Atlanta tri-weekly journal. [volume] (Atlanta, Ga.) 1920-19??, 1924-05-06
DOOMED ITALIANS
ASK j. 6. COURT To
STOP EXECUTIONS

NEW ORLEANS, May 4.-Coun-
sci for the six men sentenced to
hang at Amite May 9 for the murder
of Dallas Gaines, won a prelim-
mary skirmish in their effort to save
the lives Of five of them when they
obtained in federal court Satur-
day an order to the sheriffs of Tan
gipahoa and Orleans parishes to ap-
pear before Judge Rufus Foster
Monday and show cause why the
prisoners named should not be pro-
duced in court on a certain day, yet
to be named The order resulted
from a petition for release of the
prisoners on a writ Of habeas cor
pus. The crime was committed in
Tangipahoa parish and the men
have been held in the Orleans par
ish Jail here for safe keeping.
Judge Fosters order was merely
a. citation ana counsel for the state
and the prisoners will argue Mon
day. If the court decides the writ
of habeas corpus should not be is
sued then the six prisoners will be
executed at the time set unless the
defense can force an appeal from
such a decision to a higher court.
Should the court issue the writ 1t
is said the men may have a chance
for their lives.
The case has been fought for
three years-Calmes was killed the
night of May s, 1921-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 recently that
tribunal refused to review it for
want of jurisdiction.
Defense Has Money
Now an attempt is being made to
get it into the federal[ courts and
renew the battle in another direc-
ton. There have been ample funds
for the defense for Italians, and
Italian-American organizations and
individuals in all parts of the coun-
try early in the fight came forward
with financial assistance.
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 compan-
ions on an expedition to rob a bank
at Independence, near Amite, were
two blocks away and had no part in
the pistol battle with Gaines, he
said A statement a day later by
Joseph Bocchio corroborated in eV-
cry detail the story of Leona.
An announcement by the New Or
leans Times-Picayune today that
George Gulotta, of counsel for the
men, would in his petition for the
writ, charge that Governor Parker
had declared IF they didn't lynch
them, will see they hang" drew
from the governor statement
branding such an assertion "a de-
iberate falsehood."
The petition, filed several hours
later, set forth that the governor
Approaching the probability and
imminent danger of lynching your
petitioners, Immediately got in touch
with the leaders of the parish Of
Tangipahoa and promised that if
lynch law was not resorted to petit
TONERS would be found guilty under
the forms of the law and would be
executed"
Prisoners Raving
The men whose lives the attor-
neys are attempting to save are
Joseph RIM and Natalie Deamore,
New Orleans; Joseph Bocchio and
Andrea Lemartia, Chicago, and JOS
eph Giglio, Brooklyn, N. Y. Leona
and Deamore for several days have
been hysterical, Deamore having
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. Leona was informed
a few days before his confession
that. he had developed tuberculosis
and could live only few months.
He insists that he is already dead
and has been shot in the back and
exhibits the whitfield core of
thread spool as the bullet" Boo
chic, a gentle and studious man
who at one time was preparing
himself for the priesthood and who
had educated himself in the Eng
lish language since his imprison-
ment. has been on the verge of
breakdown for several days. Off
Gals believe Deamore and Leona are
feigning insanity because Of certain
pecuIarities in their rawlings, but
they are under observation. The
Louisiana law provides that if they
should be sent to an asylum instead
of the eallows they would be exc
cuted when they recovered their
sanity.
In addition to the usual guard in
the prison. three DEPUTIES armed
with sawed-off shOtguns are patrol
ing the sidewalks about the jail