Bianchi v. State

• Decision Date: 02 April 1919
• Parties: BIANCHI ET AL. v. STATE.
• Court: Wisconsin Supreme Court

169 Wis. 75

171 N.W. 639

BIANCHI ET AL.

v.STATE.

Supreme Court of Wisconsin.

April 2, 1919.

Error to Municipal Court of Milwaukee County; August C. Backus, Judge.

Peter Bianchi, Vincent Fratesi, Amedeo Lilli, Gavina Denurra, Bartolo Testolin and others were convicted of an assault with intent to murder, and they bring error. Judgment as to defendants Vincent Fratesi and Amedeo Lilli affirmed, as to defendants Gavina Denurra and Bartolo Testolin reversed and remanded, and as to other defendants reversed and remanded, with directions to discharge them from further custody.

The plaintiffs in error, hereinafter called the defendants, Peter Bianchi, Vincent Fratesi, Amedeo Lilli, Adolph Fratesi, Louis Serafini, Angelo Pantaleoni, Gavina Denurra, Daniel Belucci, Pasquale Nardini, Mary Nardini, and Bartolo Testolin, were each charged with and convicted of the crime of an assault, being armed with a loaded revolver, with intent to murder, and each was sentenced for a term of 25 years in state prison. All the above defendants except Vincent Fratesi and Amedeo Lilli were also charged with being accessories before the fact of the same offense, in that they unlawfully and feloniously counseled, aided, abetted, and procured Vincent Fratesi and Amedeo Lilli to commit the assault charged.

It appears from the evidence that on Sunday August 26, 1917, at about half past 3 in the afternoon, one August Guliani, a minister, having obtained police permission so to do, held a meeting at the corner of Bishop and Potter avenues in the city of Milwaukee. He had with him part of his own congregation. Two cornets and an organ were played at the meeting. They first played Columbia on the cornet, and that attracted a crowd of about 100. Among those who came were some of the defendants. Guliani testified that Mary Nardini, Vincent Fratesi, Amedeo Lilli, Adolph Fratesi, Bartolo Testolin, and Gavina Denurra were there, but he cannot say that he saw any other of the defendants there that afternoon. Those that he saw were standing close together in a group by themselves. After Columbia was played the minister started to talk about the war, the draft, and registration, and talked for about ten minutes when Gavina Denurra began to talk aloud and said: “I don't believe in God; I don't believe in priests; I don't believe in government; I don't believe in what you are saying”––and every one of the group said, “Yes, yes, yes,” according to Guliani's testimony. He then asked them to be quiet till the meeting was over, and then if they had any questions to ask he would answer them. They were quiet till the meeting was over, and then they came around him and started to talk. Amedeo Lilli was the first to speak and he said, “We don't believe in this war;” and then there was another man, not a defendant, who said, “You came here, because you want to preach about the war; we don't believe in any government; Wilson is a pig; the American flag is a rag; and this country is a jail;” and the other defendants said, “You bet! you bet!” They then told him that they were anarchists, and he advised them to keep their ideas to themselves or they would get into trouble. They said, “We don't care for government or police.” He then offered to shake hands with them, but one, not a defendant, said, “We don't want to shake;” “I no shake hands with a man who is bought for the government;” and some of the defendants said, “We are the same idea.” The minister and those who came with him then went home; but before leaving he asked those of the crowd who were pleased with his coming to raise their hands, and most of them did.

On Sunday, the 2d of September, he went there again about half past 3 or 4 in the afternoon, with the same party he had August 26th. What then happened is thus stated by him:

