To the ranks of those demanding a judicial review of the Sacco-Vanzetti case, already well supported by Harvard names, today is added the Law School and the Liberal Club. The petition of the first-mentioned organization, at least, should add a weighty voice to chorus of protests, many of them based purely on sentimentality, that now is being sung in Governor Fuller's ear.
But there is another angle to the fight that is now being waged for Sacco and Vanzetti--the newspaper angle.
Whenever a discussion arises on the subject of yellow journalism, the Boston Transcript is cited as a clear bright light shining in a dark journalistic world made up of pink extras, tabloids, red headlines, and misleading leads. The Transcript, also, is the classic example among newspapers of the good old New England conservatism, the "safe" newspaper equally to be trusted when declaring that there is no summer playground that can hold a candle to New England or when leading the churchman afield.
It is natural therefore that some surprise be evoked by the Transcript's leading story last night, the head of which assured all readers that sentiment was turning against Sacco and vanzetti in their fight for a judicial review. Six letters, cited as examples of the turning tide are printed under the headline, the most characteristic one of which is from Mrs. Lucy P. Hayden of H. Wayne Street, Roxbury, who "urges the governor to refuse to extend any clemency to Sacco and Vanzetti. She says this expresses the opinion of all her acquaintances with whom she has talked."
Had the Transcript closed its story of Governor Fuller's mail at this point. Its renders would have been misinformed, but their childhood illusions as to the Transcript's purity would not have been shattered. But, the Transcript, like an honest man trying to lie, did a poor job of it. For, immediately following Mrs. Lucy P. Hayden, still under the same headline, are listed letters from eleven correspondents of Governor Fuller, all of them demanding at least a judicial review, and being on the whose far more impressive writers than Mrs. Lucy P. Hayden of H. Wayne Street, Roxbury.
Though levity on the subject of Sacco and Vanzetti may be out of place, the fall from grace of Boston's most respected newspaper has its serious elements. To many dear old ladies, the Transcript's using a dishonest headline will appear as a greater calamity than the miscarriage of justice in Massachusets. Even Mrs. Lucy P. Hayden would hardly have looked upon such an event without perturbation.
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