I was a friend of Bartolomeo Vanzetti. Perhaps his only American friend. One day in August 1927, I visited Vanzetti in prison. We talked for some time and I left the prison after saying goodbye to Vanzetti. I was never to see him again. A few days later, on August 23, 1927, Bartolomeo Vanzetti and his friend, Nicola Sacco, were executed for robbery and murder.

I first met Vanzetti when he moved to the US from Italy. It was about 1908 and we were both twenty years old. Sacco was also an immigrant from Italy. Sacco was a shoemaker and Vanzetti sold fish. Neither man made much money.

All things considered, life was hard for poor immigrants at the time. In fact, life was hard for everyone and there were harder times coming after World War I. There were few jobs available and competition for them was fierce. Many Americans were afraid that immigrants were taking their jobs. They wanted to end immigration.

People were also afraid of anarchism, the political idea that laws and governments are not necessary. The US government considered anarchists dangerous. Vanzetti and Sacco were anarchists. The government must have been watching them closely.

One night Vanzetti and I had dinner near the town of South Braintree, Massachusetts. I remember it because just a few days after our dinner, on April 15, 1920, two men carrying the payroll for a shoe factory in the town were attacked and shot dead. The $15,776.51 that the men were carrying was stolen. The two robbers escaped.

Soon after our dinner, and after the shoe factory murders, my friend Vanzetti and his friend Sacco were arrested. After the South Braintree affair, the police were watching immigrant men like my friends even more closely. The police didn’t think that Vanzetti and Sacco were connected with the South Braintree affair, but they were accused of an attempted robbery which happened in the town of Bridgewater in December 1919.

In court Sacco was able to prove that he had been working that day. Many witnesses also swore that Vanzetti had been working. However, like the accused, the witnesses were Italian immigrants. Many of them didn’t speak English well. The court had them answer many complicated questions. They became confused. They were even laughed at. As many as sixteen witnesses said that Vanzetti was somewhere else on the day of the crime, and yet he was still found guilty.

My friend’s problems were just beginning, however. There were more serious problems coming his way. Next he and Sacco were accused of the robbery and murders that took place in South Braintree. There was nothing I could do for Vanzetti, but I went to watch the trial. There were several witnesses who said that they had seen the robbery, but they hadn’t seen the faces of the robbers. Then a woman named Mary Splaine, a bookkeeper at the shoe factory, was questioned:

“Where were you on the day of the robbery?” They asked her.

“I was at work.” She replied.

“Where do you work?”

“At the South Braintree shoe factory.”

“And you saw the robbery?”

“I didn’t see the robbery, but I saw the robbers’ car and one of the men inside it.”

“Can you identify the man? Is he inside this court?”

“Yes, sir. I recognize that man.” She pointed to Sacco.

This was interesting because, apparently, when Ms. Splaine talked to the police soon after the robbery, she said that she had seen the car only briefly. So the defense lawyer continued questioning her.

“That’s odd. When you talked to the police, you said that you couldn’t identify the man in the car. Is that correct?”

“Er, yes.”

“But suddenly now you can identify him?”

“Well, er, .... Yes, sir.”

Another important piece of evidence was a cap. A cap had been found near the place where the murders had taken place. It was said to be Sacco’s cap. However, when Sacco tried on the cap in court, it was too small for him! Amazingly, the lawyer for the prosecution ignored this fact and continued to talk about “Sacco’s cap.” Even though the jury could see that the cap was too small, they heard the phrase “Sacco’s cap” over and over again.

Next, the prosecution asked a witness named James Bostock, who sometimes worked at the shoe factory, several questions.

“Did you see the men who fired the gunshots?” They asked him.

“Not properly,” he replied. “But they appeared to be foreigners.”

“What do you mean?”

“Well, they kind of looked like Italians, sir.”

They asked him if he recognized Vanzetti and Sacco, but he said no.

James Bostock had picked up some bullets from the scene of the murder. Now I knew Vanzetti had a gun. His gun was brought into court and they compared the bullets. They were different!

The trial of Vanzetti and Sacco lasted about seven weeks, but finally the jury left the courtroom to deliberate. While waiting for their decision, I felt sure that my friend would be found innocent. The jury talked for three hours. After that they had dinner. Then they came back into the courtroom. I waited with my eyes closed. I was saying a prayer. However, the jury had decided that both men were guilty.

I was shocked. So were people all over the world, of all nationalities and political beliefs. When the two were found guilty, there were demonstrations all over the United States, and even in Europe. I heard people say that the decision to execute them was based on prejudice against them as immigrants and because of their political views. People demonstrated and protested the decision, demanding further investigation and more time in court. But nothing changed and on August 23, 1927 my friend was sent to the electric chair.

After the execution, arguments about the men’s guilt continued. Some said they were guilty, some said they were innocent. However, there was no absolute proof either way. In the end, these men were executed with no real proof that they had committed a crime.

The United States has changed since then. The State of Massachusetts has not admitted that there was a mistake, but I heard that they are thinking of naming the anniversary of their deaths “Vanzetti and Sacco Memorial Day.” Judging from this, I think even they believe that the two men should not have been executed. I wonder if we will ever know the truth.