The trial of Sacco and Vanzetti : $b A summary of the outstanding testimonyBernheimer, Louis
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The trial of Sacco and Vanzetti : $b A summary of the outstanding testimony
Bernheimer, Louis
Sacco-Vanzetti Trial, Dedham, Mass., 1921
Ferguson and Pierce, from a window above Splaine and Devlin, on the
next floor of the same factory, had substantially the same view as
the two women. They found it impossible to make any identification.
3. Pelzer, a young shoe cutter, swore that when he heard the shooting
he pulled up his window and saw the man who murdered Berardelli.
In the court room, in June, 1921, _a year after the crime_,[1] he
identified Sacco as that man. On cross-examination, Pelzer admitted
that _immediately after the arrest_[1] he was unable to make any
identification.
Of three workmen, who were at work in the same room, two testified
that instead of pulling up the window, he (Pelzer) took shelter under
a bench. The third was questioned thus: Q. “Did you hear him later
talk about the shooting?” A. “I think I did, but I am not sure.” Q.
“That day?” A. “Yes, sir.” Q. “What did you hear Pelzer say?” A.
“Well, I heard him say that he didn’t see anybody, that’s all.” Q.
“Is that all you recollect that you heard him say?” A. “Yes, sir.”
4. Lola Andrews, a woman of doubtful repute, testified that at about
11 a. m., the morning of the murders, with a Mrs. Campbell, she saw a
car standing outside the factory. She saw a “very light man” inside
the car (concededly neither Sacco nor Vanzetti) and another man
“bending over the hood of the car,” whom she characterized as a “dark
complexioned man.” She went into the factory in search of a job,
and at the time had no talk with either of the men. When she came
out, “fifteen minutes later,” the dark man “was down under the car,
like he was fixing something,” and she asked him the way to another
factory. He told her. That was the whole conversation between them.
After Sacco’s arrest, she was taken to the Dedham jail and identified
Sacco as the “dark complexioned man.” She again identified him at the
trial.
How came she to associate the “dark complexioned man” with the
murder, which took place four hours later?
Q. (By the Commonwealth) “What came to your mind when you learned of
the shooting?” A. “Why the only thing I can answer that is this: When
I heard of the shooting I somehow associated that to the man I saw
under the car.”
Four reputable witnesses completely discredited the foregoing Andrews
testimony.
(a) Mrs. Campbell, an elderly woman, with Andrews throughout the
episode, testified that although they saw an automobile in front of
the factory, the man of whom they asked the way to another factory
was _not_[1] the man under the car, but a man in khaki clothes
standing near.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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