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Sacco- Vanzetti Case The case of Nicola Sacco and Bartolomeo Vanzetti was not about the justice system blaming them for murdering two people, but rather how the justice system murdered two people and got away with it. Throughout the trial the public withdrew from their anti-radical thinking to more of a sympathetic understanding of another human being, no matter their beliefs. World-wide interest was quickly turned to the ill-fated Sacco and Vanzetti. While the judge and prosecution had already delivered the verdict in their minds, Sacco and Vanzetti proclaimed and defended their innocence even till the very end. Before the crime ever took place Sacco worked at the Milford Shoe Factory as an edge trimmer.
Sacco was a hard worker; who supported his wife, Rosa, and his son, Dante. Vanzetti worked as a fish peddler. In May 1917, both left their jobs to go to Mexico and avoid the draft. Both Sacco and Vanzetti had the same views which were considered radical at the time; therefore they did not advertise them. Understandably, they feared for their safety as well as their friends and families who shared the same ideals (Feuerlight 11). Although some had suspected that they were of radical ideology, it was not publicly announced.
Having avoided the draft, Sacco and Vanzetti returned from Mexico. Upon their return, organizations and federal agents started to investigate. On April 15, 1920 there was a payroll robbery of the Slater & Morrill Shoe Company. Two men were killed and $ 15, 773. 59 missing. These crimes happened in South Braintree Massachusetts and became known as the Braintree Crimes. There were two people that attacked and killed the payroll employees, then grabbed the money and took off in the escape car.
The escape car was described as a black Buick with other partners inside. Eyewitnesses claimed that two of the criminals looked Italian (Altman 70). Crimes like this had been common at the time and had only sparked local interest (Dattillio). It was not until Sacco and Vanzetti were in the courtroom facing charges of murder and robbery, that the Braintree Crimes would become a publicized affair. Sacco and Vanzetti were arrested on May 5, 1920 for the murders and robberies that took place three weeks earlier. They both were anarchistic; atheist, draft dodgers, immigrants, and neither could speak English well (Fabulous 26).
This undoubtedly made them an easy target. When questioned they both lied creating a consciousness of guilt in the eyes of the prosecutors and judge (Dattillio). After six weeks of trial Sacco and Vanzetti were found guilty of murder and robbery. Though they were found guilty, their lawyer still fought for appeals and continued to spend money on propaganda.
Since the anarchist movement had been paying for the trial and all the spending that Moore was doing, they fired him. Moore was replaced in 1924 by William Thompson (Dattillio). Thompson made appeal after appeal, and more and more evidence proving Sacco and Vanzetti's innocence surfaced as he fought for an appeal. On November 16, 1925 a man in sitting in Dedham Jail was given the financial report of the Sacco and Vanzetti case to read, he read it and wrote a note addressed to the News Editor Boston American Paper. Boston, Mass. Two days later he wrote a similar note to Sacco, who was in the same jail, and had the Deputy Jail Master, Oliver Curtis, to deliver it to him.
After a few minutes Curtis had passed Sacco's jail cell and saw him crying in the corner with the note in his hands (Feuerlight 126 - 127). The note read: I hear by confess to being in the South Braintree crime and Sacco and Vanzetti was not said in crime - Celestino Madeiros (Russell 279). The final decision of the committee was that executive clemency was not warranted (Dattillio). On August 23, 1927 at 12: 11: 12 Nicola Sacco entered the execution room, weak from a thirty day fast which he was forced to end only a few days earlier, he walked to the chair without assistance. Once he sat down in Italian he said Long live anarchy, he then switched to speaking in English quickly Farewell, my wife and child and all my friends. His final words were Farewell Mia madder.
Nicola Sacco was pronounced dead at 12: 19: 02. Vanzetti entered the execution room at 12: 20: 38. Upon entering he shook hands with the three guards and Warden Henry, whom he thanked for all you have done for me. He then sat in the chair and looked at the witnesses and said I wish to tell you that I am innocent. I never committed any crime, but sometimes sin.
I thank you for everything you have done for me. I am innocent of all crime, not only thins one, but of all. I am an innocent man he ended with saying, I wish to forgive some people for what they are now doing to me. Bartolomeo Vanzetti was pronounced dead at 12: 26: 55, he was 39 years old. Sacco and Vanzetti were innocent men, who were martyred.
They were not killed because they were honestly thought to be guilty murder or robbery, but because they would not conform to the ideals of the time. There was to much evidence against their guilt for a conclusion leading to it. Although there is nothing that the American legal system can do to make-up for such a horrible mistake, but it can learn from it. Hopefully the very same constitution it defends can be up-held at the same time. Bibliography: Altman, Linda Jacobs. The Decade that Roared America during Prohibition.
Brookfield: Twenty-First Century Books, 1997. Dattillio, Robert. The Case of Sacco and Vanzetti. 29. Aug. 1999. 9. Sept. 2000. http: /english.
upon. edu/~afilreis/ 88 /scan. html Feuerlight, Roberta Strauss. Justice Crucified the story of Sacco and Vanzetti. New York: McGraw Book Company. 1997. Montgomery, Robert.
Sacco-Vanzetti the Murder and the Myth. New York: The Devin-Adair Company, 1960. Russell, Francis. The Tragedy in Dedham. New York: McGraw-Hill Book Company Inc. , 1962.
This Fabulous Century 1920 - 1930. Alexandra: Time-Life Books, 1969.
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