'The Men, the Murders and the Judgement of Mankind': Leverett author revisits controversial 1920s execution

By Kristina Tedeschi
Staff Writer

Published on May 09, 2008

Contrary to popular belief, working from home as a freelance writer and author is anything but lonely, says Bruce Watson of Leverett. A freelancer for the past 10 years, Watson says when he's working on a project, he's surrounded by the people, places and events he's writing about. That was the case a few years ago, when Watson was poring over Xeroxed newspaper articles, letters and trial transcripts pertaining to the case of Nicola Sacco and Bartolomeo Vanzetti, two Italian immigrants convicted and executed in 1927 for a crime that many believe they did not commit.

Watson's research led to his third and latest book, "Sacco and Vanzetti: The Men, The Murders, and the Judgement of Mankind" published by Viking to high acclaim in August 2007, just days before the 80th anniversary of their executions.

The book, which was named one of the Washington Post's Best History Books of 2007, was nominated for another prize, by the Mystery Writers of America: the 2008 Edgar Award, in the Fact Crime category. The Edgar Awards, named after American poet and detective-fiction writer Edgar Allan Poe, are considered the "Oscars" of the mystery genre, according to the Mystery Writers of America.

Nominees are judged by a panel of writers belonging to the Mystery Writers of America. Winners of the awards were announced last week at a banquet in New York City, which Watson attended with his 15-year-old daughter, Elena. "I rented a tux and everything," said the 54-year-

Winning the award in his category was "Reclaiming History: The Assassination of President John F. Kennedy" by Vincent Bugliosi. Watson's disappointment was mitigated by his conviction that his book isn't really a crime story.

"It's a human interest story," he said, "with literally millions of people watching at the end."

Controversial verdict

Sacco and Vanzetti, two first-generation Italian immigrants and anarchists, were executed on Aug. 23, 1927, in Boston after being convicted of armed robbery and murder. They were accused of killing a paymaster and a security guard, and stealing from those men nearly $16,000 belonging to a shoe company in South Braintree in 1920. Documented prejudicial remarks from the judge presiding over Sacco and Vanzetti's two trials, what many called a biased jury, and conflicting ballistics evidence led many to believe the men had not received a fair trial. Prominent author Upton Sinclair and lawyer Felix Frankfurter, who became a United States Supreme Court justice, publicly opposed the guilty verdict. Although Sacco and Vanzetti's executions led to protests in London and Germany, Watson observes in his book that Americans were too caught up in the amusement-park mentality of the 1920s to care about the fate of the two men.

Watson says he never intimated to the reader his own feelings about Sacco and Vanzetti's guilt or innocence, instead running through the facts of the case and letting readers come to their own conclusions.

"Naturally, I have an opinion, but I won't tell you what I think," he said. "I decided that readers are smart enough to make up their own minds."

Watson also traveled to Italy for further research, visiting Sacco's grave in his hometown of Torremaggiore in southeastern Italy, and Vanzetti's grave in Villafalletto, his birthplace, in the northwestern part of that country. Both men were cremated together. Half of their ashes were given to Sacco's wife, while the other half was given to Vanzetti's sister, Watson says. While overseas, Watson interviewed Sacco's 75-year-old niece, Fernanda Sacco, who never met her uncle, says Watson, but who grew up hearing his story.

Watson, who grew up in southern California, earned a bachelor's degree in journalism from the University of California, Berkeley, before heading to Costa Rica to serve in the Peace Corps, where he met his wife, Julie Kumble. The couple moved to the Pioneer Valley in 1988, where Watson began writing for the Daily Hampshire Gazette in Northampton and the Amherst Bulletin, for which papers he continues to write the regular "Lifestyles" column. He went on to earn a master's degree in American History from the University of Massachusetts at Amherst, then began writing for the Smithsonian Magazine. Watson's other books are "The Man Who Changed How Boys and Toys Were Made," and "Bread and Roses: Mills, Migrants, and the Struggle for the American Dream."

Watson is at work on his next book, "Freedom Summer," about the summer of 1964, when about 1,000 mostly white college students went down to Mississippi to help forward the civil rights movement. The day they arrived, three students were killed, while others were beaten and shot, said Watson. Lately, he's been spending a lot of time on the phone, he says, interviewing the former students who were there.

"Everyone of them was totally changed by this," he said.

The book is slated for a 2010 release.