In the hands of "the richest man in Massachusetts" lie the lives of two Radicals. On this man who has expressed his "thorough belief" in capital punishment as "the only thing to check wanton crimes of violence" rests such hope of pardon as two men may have who are condemned to be electrocuted for murder. Believing that trial judges should be "no mere moderators or referees," but should "guide and control" inquiries, he is now asked, in effect, to reverse a judicial decision when such a reversal will be universally interpreted as reflecting upon a member of the Massachusetts judiciary. For only Alvan Tufts Fuller, Governor of Massachusetts, can by the exercise of his right of pardon save Nicola Sacco and Bartolomeo Vanzetti, convicted murderers, from having sent through their bodies, sometime during the week of July 10, 1927, a current of electricity sufficiently powerful to cause their deaths.
Many a humble Boston officeworker, snatching a hasty and economical midday lunch at a Thompson's restaurant where food is balanced on the broad-arm of a one-armed chair and 50c buys abundant calories to sustain life, has all unknowingly lunched with the Governor of his Commonwealth. For Governor Fuller, rich today, was born poor; is self-made; eats luncheons at Thompson's in preference to dining at the Copley Plaza, the Touraine, the Statler. Born 49 years ago in Maiden (suburb of Boston), Governor Fuller left school at the age of 14, taking a job in a rubber factory to help support his widowed mother. At 17 he went into business for himself, opened a bicycle repair shop. On Saturday afternoons he rode in bicycle races, became Junior Champion of the vicinity, added thus to his fame, his income. But it was in four-wheeled, not two-wheeled, vehicles that he made his fortune. Like many another far-sighted man who was young when the automobile industry was an infant, he hitched his wagon to the horseless-carriage. In 1898 he went to Europe, brought back two European-made motor cars, sold both at a profit. Then he went to Detroit, came back with a contract giving him the New England territory for the Packard car. As the Packard car prospered, as more and more motorists began to "Ask the Man Who Owns One," Alvan Tufts Fuller prospered also. Today he is rumored to be worth 40 million dollars; is considered the wealthiest of Massachusetts citizens. None of the Governor's fortune, however, has resulted from his career in public life. As a member of the Massachusetts State Legislature, of the U. S. House of Representatives, as Lieutenant Governor of Massachusetts, and as Governor of Massachusetts, he has returned, uncashed, all salary checks received as salary. Thus Governor Fuller. Why, however, has his action regarding the Sacco-Vanzetti case become a matter of national, of international concern? Mr. Sacco and Mr. Vanzetti are awaiting execution for a payroll robbery, accompanied by murder, occurring in South Braintree, Mass., on April 15, 1920. A fortnight ago Judge Webster Thayer, trial judge at the time of the conviction, sentenced the two Italians to be executed sometime during the week of July 10, 1927 (TIME, April 18).