Transcriber’s Note:
New original cover art included with this eBook is granted to the public domain.
“AND I WILL SAY TO YOUR HONORTHAT A GOVERNMENT THAT HASCOME TO HONOR ITS OWN SECRETSMORE THAN THE LIVES OF ITSCITIZENS HAS BECOME A TYRANNYWHETHER YOU CALL IT A REPUBLIC,A MONARCHY OR ANYTHING ELSE.”
—from Atty. William G. Thompson’sargument before Judge Thayer, pleadingfor a new trial.
Listen to the appeal of an old man of the old world who isnot a foreigner, for he is the fellow citizen of all mankind.
In one of your states two men, Sacco and Vanzetti, havebeen convicted for a crime of opinion.
It is horrible to think that human beings should pay withtheir lives for the exercise of that most sacred right which, nomatter what party we belong to, we must all defend.
Don’t let this most iniquitous sentence be carried out.
The death of Sacco and Vanzetti will make martyrs of themand cover you with shame.
You are a great people. You ought to be a just people.There are crowds of intelligent men among you, men who think.I prefer to appeal to them. I say to them beware of makingmartyrs. That is the unforgivable crime that nothing can wipeout and that weighs on generation after generation.
Save Sacco and Vanzetti.
Save them for your honor, for the honor of your children,and for the generations yet unborn.
Gene Debs is dead. Gene Debs lives in the hearts andminds of millions of Americans. This is his last appeal forjustice.
The supreme court of Massachusetts has spoken at last andBartolomeo Vanzetti and Nicola Sacco, two of the bravest and bestscouts that ever served the labor movement, must go to the electricchair.
The decision of this capitalist judicial tribunal is notsurprising. It accords perfectly with the tragical farce and thefarcical tragedy of the entire trial of these two absolutelyinnocent and shamefully persecuted working men.
The evidence at the trial in which they were charged with amurder they had no more to do with committing than I had, wouldhave convicted no one but a “for