From this summary it must be evident that the trustworthiness of the testimony which placed Sacco and Vanzetti in Braintree on April 15 is the foundation of the case.
I. As to Sacco:—
The character of the testimony of the five witnesses who definitely identified Sacco as in the car or on the spot at the time of the murder demands critical attention. These witnesses were Mary E. Splaine, Frances Devlin, Lola Andrews, Louis Pelzer, Carlos E. Goodridge.
1. Splaine and Devlin were working together on the second floor of the Slater and Morrill factory, with windows giving on the railroad crossing. Both heard the shot, ran to the window, and saw an automobile crossing the tracks. Splaine's identification of Sacco, as one of the occupants of this escaping car, was one of the chief reliances of the prosecution. Splaine, viewing the scene from a distance of from 60 to 80 feet, saw a man previously unknown to her, in a car traveling at the rate of from 15 to 18 miles per hour; she saw him only for a distance of about 30 feet, that is to say, for from one and a half to three seconds; and yet she testified:—
The man that appeared between the back of the front seat and the back seat was a man slightly taller than the witness. He weighed possibly from 140 to 145 pounds. He was muscular, an active looking man. His left hand was a good sized hand, a hand that denoted strength.
Q. So that the hand you said you saw where? A. The left hand, that was placed on the back of the front seat, on the
