Note 31 — CHAPTER NINETEEN AUGUST 1927
Reading edition
In his book Sacco-Vanzetti: The Murder and the Myth, Robert Montgomery attributes the following story about Magrath to Chief Stewart and G. Andrews Moriarty, a friend of Magrath’s:
“During the trial Stewart ... obtained for Magrath several hairs from Sacco’s cap and several hairs from the comb Sacco was using in the jail. Magrath put these hairs on slides and looked at them through a microscope. They were identical, and both Stewart and Magrath suggested to Katzmann that he use the evidence, which certainly would have been conclusive so far as the cap was concerned.
“Katzmann was tempted, but he finally decided against it, because he believed that the defense and the newspapers might ridicule an attempt to hang the defendants by a hair or make some other pun on this much-punished word.”