The Sacco and Vanzetti Connection 

with Stoughton, Massachusetts 

The controversy over the lives of Nicola Sacco is still talked about in Stoughton till this day. Nicola Sacco and Bartolomeo Vanzetti were the alleged criminals who committed a double murder of at the Slater & Morrill Shoe Company in South Braintree, Massachusetts.  They were arrested based on the murder of the paymaster and his guard, and the robbery of $15,000.  They were arrested May 5, 1920 on the grounds of First degree murder.  A long legal battle ended with their executions August 23, 1927.  In 1977 Massachusetts Governor Michael Dukakis issued a State proclamation absolving the both men.  

While living in Stoughton Ferdinand Nicola Sacco worked for the 3-K Shoe Factory.   He lived in a small bungalow still standing in Stoughton next to the 3-K Shoe Factory (the factory building is currentlyoffices of Re/Max Landmark Realty at 630 Park Street, Stoughton, Mass.).

Here is what Mike Kelley of 3-K Shoe Factory thought of his employee Nicola Sacco.

"A man who is in his garden at 4 o'clock in the morning, and at the factory at 7 o'clock, and in his garden again after supper and until nine and ten at night, carrying water and raising vegetables beyond his own needs which he would bring to me to give to the poor, that man is not a holdup man."

Ferdinando Nicola Sacco, was born in Italy 22 April 1891 and was executed in Charlestown, Massachusetts 23 August 1927.  His ashes are located at the city of Torremaggiore in Puglia, and in also in the Boston Public Library in Copley Square.

Some Interesting Website Links relating to Nicola Sacco

 

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