Letters to the Editor
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‘Author as Politician’
Carl Rollyson may be right in judging Anthony Arthur’s biography of Upton Sinclair better than Kevin Mattson’s [“Author as Politician,” Arts & Letters, June 7, 2006].
Both biographers, however, evaluate the Sacco and Vanzetti case without citing the new evidence relevant to Vanzetti’s revolver.
Disinterested historians will surely agree that this 2005 discovery points toward Vanzetti’s guilt. In the Sacco-Vanzetti Case Papers, Reel 21, is a letter to district attorney Frederick Katzmann, dated June 17, 1921, from C.C. Palmer, a member of the Maine State Police and former newspaperman in Dexter, Maine. Recall that Elbridge Atwater and Rexford Slater of Dexter, Maine, testified on Vanzetti’s revolver at the Dedham trial of Sacco and Vanzetti on June 30 and July 1, 1921.
Palmer told Katzmann that Atwater and Slater left Dexter on June 17 for Boston in preparation to testify on Vanzetti’s revolver. He said an Italian who came to Dexter a few weeks ago failed to persuade Atwater and Slater to testify at Dedham.
He added that a few days ago Mrs. Fred Moore came to Dexter and “… has labored with them until they agreed to go to Dedham.” Palmer concluded: “Slater told me to-day that he would be unable to identify the revolver he sold the Italian.”
The Italian who lacked persuasive power at Dexter must have been Ricardo Orciani. What supports this theory? On March 5, 1964, Atwater told the Eastern Gazette (“Dexter Man Took Part In Famous Case”), he recalled that “Oceana and the wife of the defense attorney came to Dexter and finally persuaded Mr. Slater and Mr. Atwater, …. to go to Massachusetts …”
Orciani did not testify on Vanzetti’s revolver, though the defense claimed he bought the revolver from Slater at Norwood, Mass.
Palmer had firsthand knowledge of Slater and Atwater in Dexter two weeks before they testified. Both he and Katzmann knew for a certainty that Moore was framing witnesses before Sinclair stated this opinion in letters to Robert Minor (February 8, 1928) and John Beardsley (August 29, 1929).
RICHARD NEWBY
Normal, Il.
Mr. Newby is the editor of “Kill Now, Talk Forever: Debating Sacco and Vanzetti” (AuthorHouse, 2006).
‘Two-Way Street’
In asking “tolerance” for those who find same sex marriage immoral, Marc Stern might just as well be asking “tolerance” for individuals who find interracial marriage or interreligious marriage immoral [“Two-Way Street,” Opinion, June 14, 2006].
One may extend to such individuals the courtesy of “attempted understanding” of what is clearly a prejudicial position. But one cannot reasonably extend tolerance to intolerance.
CARL N. STEEG, M.D.
Manhattan
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