“On our way from the street car to that corner we saw Mrs. Nardini, one of the defendants, sitting outside of her house on Bishop avenue. She was reading a book, and she saw me, closed the book, and ran ahead of us in the direction towards 300 Bishop avenue where the meeting hall is. When our band reached the corner there was nobody there, and our people started to sing Columbia in Italian. When we reached the corner there was nobody there, but immediately thereafter we saw three of the defendants, Fratesi, Amedeo, and Testolin, and some more at the same corner where we were standing, and they were looking at us very friendly. No remark passed between us at the beginning, and others of these defendants came to that corner, among them Mary Nardini who came with the others and was talking to them. While we were singing they started a bad song, an anarchistic song, and they stood five or six feet from us, and they were singing this song while we were singing, and I told them, ‘When you are through let me know, I'll start again,’ and they didn't pay any attention to my advice. After ten minutes they were singing, and I told Miss Richter to call for police. There were about 15 in that group, but I remember only 4 of the defendants, Mrs. Nardini, Vincent Fratesi, Amedeo Lilli, and Testolin. Miss Richter got the police, who came after five minutes, and I gave my card to the police, and then I asked them for protection, and these defendants were present. The police said, ‘You go on with your meeting, I will take care of you,’ and then I started in to sing again, and after a minute or two they started their anarchistic song again, and I asked the police why he did not stop them, and he said, ‘I can do nothing with such a crowd.’ I was listening to what the four defendants present there were saying; they were standing close together, and they talked loud, and they said, ‘Before it starts to rain go home; otherwise we kill you.’ It did not look like rain, and the lady said, Mrs. Nardini, ‘Coward, take a gun and shoot them; who is the first?’ She said that to her crowd there, about 15, and they called me ‘Coward, a man paid by the government;we do not want to listen about the war because we have our brothers in the war in Italy; we will smash your face; we destroy you, and will throw you in the lake if you come again.’ I said, ‘I am not a coward man, I will be here again, but I will bring police with me to protect me,’ and they told me, ‘We kill you, and the police too.’ I do not remember the person who said this, but all the crowd there. They were about five or six feet from me, and they said it in a loud voice in the Italian language. They started to come near me, and were talking all the time, but I cannot remember the words. Then I said, ‘For peace sake, go home,’ and I closed the organ and went home, and 4 of these defendants followed us for three blocks, the 4 defendants I had named, and they were saying, ‘Don't come again.’ The 4 defendants named and 10 or 12 others followed. A little booklet with a red picture on the cover, entitled Nuovo Canzoniere Dei Ribelli, and a poem on page 5 I saw and I heard that song on page 5 sung by the 4 defendants I have named. I can translate the Italian language of that song into English, and the paper shown me contains a true and correct translation of the Italian song which was sung by those defendants on that day. I heard two or three stanzas of that song. I heard them sing:

‘We are the sons of work,

We fight for bread,

The proud heroes of gold,

We beseech yet in vain,

We fight against all citizens,

And we fight the citizens,

We fight, we fight, we fight for anarchy,

Down with the frontiers,

Hang high the banners,

We salute humanity.'

I cannot say that I heard any more of this sung, and when we left the second meeting for home and were being followed by this mob, the policeman was between our crowd and that crowd and the officer followed us about three or four blocks.”

Concerning the third and last meeting when the shooting took place Guliani testified as follows:

“I went to Bishop and Potter avenue again the next Sunday, September 9th, and before I had gone personally to the chief of police for protection, and I went to the Department of Justice of the federal government. On September 9th we first met at the city hall before 3 o'clock, and two detectives, Templin and Weiler, were there with us, and our party consisted of about 15 or 20, of whom 6 or 7 were women. We went to Bishop and Potter avenue in a street car, and the officers went with us. We got to that corner about five minutes after 3 and when we got to the corner we saw two other detectives there, Wesolowski and Rydlewicz, at the northwest corner, and three other men were waiting, and 3 of these defendants, Lilli, Denurra, and the dead one, Tony Formaceo, who were waiting at this corner and talking. Two of these detectives were standing on the northwest corner and two on the southeast corner. We opened the organ and started to play the song Columbia, and some strangers came to our corner, stood around and listened. They were standing close to us, and appeared very friendly. We did not complete our song because our attention was attracted to an Italian man in the crowd, who told us the anarchists were not here, and then I asked him why. No. 1 and No. 8 of the defendants heard this, then I asked him which anarchists he means, and he said, ‘Who bothered you last Sunday.’ Then I said, ‘Where are they,’ and he told me, ‘They are in the club over two hours, and to–day will be trouble here.’

A few minutes later I saw a crowd coming from the south, on the east side of the street. I do not know what there is on the corner just south on the side that they were coming up. This crowd came in military fashion, all close together, two by two, and at the head of that party was the defendant Mary Nardini. While we were singing Columbia the crowd approached about a half a block, and they stopped about a block away at the northeast corner, and we were on the northwest corner, directly across the street. I cannot say that I saw all the defendants there at that time. The defendant...