PEOPLE I HAVE KNOWN

...Remember this, Dante...

...I tell you, your father, that is all the life to you, your father that loves you and saw them, and knows their noble faith (that is mine), their supreme sacrifice that they are still doing for our freedom, for I have fought with them, and they are the ones that still hold the last of our hope that they can still save us from electrocution...

...Charlestown State Prison, Aug...

...That is not only a great deal but it is grand, because you can see the real brotherly love, not only in the joy but also and more in the struggle of suffering...

...We have demonstrated this, and modesty apart...

...The letter, written at intervals, is too long to quote in full...

...If that be so, so be it...

...fc Nightmare of the Workers TO HIS little daughter, Inez, born after he was shut behind prison bars, he wrote a letter haunting in its sorrowful cadences...

...A moment later he said in broken English, "Farewell, my wife and children and all my friends...

...Well, my dear boy, after your mother had talked to me so much and I had dreamed of you day and night, how joyful it was to see you at last, to have talked with you like we used in the days—on those days...

...Most hearty affectionate embrace, YOUR FATHER AND COMPANION...

...Meanwhile, let us who looked on, near at hand, bear witness to what we have seen...

...Sacco with his poetic nature was like a living dame...

...However, I want to get it down in any way before they take us again to the death house, l>e-cause it is my conviction that they will electrocute us right after midnight, on Aug...

...Now we are not a failure...

...Sacco "was very pale," when he entered the death chamber—he had undergone a thirty-day fast,—and he was silent as he sat in the chair...

...help the prosecuted and the victim, because they are your better friends...

...Toward the last, they sent out a cry to the Revolutionists of the World to rescue them...

...finally yielded at the price of foregoing every banner and slogan...

...Thus they conceded reluctantly to the legal battle which their friends put up, and which they feared, and feared rightly, served only to lengthen out their torments...

...So, son, instead of crying, be strong, so as to be able to comfort your mother and when you want to distract your mother from the discouraging soulness, I will tell you what I used to do...

...The institutions of Law and Order, forged it is said to defend Freedom, had functioned smoothly, when put to a most monstrous use...

...But Sacco looked young and beautiful...

...As he entered the Death Chamber he reached out and shook hands with his two guards...

...But remember always, Dante, in the play of happiness, don't you use all for yourself only, but down yourself just one step at your side and help the weak ones that cry for help...

...his final confession of Faith...

...Doubtless, many of those who own the Earth or who aspire to own it, felt a new security when they learned that on August 23, two rebels against the present social order had died in the electric chair...

...I'll sleep tonight more quietly— Not wait with dread, Knowing that while the night was young with us, On eastern towers the midnight neared...

...That last moment belong to us— that agony is our triumph...

...The kindest and tenderest men I have ever known,"—so spoke one of their counsel who sought access to them just before they went to the electric chair...

...Oh Jerusalem, Jerusalem, if thou hadst known, at least in this thy day, the things which belong to thy peace...

...At various points some of the marchers were diverted by the police, so that scarce a handful were assembled for the closing ceremonies...

...Much I told you on that visit and more I wanted to say, but I saw that you will remain the same affectionate boy, faithful to your mother, who loves you so much, and I did not want to hurt your sensibilities any longer, because I am sure that you will continue to be the same boy and remember what I have told you...

...Vanzetti was a deep student...

...More, I say that our ineffable affection reciprocal is today more than any other Prayer for Remembrance of Sacco and Vanzetti This dark hour will pass— The horror grow a little dim each day...

...I'll sleep tonight—and then tomorrow and tomorrow night A little more secure...

...S.—Bartolo sends you the most affectionate greetings...

...Yes, Dante, they can crucify our bodies today as they are doing, but they cannot destroy our ideas that will remain for the youth of the future to come...

...Mary Katharine Reely Morning of August 23, 1927 time, of course...

...The nightmare of the working classes," he had said, "has saddened very badly your father's soul...

...Perhaps it will be their fate to be trampled under foot by two opposing armies which they sought in their day to interpret the one to the other...

...Met Death Majestically BOTH Sacco and Vanzetti believed in Revolution which they thought of as very near at hand,—near enough perhaps to even open their prison doors...

...I am innocent of all crime, not only of this one, but of all...

...18, 1927...

...To take her along walking in the quiet country, gathering wild flowers here and there, resting under the shade trees, between the harmony of the vivid stream and the gentle tranquility of the Mother Nature, and I am sure that she will enjoy this very much, as you surely would be happy for it...

...PEOPLE I HAVE KNOWN DEATH and VICTORY The Execution of Sacco and Vanzetti on August 23, 1927 By Elizabeth Glendower Evans HEY laid their bodies in a little undertaker's place in the North End of Boston where the Italians live in great number, and for three days and late into the night an endless file passed between the coffins and the wall, the space so narrow that time was allowed for scarce more than a glance...

...He was pronounced dead at 12:19 on the early morning of August 23rd 1927...

...Let us affirm that these two champions of revolution were men of exceeding gentleness, of self abnegation and of ?oyalty...

...They may have no belief, perhaps no understanding of the highly idealistic code which at a stroke would banish "the exploitation of man by man" from the Earth, and replace it by Brotherhood and justice as world rulers...

