The Legacy of Sacco & Vanzetti
Aftermath
After two temporary stays, Sacco and Vanzetti, along with Madeieros (who had lost his appeal) were executed on August 23, 1927. Oliver Wendell Holmes, Associate Justice of the Supreme Court, would not intervene, stating that the case was a state, and not a federal, matter. The executioner, Robert G. Elliott, the same man who electrocuted Bruno Richard Hauptmann ten years later for the murder of the Lindbergh baby, performed the executions. Madeieros was the first to be electrocuted.
Sacco's last words before his execution were:
(In Italian) Long live anarchy! (Then, quietly in English) Farewell my wife and child and all my friends. (Looking at the witnesses) Good evening, gentlemen.
Vanzetti's letter is to Sacco's fourteen-year-old son, Dante. It reads, in part:
".... remember always, Dante, in the play of happiness, don't use all for yourself only, but down yourself just one step, at your side and help the weak ones that cry for help, help for the prosecuted and the victim, because they are your better friends; they are all the comrades that fight and fall as your father and Bartolo fought and fell yesterday for the conquest of the joy and freedom for all and the poor workers...."
Vanzetti had a brief conversation with Thompson shortly before he was led to the death chamber. Thompson recalled it as:
In this closing scene the impression ... which had been gaining in my mind for three years, was deepened and confirmed that he was a man of powerful mind, and unselfish disposition, of seasoned character, and of devotion to high ideals. There was no sign of breaking down or of terror at approaching death. At parting he gave me a firm clasp of the hand, and a steady glance, which revealed unmistakably the depth of his feeling and the firmness of his self-control.
Vanzetti's last words were first to the warden:
I wish to say to you that I am innocent. I have never done a crime, some sins, but never any crime. I thank you for everything you have done for me. I am innocent of all crime, not only this one, but of all, of all. I am an innocent man.
Then, shaking hands with the warden and two of the four guards, he sat in the electric chair, and said:
I now wish to forgive some people for what they are doing to me.
During the days after Fuller's pronouncement leading up to the execution, demonstrations were held in a number of major cities.
A number of well known writers were arrested for demonstrating, including the poet Edna St. Vincent Millay, and the short story writers Katherine Anne Porter and Dorothy Parker.
The funeral possession was on August 29th, and thousands followed the hearses. Finally, Sacco and Vanzetti were cremated.
However, their story did not end there. At the funeral parlor, a floral arrangement was emblazoned with the banner Aspettando l'ora di vendetta (Awaiting the hour of vengeance), and anarchists were determined to retaliate for the deaths of their martyrs. Six months later, the executioner's house was bombed, though no one was injured. On September 27, 1932, Judge Thayer's home was bombed, but he was unhurt. He moved to his club in Boston, and seven months later died.