Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1927-08-07
BY the Associated Press.

ster Thayer of the Massachusetts
Superior Court was "indiscrcet in
conversation with outsiders during tho
Sacco Vanzetti trial" but In his con
duct Of the case the judge tried to he
'scrupulously fair the advisory COM
mittee named by Gov, Alvan I. Fuller
to conduct an independent invest ga
ton OF the trial reported.
The findings of the committee. which
was made up of President a. Law.
renee Lowell of Harvard. President
Samuel Stratton Of Massachusetts, In
stitute of Technology and former
Judge Robert Graft Of the Probate
Court, were made public at the state
House tonight.
Report Holds Two Guilty.
The committee found that the trial
of Nicola Sacco and Blrto!omeo van
| zetti at Dednnm in 1921 for murder,
was fairly conducted. 1t was OF opinion
that all the evidence given In support
Of the various motions for Il new ttldi
was inadequate to impress jury
should retrlal he granted. After u
review of the testimony it concluded
| that both Sacco and Nanzet1 were
guilty beyond n reasonable doubt.
The committee have seen no evil
dence sufficient to make them beleVe
| that the trial was unfair" the report
said. on the subject of the Dedham
proceedings. ION the contrary. they
are of the opinion that the judge en-.
deayored. and endeavored successfully,
to secure for the defendants fair
trial; that the district attorney was
not in any way guilty Of unprofes-
sional behavior: that he conducted the
prosecution vigorously. but not I'M
properly. and that the jury, a capable,
impartial and unprecedented body, did.
as they were instructed, well and
truly try and true deliverance make.
Judge Is Upheld.
Touching on charges of bias which
the Sacco.Vanzetti defense committee
had made against Judge Thayer, the
committee reported:
Prom all that has come to us we
are forced 10 conclude that the judge
was indiscrect in conversation with
outsiders during the trial. He ought
not to have talked about the case off
the bench. and doing 80 was a grave
breach of official decorum. Eut we do
not believe that he used some of the
expressions attributed TO him, and we
think that there is eXaggeration in
what the persons to whom he spoke
remember. Furthermore, we believe
that such indiscretions in conversation
did not affect his conduct at the trial
o. the opinions of the jury. who, in
deed so stated to the committee"
After considering all the evidence
given in support of the various mo-
tons for a new trial." the report said
in another place, I'VE are Of the
opinion that 1t is not so grave. ma.
terial and relevant as to afford a
probability that it would he a real
factor with the jury in reaching a de-
cis!on.'
The committee reviewed and dis
missed allegations that District Attor.
ney katzmann had unduly empha-
sized the fact that Sacco and Van
zetti are radicals and that there had
been coliusion between State and
Federal authorities to railroad" the
presented on behalf of both Sacco
and Vanzetti were not supported.
Fairness Is Apparent.
Says the report:
ITO us the reading of the steno-
graphic report Of the trial gives the
impression that the judge tried to be
scrupulously fair.
THE cross-examination by Mr..
Katzmann of the defendant Sacco on
the subject of his political and social
views, seems, at first, unnecessarily
harsh. and designed rather to preju.
dice the jury against him than for
the legitimate purpose of testing the
sincerity Of his statements thereon:
but it must be remembered that the
position at that time was very differ
ent from what it is now. We have
heard so much about the Commu-
nistic or radical opinions of these two
men that 1t is hard to put ourselves
back into the position that they, and
particularly Sacco, occupied at the
time of the trial. There had been
presented by the Government a Ger.
tain amount of evidence Of identified.
ton, and other circumstances tending
to connect the prisoners with the
murder, Of such a character that-to-
gether with their being armed to the
teeth and the falsehoods they stated
when arrested-would. in the case Of
| New England Yankees, almost GER
| tainly have resulted in a verdict Of
| murder in the first degree-a result
which the evidence for the alibis was
| not likely to overcome. Under these
! circumstances 1t seemed necessary
| to the defendants counsel to meet the
| differences to be drawn by these false.
| hoods by attributing them to cause
other than the consciousness of guilt
of the South Braintree murders.
Warned By Judge.
From the statements before the
committee by the judge and by one
| Of the counsel for the defendants 1t
appears that Judge Thayer suggested,
out Of the presence of the jury, that
the counsel should think seriously be.
| fore introducing evidence Of radicalism
which was liable to prejudice the
| jury; but at that stage Of the case
the counsel thought the danger of con-
viction SO great that they put Sacco
and Vanzetti on the stand to explain
that their behavior at and after their
arrest was due to fear for themselves
or their friends of deportation or prose
cution on account of their radical
| ideas, conduct and associations, and
| not to consciousness Of guilt OF the
murder at South Braintree.
I'VE have already remarked that at
the present moment their views on
these subjects are well known, but
they were not so clear at the time.
Save for his association with VanZetti,
and his own word on direct examina.
ton. in the case of Sacco, there was
no certainty that he entertained any
such sentiments. The United States
authorities, who were hunting for
reds. had found nothing that would
justify deportation or other proceed.
ings against either of these two men.
Except the call for a meeting found
in his pocket there was no evidence
that Sacco had taken prominent part
in public meetings, or belonged to any
societies Of that character; and al.
| though wholesale arrests of reds-for.
tunately stopped by the decision OF
Judge Anderson of the United States
Circuit Court-had recently been made
in southeastern Massachusetts, these
men had not been among those ar.
rested.
AL..o,....l w.. . vr.tzxn1