The daily worker. [volume] (Chicago, Ill.) 1924-1958, 1925-02-28
VANZETTI AND JUDGE THAYEI

mayer SSuISHC6u MIN 10 uIC6Sn years
in prison on the charge of attempted
highway robbery. There was not a
vibration Of sympathy in his tone as
he did So" says vanzetti. Il won
dered as / listened to him, why he hat
ed me so. Is not a Judge supposed
to be impartial? But now 1 think 1
know must have looked to him like
a strange animal, being a plain
worker, an alien and a radical to
boot"
The modesty which is part of the
makeup of Vanzetti never told him
that the reason Judge Webster Thayer
hated him was that in addition to be-
ing "a plain worker, an alien and a
radical to boot" ne was man of fine
intelligence devoting that intelligence
to challenging the system of which
Thayer is part.
NNE did not need to sit long in the
~ court room of Superior Court
Judge Webster Thayer in Dedham
while Bartolomeo Vanzetti was there
to realize that the two strongest per-
sonalities in that court room were
Thayer and Vanzetti. The cage in
which Vanzetti sat faced the bench
+ on which Thayer sat. Vanzetti never
took his eyes from Thayer and Thayer
knew it.
Thayer is a good lawyer in the
sense that he knows the law. He
has a hne brain which he has con-
centrated on legal problems. Van
zetti has fine brain which he has
concentrated on ideas of brotherhood
and the bringing about of a better
system of society. Thayer has an
education gotten in the best schools
and univerities in the country. Van
zetu educated himself in the time
left him after earning a living for
himself.
THAYER knows Blackstone, the de-
1 cisions Of the supreme court and
the statutes Of Massachusetts. Van.
zetti knows Marx. Dante, Mazzini
Hggos 1plas and strangely. emf the
bible. Darwin, Spencer and the other
scientists are more than mere names
to Vanzetti. He has studied them and
said my teeth were not made foI
such bones; nevertheless 1 proceed tc
gnaw them desperately, and l believe
not uselessly."
Vanzetti's understanding Of English
. is far from perfect, Thayer can make
the language Of Milton and Shake
speare do tricks for him that it was
never intended to do. The legal i'm
plications of his slightest remark
always seem to be limitless.
MYTH all the advantages on the
NV side of Thayer one would as
sumo he would be a good enuf spor
or enuf of a gentleman to refrain
from taking unfair advantage of Van
zetti. But Thayer is neither gentle
man nor a good sport.
Thayer knows and knows well that
he is trying much more than a muir.
der case when he is trying Sacco and
Vanzetti. On the slightest provoca
ton he will deliver lecture from the
Dench on the dignity of the law and
the Importance of unfolding it. To
these arguments in defense of capi.
talism Vanzetti can answer nothing.
But his steady gaze fixed on Thayer
Is challenge. 1t is a challenge of
which Thayer is conscious and he
always seems to be addressing his
remarks directly to vanzetti.
QUT on one occasion vanzetti did
- answer. 1t was during the hear.
ings relative to the alleged insanity
OF Sacco. Thayer had just commit
ted Sacco to the hospital for observa-
ton. He then delivered talk on the
idea that this is a government of
laws, not men,"
Sacco had been on a hunger strike
Tor Twenty-Five days as a protest
against the frame-up which had nut
him and Vanyetti in prison. Thayer
was DOintinQ Ouf that M s~Is--.s