Timeline of the Sacco and Vanzetti case

Submitted by AWL on 14 March, 2016 - 9:27

1920
MAY 5—Nicola Sacco and Bartolmeo Vanzetti
are arrested on a streetcar while going from West Bridgewater to
Brockton, Massachusetts,
AUGUST 16—Vanzetti is charged
with attempting to rob a cashier in
Bridgewater on December 24, 1919,
and is sentenced to prison for from 12
to 15 years by Judge Thayer in Plymouth.
SEPTEMBER 11—Sacco and Vanzetti
are accused of being the chief
participants in the murder that occurred
in South Braintree on April 15, 1920,
where, near the shoe factory of Slater
Morrill Company, Ferdinand Parcenter
and his guard, Alexander Beradelli, were killed.
The $15,000 payroll in their possession had been stolen.
1921
MAY 31—Sacco and Vanzetti are
brought to trial in Dedham, Mass.,
again before Judge Thayer. They are
indicted on a charge of first degree murder.
JULY 14—After five hours, the jury returns a verdict of guilty of
murder in the first degree against Sacco and
Vanzetti.
OCTOBER 12—The workers of
Paris conduct a huge protest demonstration against the verdict. Twenty
rorkers are wounded when the demonstration is broken up by the police.
DECEMBER 24—Judge Thayer
refuses to grant a plea for a new trial.
1922
JANUARY 1—The defense announces that it is in possession of new
evidence to prove the innocence of Sacco and Vanzetti.
MARCH 23—The workers of Sofia, Bulgaria, warn the American embassy that they will not remain silent if the American capitalist class determines to murder Sacco and Vanzetti.
1923
FEBRUARY 16—Sacco begins a
hunger strike in the Norfolk County
jail which lasts 30 days.
1924
OCTOBER 1—Judge Thayer denies five motions of the defense to
challenge the verdict of»the jury in the
Sacco-Vanzetti case.
NOVEMBER 21 — William Thompson, former Boston district-attorney, assumes charge of the defense.
The defense enters a bill of exceptions
to make possible the institution of a
new trial.
1926
JANUARY 10—Celestino Madeiros, a sentenced criminal, declares that
he knows that the murder of Parmcenter and Berardelli was committed by
members of the notorious Morel gang of Providence, Rhode Island.
MAY 12—The state supreme court denies a new trial to Sacco and
Vanzetti on the basis of the bill of exceptions. The court maintains that
they were legally convicted.
SEPTEMBER 13—The defense demands a new trial on the basis of the
Madeiros confession.
OCTOBER 21—Judge Thayer denies the motion for a new trial.
NOVEMBER 19—Twenty-thousand workers gather in Madison Square
Garden, New York, to demand a new trial for Sacco and Vanzetti.
1927
JANUARY 27—Defense attorneys
argue before the judges of the state
supreme court and demand new action
on the basis of Judge Thayer's pre-
judicial conduct during the trial of Sacco and Vanzetti.
APRIL 5—The state supreme court
denies all pleas for a new trial.
APRIL 9—Judge Thayer hands
down a decision that Sacco and Vanzetti shall die in the electric chair on
July 10, 1927.
APRIL 10—Internationa! Labor
Defense issues call for demonstrations
of protest throughout the United
States, and appeals to the labor movement of the rest of the world to join in
a final movement to save Sacco and Vanzetti from being murdered.
APRIL 23—Governor Alvan T. Fuller of Massachusetts institutes his
star chamber investigation committee to give sanctity to the legal execution.
It includes President Lowell of Harvard, and President Stratton of Massachusetts
Technological Institute.
JUNE 29—Governor Fuller postpones the dale of execution to August
10. The postponement refers to Sacco, Vanzetti, and Madeiros.
JULY 7—A quarter of a million workers strike in protest in New York.
Over 25.000 attend a demonstration in Union Square.
JULY 17 Sacco and Vanzetti begin a hunger strike.
(In the meantime, strikes, demonstrations and meetings are taking place
in every part of the world, demanding the release of Sacco and Vanzetti, or
the granting of a new trial. Strikes of
millions of workers are set into motion
against the planned assassination. Some
of the world's leading men and women
of letters, arts and science join the
worldwide protest movement. Governor Fuller's office is swamped with
thousands upon thousands of letters and telegrams, and cablegrams of protest.
AUGUST 8—The supreme judicial court of Massachusetts refuses to
grant a writ of habeas corpus in order to halt the execution. Judge Thayer
again refuses to grant a new trial.
AUGUST 10—Twenty minutes
before the time set for the execution,
and while millions of workers throughout the world are demonstrating their
hatred to the Massachusetts murdererson the streets, Governor Puller
continues the torture of the two martyrsby again postponing the date of execution to August 22.
AUGUST 11—Judge Sanderson
decides that the question of a new trial
must be decided by the full court. Vanzetti ends his hunger strike.
AUGUST 15—Sacco ends his
hunger strike, because he is threatened
with forcible feeding.
AUGUST 16—The defense argues
before the full supreme judicial court
for a new trial, demonstrating the prejudice of Judge Thayer.
AUGUST 19—The court denies
the pleas of the defense.
AUGUST 20-Justice Oliver Wendell Holmes, "liberal" member of the
United States Supreme Court, denies
the plea of the defense for a writ of
habeas corpus. Fuller refuses to grant
any further postponement.
AUGUST 21—Louis Brandeis, another "liberal" member of the U. S.
Supreme Court, also denies the pleas of
the defense attorneys.
AUGUST 22—Rose, wife of Sacco, and Luigia, sister of Vanzetti. approach Governor Fuller for last minuteaction. He declines to act.
A few minutes after midnight: the execution. The current of death is sent
through the tortured bodies of the two martyrs. The Puritan hyenas of Massachusetts capitalism have finally made their kill.

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