Sacco on Hunger Strike

Nicola Sacco, convicted over a year ago with Bartolomeo Vanzetti of the murder of a paymaster and his guard in Boston, has been on hunger strike for sixteen days and is said to be showing signs of weakness. The Sacco-Vanzetti case attracted international attention because the two Italian defendants are well-known radicals and received aid, comfort, and propaganda support from all over the world. The Labor Defense Committee, which is the chief agency fighting for the freedom of Sacco and Vanzetti, charges that they were " framed " by the police because they were radicals and that they were convicted on perjured testimony. Not since the Mooney case has there been such universal agitation in labor and radical circles over an alleged frame-up.

Sacco is on hunger strike now as a protest against being kept in jail so long without sentence after his conviction of a crime of which he con- tends he is innocent. Counsel for Sacco and Vanzetti have made five motions for new trials, based on new evidence, discrediting of former testimony, and exceptions taken during the first trial. All of these motions are scheduled to be heard within a week.

The notorious Lusk Anti-Sedition and Education Laws were repealed by the New York State Senate by a vote of 26 to 22. They now go to the Assembly where enough votes are said to have been pledged to ratify the Senate's action. Governor Smith who vetoed the original Lusk bills during his last term in office, is certain to sign the bills embodying their repeal.