Ask the Scholar

Telling about letters of support, discussing in detail his reconstruction of events, and referring to Elisabetta [i.e. Elizabeth Gurley Flynn?], [Vincenzo] Brini, Alfonsina [Brini], [Andrea] Salsedo, [Giovanni] Baldazzi, "[Carol] Tresca, and others. In Italian. Translation: "Did you receive my letters? ... Did you mail them? I ask because one was for Brini, and I asked him for a razor and haven’t heard from him." Inquires about the whereabouts of “poor Salsedo." He received a letter from Sacco about Elia’s arrest. Vanzetti is trying to remember with whom Salsedo stayed; he thinks first name was Anna. He’s asking because police must have found the information on money order receipts in billfold (Vanzetti’s). He doesn’t receive Notizia regularly, is quite concerned about this since Bollettino [della Sera] and other American newspapers do arrive. He’s asked the warden who doesn’t know. Tells about various letters and telegrams of solidarity he has received, i.e. from I.W.W. One of the Italian speaking guards has warned him that this sort of correspondence doesn’t please the authorities, and “you’ll not get out of here that way." Vanzetti refuses to conform. He would like to have some of the support letters published in Notizia. On Saturday, lawyer told him that the ministry says they are in possession of a letter proving that he had a rifle. Vanzetti sees this as an instance of the vulnerability of if his defenders. There’s no truth to it; he never wrote such a thing. Ask Tresca about money orders. He speculates even further “But even if it were so, they could never prove that I possessed a rifle, because it is not true. A propos, ask Cicadet, he was in my room before the search... Ask him if he saw any letters." Continues to discuss in detail and with specificity information relating to facts useful to the trial, trying to reconstruct his recollection of the events.