But the prosecution did not produce any of these persons as witnesses, and Rosen’s story stands unshaken in every detail.
That evening Rosen went by train to Whitman, a small town near Brockton. There he read in the Brockton papers about the payroll murders at South Braintree, and he heard many people there talking about the crime. He stayed that night at a small hotel in Whitman. Next day he returned to Boston. Three weeks later he read of the arrest of Sacco and Vanzetti. Remembering Vanzetti well, he fixed the date by his memory that when he had reached Whitman, all the town was talking about the South Braintree murders.
He also fixed that date as April 15 with reference to a receipt for taxes, paid by his wife on that date, and about which he had spoken to her before leaving home. The receipt was produced in court.
Miss Lillian Schuler, waitress in hotel at Whitman, testified that she rented a room to a man on the night of April 15. Register simply shows that a man occupied the room, and gives no name.
Melvin Corl, Plymouth fisherman, testified that he was painting a boat on the afternoon of April 15. Vanzetti came down to the shore and talked with him for an hour. Corl fixed the date by reference to his wife’s birthday which fell on April 17th, on which date he launched the boat and made a trip to Duxbury to tow a boat back, for which he received $5.00.
Angelo Giadobone of Plymouth bought fish of Vanzetti on April 15. Remembered date with relation to April 19, when he was operated on for appendicitis. Giadobone said he still owed Vanzetti for the fish.
Antonio Carbone of Plymouth attested that he sold fish to Vanzetti on April 15.
TESTIMONY RELATING ONLY TO SACCO
The government sought to establish Sacco as the dark man “needing a shave” who leaned against the fence below the Rice & Hutchins factory, shot Berardelli, jumped into the automobile and leaning out shot right and left as the car fled through the town. Towards that end, it brought into court four alleged eyewitnesses of the crime and escape who “identified” Sacco. These four were Miss Splaine, Miss Devlin, Pelser and Goodridge. Two others called for the same purpose, Wade and De Berardinis, disappointed the prosecution by their failure to identify.
Mary Eva Splaine, bookkeeper for Slater and Morrill, gave a remarkably complete description of one of the bandits in the fleeing car, considering that she was in a second-story window a minimum distance of 80 feet from the car, and saw the bandit only in the brief time required for an automobile to travel 35 feet at 18 miles an hour—which is one and one-fifth seconds. She saw the car first from an east window; then switched to a window facing south. As she stepped to the south window, a man leaned out from behind the front seat.