Bay State "Blue" Laws and Bimba; a Documentary Study of the Anthony
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*i Bay State "Blue" Laws and Bimba By Wiinam Wolfcovich FORUM PRESS OF BROCKTON and 1 VILLAGE OFFSET OF SANDWICH, MASS. $5.95 (Plus 35c postage and mailing un- less prepaid. Mass. residents 18c sales tax in addition.) "... a book of extra- ordinary interest." "His (Anthony Bimba's) trial. created a sen- sation." "It is about . two counts of blasphemy and sedition. Both counts have a com- mon element of freedom of speech which makes the trial, and this book relevant today." "Facts are of prime interest in the Sacco- Vanzetti case, princi- ples are of prime in- terest in the Bimba case." "... the book is well researched and doc- umented, and is em- inently readable." (Excerpts from the Foreward by Rev. William J. Kenealy, S. J., Professor and Dean Emeritus of Boston College Law School.) BOSTOISI PUBLIC LIBRARY BAY STATE "BLUE" LAWS AND BIMBA Note About the Title: The word "blue" is used here to mean "seldom or rarely invoked" as applied to many statutes. The author's intention is to prescind from the inherent merits of the laws themselves. Bay State 'Blue Laws and Bimba A Documentary Study of the ANTHONY BIMBA TRIAL for Blasphemy and Sedition in Brockton, Massachusetts, 1926 by William Wolkovich Jacket by JULIAN S. ALEXANDER, Director of Art, Milton Schools, Milton, Massachusetts Published by Forum Press of Brockton and The Village Offset of Sandwich, Massachusetts Copyright © by William Wolkovich All rights reserved Library of Congress Catalogue Card No. 73-87571 Copies of this book available from WOL-PEL DISTRIBUTORS P.O. Box 2022 BROCKTON, MA 02403 Copy—$5.95; postage free if prepaid; otherwise, please add 35<t: for postage and handling. Massachusetts resi- dents kindly add 18<l: [3% sales tax]. Printed by The Colonial Press Inc. Clinton, Massachusetts 30STnM PHRI in LIBRARY DEDICATION This book is happily dedicated to Attorney Paul F. Shaughnessy in remembrance of his many kindnesses to my family. ACKNOWLEDGMENTS Many thanks to Rev. William J. Kenealy, S J., former dean of Boston College Law School for his careful inspection of this text and for the contribution of the Foreword. In the compilation of material, it was a joyful experience of mine to profit from the splendid and venerable library tradition of helpfulness to researchers. Prompt cooperation was shown to me in my travels to the Firestone Library, Princeton University; the libraries of Boston, Worcester, and the Brockton Library where Melvina O'Connor was most eager to assist. I am indebted also to Patricia Farina at the Clerk's Office in Plymouth Superior Court, and especially to David E. Stevens, Clerk of the Plymouth District Court in Brockton. Further thanks are due to Rt. Rev. Francis P. Juras for the unlimited use of his ALKA archives at Putnam, Connecticut; to Jackus Sonda of Keleivis for his welcome help, and to Mrs. John H. Quebman (Adelaide King) for her comments and for the loan of invaluable newspaper clippings. Especially I value the interviews granted by the survivors of the trial, the principals themselves: defendant Anthony Bimba, defense counsel Harry Hoffman, and prosecuting attorney L Manuel Rubin. Mr. Bimba's memoirs were especially useful as background material. My gratitude likewise must be expressed to historians Simas Suziedelis and Nancy Carrigg whom I consulted freely. Also thanks to Denise Brouthers for typing this manuscript. BIOGRAPHICAL NOTE This documentary account of the Bimba trial is from the pen of William Wolkovich, a free-lance writer born in Hudson, Massachu- setts in 1929, ordained a Roman Catholic priest in 1953. He has written some thirty articles for various Catholic and secular publica- tions on a variety of topics including medical-moral questions. In addition, he has given intermittent attention to topics relating to his Lithuanian background especially as a contributor to the Encyclopedia Lituanica. Father Wolkovich 's more important books and articles are: 1 Norms of Conduct for Pharmacists, Norms for Pharmacists, Hudson, Mass., 1962, pp. 160. 2. From the Nemunas to the Assabet, Hudson, Mass., 1966, pp. 96 (a history of the Lithuanians and Lithuanian-Americans of Hudson). 3. "Professional Ethics in Focus," Proceedings of Annual Meeting, 1961, National Association of Boards of Pharmacy and American Associa- tion of Colleges of Pharmacy, District One. 4. "Gimimu Kontrole: Naujienos, Pastabos, Isvados" (Birth Control: News Events, Observations, Reflections) Laiskai Lietuviams, March, 1966. 5. "Lithuania and Lithuanians in the New Catholic Encyclopedia," Lituanus, fall, 1970. 