified by the
evidence.
They remember, too, the piercing
accusation shot at them by Nicola
Sacco from the defendants cage as
they condemned the two: 1--WE are in
nocent! You kill two innocent men,"
Some of the jurors try to explain
the verdict, and do it lamely. Others
maintain stony silence, which is the
safer policy. Foreman Walter H. Rip
ley has said that the verdict was
based on tiny mark found on the
bullet which killed Alexander Berar-
delli, payroll guard. Prosecutor Fred
erick Katzmann had argued that this
mark was caused by rust or fouling
in the revolver carried by Sacco three
weeks after the murders. But Captain
Charles Van Amburgh, commonwealth
expert, admitt that such rust or
fouling was common occurrence, and
that the mark might have been made
by any one of many guns.
Jury was Prejudiced.
Cne juror admitted that "the rest
of the jurors were prejudiced against
the Italian W .esses fot the defense,
end fissSad that ethe Italians mossia
stick together no matter what hap
pened." But this does not explain why
they rejected the testimony of all the
American witnesses who swore that
they talked with Sacco in Boston and
with yanzetti in Plymouth on the
afternoon when the payroll guards
were killed miles away.
Curious and Illuminating detail of
that last hystemcal night in the Ded-
ham courtroom is published in re-
view of the case by the Brockton Dai-
ly Enterprise.
"Ten minutes after the Serdict,"
says the Enterprise, Assistant Prose-
cutor Harold Williams walked through
the courtroom, his head bent. Another
attorney extended hand and said,
Congratulations on brilliant VIC
tory
with ters streaming down his
face Williams replied: For Gods sake
don't rub it in! This is the saddest
thing that ever happened to me in my
life."
Prosecutor Katzman broke down,
the Enterprise says, and refused to
leave bis room. These reactions Of the
two prosecutors are interpreted by
friends of the defendants as meaning
only one thing-consciousness of
guilt, consciousness that they had
started two innocent men on the dark
road to the electric chair on evidence
that would not justify the killing Of
a dog.
Resentment against Patrolman
Michael Connolly Of Brockton, who
arrested Sacco and Vanzetti and who
asserted that they tried "to pull a
gum on him, is freely expressed by
members of that police force. On the
eve Of the verdict, bets were made
by Brockton policemen that the def
endants would never be convicted, be-
cause they were not the bandits.
In the offices Of Slater and Nor
ill, the shoe manufacturing firm rob-
bed Of its payroll, many employees hold
bitter feeling against Mary Eva
Splaine and Frances Devlin, book
keepers who testified at the preli-
minary hearing of Sacco that they
were not certain he was one Of the
bandits and then, year later at the
trial, swore positively that he was
the bandit they saw in h fleeing auto
mobile so feet from the upper window
I'LL
in which they stood Miss Splaine saw
the bandit while the automobile
moved s5 feet at 1s miles an hour
one and one third seconds--yet she
described him down to fine details
such as his "greenish-white com
plexion." ,
Counsel for the defense is prcpar'
ing o motion for a new trial, to be
arguedlin September before Judge
Webster Thayer, who presided at th'
Dedham trial. II he rejects that mo-