So I received a fascinating note from author James D. Livingston (who, when not professoring at MIT, writes true crime stories and soon-to-be published Arsenic and Clam Chowder: Murder in Gilded A ge New York, which comes out in July) who writes of Sacco and Vanzetti and Amy Bishop.
(By James Livingston)
It is my luck to live in South Braintree, less than three miles from the site of the 1920 robbery/murder for which Sacco and Vanzetti were executed in 1927. Considering the historical importance of this case, I had always been a bit surprised there was no historical marker at the site, but Braintree officials had apparently felt this was not something the town should be proud of.
One local historian had been arguing with them for over 20 years, and yesterday, on the 90th anniversary of the crime, he finally got his way. A small monument was erected, not to Sacco and Vanzetti, but in memory of the two murder victims. There was also a panel discussion of the case at the town hall last night, and an exhibit has been assembled. It includes, among many other things, the steel cage in which S & V sat during their trial and their death masks. In the panel discussion and the long Q&A following, all the experts seemed to agree that S&V did not receive a fair trial, and were probably convicted more for being gun-toting anarchists than for any clear evidence linking them to the Braintree crime.
In 1977, on the 50th anniversary of the executions, Governor Mike Dukakis issued a formal proclamation that they were unjustly convicted (but was criticized for not reaching out to the families of the victims, which Braintree has now done). The issue of whodunit still remains unclear, as it often does in cases of true crime.
Since this case of historical true crime is as least as famous as those of Lizzie Borden and Jack the Ripper, I thought you might be interested that Braintree is finally coming to grips with some of the darker aspects of its history. Today it is in the news again as the town in which Amy Bishop, the professor who recently shot and killed several of her colleagues at the University of Alabama, shot and killed her brother back in 1986. It was ruled accidental at the time, but the case is now being re-examined as a result of the Alabama shootings.
***
When Governor Dukakis made a public speech regarding the Sacco and Vanzetti case he used some of the evidence from the case as props. I was a Massachusetts State Trooper at the time and I was assigned to guard the evidence. I knew the ballistician, he knew of my intertest in the Sacco Vanzetti case and before the speech began he unlocked the display case and handed me the weapon which I examined for several minutes.
a minor event which has stayed with me for many years.
Prior to this the ballistician had been ordered to conduct a ballistic test on the Sacco amd Vanzetti weapon for an author who was writing a book on the case. The ballistician refused to conduct the test. The story surrounding his refusal is another episode.
Regards
Bob C.
Posted by: Robert Cerra | April 20, 2010 at 05:34 AM
With all due respect to those allegedly in the know, I have been studying the Sacco and Vanzetti case for years, and have concluded that 1) Sacco was most definitely one of the killers of the two guards, and that 2) Vanzetti either knew of the killings or was involved in getting rid of the car used in the killings.
Several years ago, a letter surfaced from one of the lawyers involved in the defense of the two accused killers, stating that he knew both men were guilty but that the state had tried to allegedly "manufacture evidence" against them. None of this alleged manufactured evidence was ever revealed. But the fact that one of the lawyers for the men admitted that his clients were guilty is quite important.
Dukakis showed that he was a simpleton and a fool by issuing a pardon. He went along with the standard left wing pap that Sacco and Vanzetti were innocent, sort of the way the Left cries that the Rosenbergs were innocent. In fact, none of them were innocent, but don't tell that to their leftist supporters.
90 years on, Sacco and Vanzetti's convictions remain upheld. Their place as two murderers who tried to escape justice through some phony ideological charge is just that: phony. They got what they deserved. Let us instead remember the two men who lost their lives to these anarchist murderers: Paymaster Frederick Parmenter and security guard Alessandro Berardelli. May THEY rest in peace.
Posted by: Mark Grossman | April 20, 2010 at 07:33 PM
I do find "Clam Chowder" very tempting, Laura, even though I'm allergic to shellfish! I just wish it wasn't quite so expensive, plus being a web publishers, would they even ship it to the UK? I do prefer my murder gas-lit, I have to say!
Posted by: Fiz | April 22, 2010 at 08:25 AM
Incidentally, how's your Russian friend doing these days?
Posted by: Fiz | April 28, 2010 at 01:45 PM
Update on Amy Bishop: a grand jury has delivered a murder indictment for her shooting and killing her brother in Braintree in 1986. There is no statute of limitation on murder.
In response to Mark Grossman's comments above, I can assure him that Michael Dukakis is not a simpleton and not a fool (although he certainly was a very ineffective presidential candidate). His 1977 proclamation did not declare that Sacco and Vanzetti were innocent, but simply that they were not given a fair trial, a conclusion on which most experts who have studied the trial transcripts and later legal documents agree. Whodunit still remains unclear.
Posted by: James Livingston | June 21, 2010 at 11:15 AM
"Clam Chowder" is going to be published in the UK! Yay! Just a bit happy!
Posted by: Fiz | July 10, 2010 at 03:02 PM
No it isn't! Just got an email from Amazon .co.uk - argh!
Posted by: Fiz | July 12, 2010 at 10:20 AM
Interesting! A sensational story, packed with twists and fascinating revelations. The murder trial of Mary Alice sheds unexpected light on the Gilded Age, and in the future will make us all think twice about clam chowder
Posted by: FAR | July 19, 2010 at 10:25 PM
What's with the letter Fiz?
Posted by: FertilAid Reviews | July 20, 2010 at 11:35 PM
What's with your advert,FertilAid Reviews? At least I'm on topic, instead of trying to sell snake-oil via a friends website! They are now saying Amazon co might be stocking it in January. However I'm going to be really poor as we are in the middle of buying a labrador puppy and she's going to be my anniversary, birthday and Christmas present!
Posted by: Fiz | July 24, 2010 at 11:45 AM
Well, I finally got it and read it and it really wasn't as good as it could have been. What a shame!
Posted by: Fiz | December 18, 2010 at 12:10 PM
GARY IS A LEGEND
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Incredibly I had heard the story about the poisoned chowder case thirty years ago. I was studying library science and was writing a paper on the career of Henry Bliss, whose library catagorizing system is a rival's (of sorts) to Mevil Dewey's. Bliss was the half-brother of the perpetrator, and son of the Victim. I noted the case at the time, but as it has nothing to do with library catagorization I did not discuss it in my paper. I was surprised Edmund Pearson (who was a librarian) never wrote of it.
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