The time for all discussion is over. The chapter is closed. The die is cast. The arrow has flown. Now let us go forward to the duties and responsibilities of the common day with a renewed determination to maintain our present system of government, and our existing social order.
The evening Transcript viewed the executions more bluntly as “the only possible end.”
During the forenoon Dr. Magrath performed the legally required autopsies, and later in the day the bodies of Sacco and Vanzetti were taken to the National Casket Company’s room in Merrimac Street. A New Bedford undertaker claimed Madeiros’ body.
The committee had planned a ritual lying-in-state, but could find no one in the city willing to rent a hall for the purpose. Mary Donovan wanted the bodies taken to the Hanover Street rooms. When some of the Parlor D people tried to tell her that the rickety building would not stand the strain, she turned on them furiously, shouting “They belong to me now!” As soon as the owner of the building heard that the coffins might be brought there, he barred the entrance with a heavy vertical joist.
While the committee members searched and argued, the bodies remained at the National Casket Company. William Gropper arrived from New York to make the death masks. When it became clear that no halls would be available in the city, Edward Holton James offered the use of his Mount Vernon Street town house. However, the committee decided to use Joseph Langone’s funeral parlor at the foot of Hanover Street.
Joseph Langone, the dapper, diminutive North End undertaker, was one of the most prominent members of the Italian colony. In his official capacity he always wore a tail coat and silk hat, and prided himself on the punctiliousness with which he observed the etiquette of death. His two massive Cunningham hearses with their custom-built Brewster bodies and silver flambeaux on the sides were the most elegant in the city. To him were left the funeral arrangements.
Wednesday at midnight he brought the corpses to his workroom, embalmed and dressed them, and placed them in their coffins. Only just in time did Gardner Jackson discover that Langone planned to have Sacco and Vanzetti wearing tuxedos.
Madeiros had gone on display in Rogers & Silvia’s undertaking parlor in Providence, and during the day some ten thousand sightseers came to view his corpse. The bodies of Sacco and Vanzetti were not shown until Thursday evening. During the afternoon crowds began to gather in front of Langone’s parlor, and the police had to rope off the sidewalks for several blocks. A police guard was posted at the parlor entrance.
At seven o’clock the doors were opened and the spectators flooded through the little room at the rate of thirty-seven a minute. The mahogany coffins were so close together that only a single line could file between them. On each was a laurel wreath from the committee. The dead men’s faces were drawn and hollow, the color of bronze. The room was banked to the ceiling with scarlet-flowered wreaths and sprays. One ribbon on a floral piece read ASPETTANDO L’ORA DI VENDETTA—“Awaiting the hour of vengeance.” Another read merely REVENGE. Several read MASSACHUSETTS THE MURDERER.
In each corner of the parlor stood a committee member or friend as guard of honor. Eight thousand of the dedicated and the curious passed through Langone’s that evening, only the stiff-faced anarchists with their wide black hats and butterfly ties distinguishable in the anonymous throng.