The Sacco-Vanzetti Case and the Grim Forces Behind It

By ART SHIELDS

Lopez remain in Massachusetts for the two trials, counsel for Sacco and Vanzetti succeeded in obtaining a sixty-day suspension of the order of exile.

Spain was the birth-land of Lopez. He is 35 years old, is an expert cabinet maker and interior finisher, and had been a worker in this country for 17 years. In February 1918, he was arrested at home in Dedham without any warrant, and ever sense has been the subject of attentions by the federal authorities.

Lopez Also Falsely Accused

He had mailed packages of Spanish papers to friends in New York and Chicago, and these were intercepted; his accusers declared that the papers contained criticisms of the war. Translations proved this untrue, Lopez declares, and he was never tried on that charge.

Released on bond, he was later rearrested as an undesirable alien; was imprisoned for 30 days at Long Wharf immigration station, in buildings since condemned as unsanitary; was held at Ellis Island three months; was in a military hospital with influenza for six weeks because of improper treatment while a prisoner; and when he wasn't locked up he was kept going to court so often that he had a difficult time doing enough work to support his wife and young son.

These days he is out on bail again, and is working aggressively to free Sacco and Vanzetti; that is his big purpose in life now. Lopez, as a dark foreigner, has undergone much of the travail which his two comrades experienced during their struggles for a foothold in America. Remembering that, he must give every fibre of his strength and intelligence to get them out of prison.

Three prominent attorneys have been appointed as a committee to do a survey of the Sacco-Vanzetti case for the New England Civil Liberties Committee, which is a unit of the American Civil Liberties Union. They are: William P. Everts, former president of the Harvard Liberal Club; Judd Dewey, former assistant United States District Attorney in Boston; and George E. Roewer, Jr., member of the national executive committee of the Socialist party.

Story Spreads to Ireland

Even in Ireland, the story of the effort to send Sacco and Vanzetti to the electric chair is spreading. Despite all the woe that is upon that island, some of its people have time and inclination to dwell upon tragedies elsewhere. Recently the Drapers' Assistant, a periodical for dry goods clerks published in Dublin, contained an extensive article by Mary Heaton Vorse telling of her talks with Sacco and Vanzetti in their prisons.

"We drove through the sweet New England towns," wrote Mrs. Vorse in beginning that article, and then she followed the contemplation of that

<--Previous  Up  Next-->