Daily Kennebec journal. [microfilm reel] (Augusta, Me.) 1870-1975, 1926-06-02
Bomb Outrage
Continued from Page One

reprisals Judges, attorneys and wit
nesses concerned in the celebrated
case.
A heavy charge of explosive, deton-
ated while the family was asleep.
wrecked the farm house in which
Johnson lived. The farmer, his mo-
Their, wife and four children narrow
ly escaped death. State detectives
said the dynamiters had entered the
cellar by a bulkhead and placed the
explosive by the cellar wall at the
southeast corner Of the house. So
far as the police could determine
The explosion was heard for many
miles.
The theory that the dynamiting
was a result of the Sacco-Vanzetti
case was based by the state authori-
les on the fact that Mrs. Simon
Johnson. wife of the farmers bro
Their, brought about the arrest of Nj
cola Sacco and Bartolomeo VanZetti
after a hold up in South Braintree
in 1920 in which a paymaster and
guard were shot to death. An auto
mobile believed by the police to be
the car used by the holdup men was
left at garage conducted by the
Johnson brothers. On May 5, 1920,
Michael Boda, accompanied by Sacco
and Vanzetti went to the garage to.
claim the car. Mrs. johnson notified
the police and Sacco and Vanzetti
were arrested. Boda escaped. At
the trial the woman was one of the
chief witnesses for the prosecution.
The home of Simon Johnson, some
distance from that of his brother, was
guarded today. in the. belief that the
n hnI icfA Onv 60
home for that of Simon. District At
torney w. NJ. Wilbar of the Norfolk
Plymouth district, who has been &C
tive in the prosecution of Sacco and
Vanzetti, came here today to investi-
gale the explosion. At his request
the Brockton police stationed guards
about the Wilbar home. which Is in
an isolated part of Brockton.
The wrecking of the Johnson home
here caused a renewal Of precautions
in Boston and Worcester to guard
officials who took prominent part
in the Sacco VanZetti trial. In Wor-
cester special police guards were
placed at the home of Judge Webster
Thayer of the Superior court, who
presided at the trial, and at that Of
Chief Arthur P. Rugg Of the Supreme
court.
The latter tribunal recently over
ruled bills Of exceptions to the con-
viction of Sacco and VanZetti at
Dedham, in 1921 and sustained the
verdict of the trial jury. In Boston
guards were stationed about the
courthouse.
State and Boston police heads re-
fused to make public the details of
the precautionary measures which
were being taken in various parts of
the state. but admitted that these
were comprehensive. Neighbors of
the Johnson family told of two auto
mobiles having been seen speeding
away in the direction of Brockton be-
fore the explosion. The police an
nounced that a certain man was be-
ing sought for questioning in con-
nection with the dynamiting. but re-
fused to name him.
Alfred Shorts, a discharged en-
ploye of Samuel Johnson, was found
in Brockton and questioned. He was
released after he had furnished an
alibi but was kept under surveillance.
The police said that Shorts was dis
charged by Robinson some time ago
and was understood to have made
threats against the latter. He slept
off and on in a shack 200 yards from
the bombed house and police said he
had formerly kept dynamite there.
None was found in the place. how
ever. when officers broke into the
shack and searched 1t. Shorts tod
his questioners that he spent all of
last night in a Salvation Army lcdg-
ing house in Brockton. which is six
miles from the Johnson home.
A state expert on explosive. P. l..
Charters. examined the house ana
said that short fuse had been APP
parently attached to a quantity OF
dynamite on a window SILT He esti-
mated the time the fuse burned as
only a few moments.