The Birmingham age-herald. [volume] (Birmingham, Ala.) 1902-1950, 1924-05-04
5 ITALIANS WIN
SLIGHT CHANCE
TOSTAY DEATH
Counsel Obtains Writ To
Open Case In Federal
Courts

NEW ORLEANS, May 3.-(By the
Associated Eress. Counsel for the six
men sentenced to hang at Amite May o,
for the murder Of Dallas Gaines won
preliminary skirmish in their eff
fort 10 save the lives of five of them
when they obtained In federal district
court today an order 20 the sheriffs
Of Tangipahoa and Orleans parishes to
appear before Judge Rufus Foster Mon
Edhy and show cause why the prisoners
named should not be produced in court
on certain day, yet to be named.
The order resulted from a petition for
release Of the prisoners on writ oof
habeas corpus. The crime was commit
ted in Tangipahoa parish and the men
have been held In the Orleans parish
jail here for safe keeping,
Judge Fosters order was merely, a
eitation. Counsel for the state and the
prisoners win argue the same Mon
day II the court decides the writ OF
haheas corpus sholld not b issued,
then the ~ \ psa sanerN wiIt be eaagalttsl
hf the tins Ut nialasa klte slsfAHse can
force an appeal from euch decision
/ To higher court. Should the curt tissue
the writ It il said the men may have
cuAnce ZOE thelr IVES
Swear Fight
The case has been fought for three
years. Gaines was killed the night of
MAJ s, 1g21-and has been in the
lower courts and the state supreme
court on two occasions. When it reached
the supreme court of the United States,
that tribunal refused to review it for
want Of jurisdiction. Now an attempt
IL being made to get it into the fed
eral courts and renew the battle in
another direction. There have been
ample funds for the defense for 1tal-
ians, and aIian-Amefican organizations
and individuals in all parts of the
country early in the fight came forward
with financial assistance,
Le0na Not Affected
The petition did not affect the case
OF Roy LeOna, of Brooklyn, n. Y, whose
protest Of innocence for three years
suddenly gave way to a confession two
weeks ago that he fired the shot that
killed Gaines. The other five men, his
companions on an expedition to rob
bank at Independence near Amite,
were two blocks away and had no part
in the pistol battle with Gaines, he
said. A statement day later by Joseph
Bocchio eorroborated In every detail
the story Of Leona.
An announcement by the New Or
leans Times icayune today tina t
George GuIotta of counsel for the men,
would in his petition for the writ charge
that Governor Parker had declared iii
they did not lynch them, / will see them
hang" drew from the governor a state
liberate falsehood."
/ The. men whose lives the attorneys
are attempting to have the Joseph RIM
and Natalie Deamore. New Orleans
Joseph Bocchio and Andrea I1emartia,
Chicago and Joseph Giglio, Brooklyn,
N. Y. Lebna and Deamore for several
days have been hysterical. DeamOfe hav-
ing reached the stage where he at
tempted suicide, and then later wrecked
the plumbing and other fixtures in his
cell. He insists that he is aflame.
Says He's Dead
Leona was informed a few days be
fore his confession that he had devel0ped
tuberculosis and could live only a few
months. He insists that he is already
dead and has been shot in the back aut
exhibits the whitfield core Of a thread
spool as the bullet" Bocchio, a gen
tie and stndious man, who at one time
was preparing himself for the priest
hood and who has educated himself In
the English language since his impris-
onment has been on the verge of a
breakdown for several days.
In addition to the usual guard in
the prison, three deputies armed with
sawed-off shot guns are patrolling the
sidewalks about the jail each night he
cause of numerous threats of one kind
or another the authorities have re-
ceived.