6. "Medininkai (Varniai), Lithuania—The Rare Instance of a Diocese Established by an Ecumenical Council— 1417," to be published in The Jurist. FOREWORD Father William Wolkovich has written a book of extraordinary interest. It is about the trial of Anthony Bimba in Brockton, Massachusetts in 1926. The native Lithuanian, a socialist turned communist, was charged in two counts of blasphemy and sedition. Both counts have a common element of freedom of speech which makes the trial, and this book, relevant today. Massachusetts disestablished its State Religion in 1833. But in 1 838 Chief Justice Lemuel Shaw upheld the conviction of Abner Kneeland for violating the blasphemy law of 1697. Kneeland was a deist and the founder of the Boston Investigator. His was the only conviction under the 1697 statute in history. Then came Bimba. Anthony Bimba made a speech to an assembly of Lithuanians, chiefly Catholics by tradition, which was allegedly blasphemous and seditious. His trial, coming soon after the celebrated Sacco-Van- zetti case, created a sensation. It was reported in the national news media, including the newspapers of New England, New York, Philadelphia and major cities elsewhere. Facts are of primary interest in the Sacco-Vanzetti case, principles are of prime interest in the Bimba case. Here is a sad tale of a Lithuanian community torn asunder by religious and political strife. The author, a priest of the Archdiocese of Boston, is expert in the Lithuanian language. As a result, the book is well researched and documented, and is eminently readable. Only a few people linked with this trial have survived, namely: defense counsel Harry Hoffman of Boston, prosecutor Manuel Rubin of Brockton (both octogenarians still practicing law at this writing), and the defendant himself—Anthony Bimba of Brooklyn, N.Y., all of whom were interviewed by the author. 12 FOREWORD It is a pleasure to recommend this volume, especially to anyone who wishes to refresh himself on the principles of free speech and free assembly as they were curiously tested and interpreted a half century ago in the district court of Brockton, Massachusetts. Rev. William J. Kenealy, S.J. Professor and Dean Emeritus, Boston College Law School INTRODUCTION The third decade of the twentieth century in the United States spawned several legal altercations which provoked national and even international attention. Two such episodes were: the so-called "monkey" trial of John Thomas Stokes in the court of Dayton, Tennessee and the Sacco-Vanzetti case tried in Dedham, Massachu- setts. The first dispute was a deliberate test of a 1925 state ban on teaching the theory of evolution. The other proceeding was the outcome of a robbery and slayings of a paymaster and guard on April 20, 1920.1 Both juridical wrangles were highly charged with emotion, encompassing a cluster of religious, political, ethnic, and social aspects. The two trials with their abundant human-interest fare provoked many fertile pens at the time. Since then, attention has intermittently surfaced in the public eye resulting in several quite lengthy studies of recent date.^ Hitherto unreported in any major study is a companion trial of that same era. National notoriety, too, surrounded the prosecution of Anthony Bimba^ in Plymouth County District Court of Brockton, Massachusetts for the double charge of blasphemy and sedition. The case became a crucible for the issues of free speech, liberty of assembly, the socialist-communist fracture at the national and local level, and a furious dispute of two boisterous ethnic factions in the New England industrial city. Even a touch of European politics was injected into the litigation, namely the contemporary power struggle abroad in Lithuania, Bimba's native land. The Brockton affair was a curious instance in the history of Massachusetts law, exposing a rare, criminal statute dating back to the seventeenth century colonial days, forbidding expression of anti-religious sentiment. The court case against Bimba was also the 14 INTRODUCTION first application of a contemporary Bay State law of 1919 outlawing seditious utterances. Knowledge of this trial first came to me about 1950 when I was thumbing through an apologetic handbook of Catholic teaching by David Goldstein. In his chapter on atheism, the author of the manual has a scant one-line remark about the 1926 Bimba trial in Brockton. The name had already been familiar to me from my own ethnic background since Bimba was known as a leading Lithuanian communist in America. One of my assignments as a priest was to the parish of Saint Casimir in Brockton (1955-1957), the community where the Bimba episode occurred. Curious, fleeting thoughts darted across my mind about investigating the subject of this book. Ten years later, on reassignment to the same church (1967-1970), my intention crystal- lized. One day I was jolted when I picked up a copy of a communist tabloid. The little newspaper described Bimba, now in his twilight years, giving a talk at Laisve (i.e. Liberty) Hall in New York on the topic of the 1969 fall elections of that city.* This zealot was still active, not only by writing, but even by continuing to mount the lecture platform. Apart from his communistic goals and despite them, such energetic devotion in this man provoked my curiosity all the more and pressed me into my inquiry.