Evening star., 1953-06-20
Mothers Are Stricken
By Grief; 5000 Rally
Al Union Square
BY the Assoeiatsd Press

~ WV SNoSSSs0tO0 BTOoS
NEW YORK, June 20.-Flick-
ering candles, age-old symbols of
Jewish Sabbath piety-and of
mourning-cast shadows over the
bent form of a bewildered, griev-
ing elderly woman.
The woman, Mrs. Tessie
GreenglaSs, collapsed last night
as she learned her daughter
Ethel and Son-in-law, julius
Rosenberg, had been executed as
atom spies. A doctor rushed to
her side.
The candles rays shone dinly
through the neat, lace-work cur
tains Of Mrs. Greenglass' humble,
Lower East Side tenement home.
Far uptown, in Washington
Heights, another elderly mother,
Mrs. Sophie Rosenberg, was told
that her son had paid the Su-
preme penalty for betraying his
country. A doctor came here, too,
to watch over the shaken, IL
year-old woman during the
night.
Two Sons Play on Farm.
In Toms River, N. J., two
youngsters, Michael and Robert
Rosenberg, aged 10 and 6, played
on a farm that has been their
home for a year and a half.
Michael repeatedly learned
from a news bulletin. broadcast
while he watched a baseball
game on televiSion, that his
parents were to die before sun
down.
In Washington, New York and
elsewhere, officials and judges
maintained a vigil. There was
always the possibility, though
slim, that the Rosenbergs might
have talked at the last moment
to save themselves.
And in New York'S famed
Union Square, throng of more
than 5000 demonstrated in the
Rosenbergs' behalf, acting out
to the end a scene that had be-
come almost commonplace in
the two years since the atom
spy team was convicted.
The rally had been called as
q prayer meeting. It was, in
stead, a shrill denunciation Of
the death sentence.
Crowd Near Hysteria.
AS the announced hour Of the
execution arrived, the crowd
verged on the hysterical. Screams
filled the air. A woman fell to
the pavement beating it with
her fists. Another woman tainted
and was carried away.
At the 18th hour, another
dramatic scene was enacted in
the guarded chamber of Federal
Judge Irving r. Kaufman.
A lawyer, like so many before
him, appeared before the judge
who had presided over the
Rosenberg trial and pronounced
sentence, and asked for a writ
Of habeas corpus.
And the judge, minutes be-
fore the execution, YEARLY
turned the request down.
The execution brought bitter
comment from "the National
Committee to Secure Justice in
the Rosenberg Case" a group
that has sought a new trial for
the doomed pair or. failing that.
a reduction of the death SEN
tence."
Committees Statement.
OF the RosenbergS the COM
mittee said:
"The Very memory Of them
will one day cause America to
look back with shame on the
era of hysteria under which
they were tortured and put to
death.
"Our Nations security is not
greater for it, our Nations
conscience is not more serene,
our Nations light does not
shine brighter"
The committees sponsors in
clude some persons prominent in
groups cited as subversive by the
Attorney General, but the COM
mittee has said it accepted men,
bers as individuals and assumed
many were not connected with
such organizations.
It concluded it's statement by
pledging a fight to clear the
Rosenbergs' name for the sake Of
the surviving sons and $50 that
1t cannot happen here again"
The boys were to have been
told "at an opportune time" OF
their parents fate by Bernard
Bach, at whose farm they have
been staying.
But the older boy, Michael,
heard the news bulletin.
That's it, that's it," he cried.
"Good bye. Goodbye"