...The Verdict of History...

...There was a sense of peace upon his face, of unity of purpose, of oneness with his own inner life, that was .upremc...

...not even a band should play a dirge as they carried out their dead...

...Therefore, whatever should happen tomorrow, nobody knows, but if they should kill us...

...Therefore,—here am I, right wt'h you with love and with open heart as ever 1 was yesterday...

...My Dear Son and Companion: Since the day I saw you last I had always the idea to write you this letter, but the length of my hunger strike and thought I might not be able to explain myself, made me put it off all this time...

...I thank you for everything that you have done for me...

...For them there is in sight the class war quickened a hundred fold by their ashes, blown to every quarter as live seed to kindle revolution into flame...

...They had beauty of character and of mind...

...There were mounds of flowers upon the coffins and in the corners of the room, and masses of them outside in an entrance room, reel flowers and streamers with letters in blazing gold...

...Outside in the city, the State which these men had challenged marshalled its forces, on foot, on motorcycle and on horseback, in immense array, as if prepared to quell an insurgent host...

...Dante, I say once more to love and be nearest to your mother and the loved ones in these sad days, and I am sure that with your brave and kind goodness they will feel less discomfort...

...He lay a victor whose bitter struggle was as completely swallowed up as if it had never been...

...And at the last moment this permit was revoked, and guards blocked the State House route...

...When my bark sinks, 'tis to a deeper sea...

...This war...

...Nevertheless, at the very end, they both of them met death quietly and majestically...

...But then it has not changed really the unrest and the heartbeat of affection that has remained as it was...

...ed for Italy's greatest son,—grown from a little lad to "my big giant," as he called him when a few days earlier he had been brought to the prison to take farewell...

...Life will go on...

...you must not forget to look at your friends and comrades with the smiling gaze of gratitude as you look at your beloved ones, because they love you as they love every one of the fallen persecuted comrades...

...But for Massachusetts...

...But while it last, O God, While hate and gread still walk abroad, While prejudice arrayed In legal robes, can rule the earth, Let not the memory of this horror fade...

...But 1 find that I did not have enough strength and I cannot finish it at one time...

...Sacco's Letter to Son yUST three days before he went to his death, weak from his hunger strike, Sacco wrote a most poignant letter to his son Dante,— namVanzetti to Judge Thayer (At the Date of His Being Sentenced) If it had not been for these things, I might have live out my life, talking at street corners to scorning men...

...As the strap was being fastened across his face, he lifted his eyes and said to the standers by, "Good Evening," and then "Farewell, Mother...

...Much we have suffered this long Calvary...

...they are the comrades that fight and fall as your father and Barto (Vanzetti) fought and fell yesterday for the conquest of the joy of freedom for alt the poor workers...

...And you will also not forget to love me a little, for I do—Oh, son, thinking so much and so often of you...

...Then, as the guards were about to place the strap across his face, he added, "I w i^h to forgive some people for what they are doing to me...

...On Vanzetti's noble face death had already set its seal...

...This hour will pass, This numb and nauseated sense of horror done • In last night's dark...

...Our words —our lives—our pains—nothing...

...I am an iun<k'ent man...

...For the liberal class who championed Sacco and Vanzetti as innocent of the sordid crime for which nominally they died, what is left...

...he said, "that I am innocent, and never committed any crime...

...I wish to tell you...

...The long line which followed the dead out to the Crematory at Forest Hills, eight mile-j away, walked silently in a drizzle that became a pelting rain...

...We are proud of it...

...This is our career and our triumph...

...But I am so weak...

...The other day I ended my hunger strike (the physician was about to begin forcible feeding) and just as soon as I did that I thought of you to write to you...

...If 1 stopped my hunger strike the other day, it was because there was no more sign of life in me...

...One got a glimpse of the immense cost of guarding our so-called civilization against these authorities to be allowed to march past the State House, in their funeral parade...

...let these few sentences suffice...

...It is the struggle and fight between the rich and the poor for safety and freedom, son, which you understand in the future of your years to come, of this unrest and struggle of life's battle...

...FEAR became an all-pervading presence...

...The taking of our lives—lives of a good shoemaker and a poor fish peddler-all...

...Then, as they started to adjust the straps upon his leg, he cried in a loud voice, "Long life Anarchy...

...I hope that your mother will help you to understand this letter, because I could have written much better and more simple if I was feeling good...

...Let me die for the proletariat," had been his recurrent cry...

...Vanzetti died seven minutes later...

...And when, suddenly, all failed and they faced the electric chair, they must have tasted Jesus' agony—"My God, My God, why ha^t thou forsaken me...

...In this struggle of life you will find more love ami you will be loved...

...But now are they hid from thine eyes...

...Never in our full life can we hope to do such work for tolerance, for joostice, for man's onderstanding of man, as now we do by an accident...

...I never thought that our inseparable life could be separated, but thought of seven dolorous years makes it seem it did come...

...Best fraternal greetings to all the beloved ones, love-kiss to little Inez and mother...

...No trace of his long suffering was upon him...

...Now was his sacrifice complete...

...1 might have die, unmarked, unknown, a failure...