Bartolomeo Vanzetti.

             Bartolomeo Vanzetti - Vanzetti was 32 when he was arrested. He had left his home in the .

             northern Piedmont of Italy when his mother, whom he had cared for over a long illness, died. .

             Despite his father's prosperity, Vanzetti had spent a difficult childhood as an apprentice to a .

             baker. He was a reader, self-taught, and by the time he left for America, he was something of a .

             political philosopher.

             Like Sacco, Vanzetti's first years in America were as a laborer. He worked as a .

             kitchenhand, in a brickyard, as a cook, as an iron mill factory hand. He too fled to Mexico, again, .

             like Sacco, on principle. He returned after the Armistice and got a handcart from which he .

             sold fish, clams, and eels.

             Although he never married, he was a close friend of several families, serving as a .

             surrogate father for a number of young people. He was described as gentle, generous, and caring. .

             He did not drink, and his only flaws seemed to be his pipe.

             The Crime.

             Around three in the afternoon of April 15, 1920, Frederick A. Parmenter, paymaster for .

             the Slater and Morrill Shoe Factories, and his guard, Alessandro Beradelli, were taking nearly .

             $16,000 in payroll envelopes from one building to a second. .

             As the paymaster and his guard walked down Pearl Street, they passed a group of Italian .

             laborers excavating a foundation for a new restaurant. Leaning against a fence were two other .

             men with dark clothes and caps. As Parmenter and Beradelli passed the two men, one grabbed .

             Beradelli. .

             The second man started firing, putting three bullets into Beradelli and one into Parmenter. .

             As Parmenter staggered towards the workmen, he was shot once more. Beradelli, on his knees, .

             was shot twice more as the gunman stood over him.

             Then a Buick pulled up. The two gunmen grabbed the payroll boxes and got into the car, .

             as did a third man who had been hiding behind a pile of bricks. Two other men were already in .

             the car, making a total of five people.