Hopedale History Ezine – August 15, 2010 – History of Hopedale, Mendon and Milford Massachusetts

Hopedale History
August 15, 2010
No. 162
Emilio Bacchiocchi

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Emilio Bacchiocchi, 32 years old, of 27 Cedar Street, Milford, was shot and killed while picketing the Draper Co. plant on the road near Spindleville, at the rear of the Dana Osgood place, at 6:45 this morning.

Bacchiocchi was shot in the back of the neck, and his death was instant. The bullet was of 38 calibre, and lodged in the vertical column.

The body was found about 60 yards off the roadway on a path that serves as a short cut for some of their men on their way to the Hopedale plant. It is fully two miles from the works.

It was a bullet from the revolver of a Hopedale special policeman that killed the Milford man. That much is admitted, but in regard to the events which transpired just previous to the killing, there is a decided contradiction.

The police claim that the strike pickets, of whom the dead man was one, opened fire on the officers, and that the latter returned the fire, one of the shots killing Bacchiocchi.

The story of one of the strikers, who was present, is that there were seven in the picketing party, and that five men came along on their way to work and were stopped by the pickets, who told them not to go to the shops. The men kept on their way, despite the picketing, and a stone was thrown after them, not to hit anybody, but to scare the men. Without warning the police jumped out of the bushes, according to the striker’s story, and opened fire at the pickets, who ran up the hill into the woods. Bacchiocchi was the last of the pickets, and the others did not know of his death directly, as they kept on running to evade the pursuing bullets.

The names of the picketing party, so far as could be learned today, are unknown to the police. The identity of the special police, who were on duty at the point, one of whom fired the fatal shot, was also refused by the authorities.

A few lines of the article are missing at this point.

It was one of the specials who reported the shooting by telephone from the Westcott residence, and from the time of the arrival of the newspaper men upon the scene the greatest secrecy was maintained.

Bacchiocchi lay face upward on the side hill when a Daily News man arrived on the scene. His mouth and eyes were partially opened, and his light-colored felt hat lay nearby.

One of the Metropolitan police who started to tell the story he had heard of three men, apparently strike pickets, who were seen running away through the woods, was checked by another officer half way in his narrative, and he did not finish it.

Several autos conveyed officers to the spot as soon as possible after the word came of the death, and a message was sent to Milford, notifying Chief O’Neil and Capt. Proctor of it and they went immediately.

Medical Examiner Clarke, when notified, gave permission for Undertaker James B. Edwards to remove the body to his undertaking rooms, where the autopsy was held later in the morning.

Dr. Clarke was assisted in performing the autopsy by Dr. G.F. Curley, assistant medical examiner. His report has already been transmitted to Dist. Atty. James A. Stiles, who has directed that the fullest investigation of the killing be made. Dr. Clarke denied the request of Atty. A. B. Cenedella, counsel for the family, to have a physician present at the autopsy as their representative.

When the clothing of the dead man was searched, no weapon of any kind was found. There were several private papers and some money in the pockets, and these articles were sealed up for examination later. Milford Daily News, April 24, 1913.

I haven’t included the complete article above, thinking this is enough of that article for this particular purpose. Here’s more from the Milford News, two days later.

April 26 – Funeral of Emilio Bacchiocchi, slain striker. About 2,000 were in funeral procession, business places of Italian speaking residents were closed – many of them for the last two days and some having crepe on the doors. Services were in the afternoon in Sacred Heart of Jesus Church, after which the procession marched through the streets and to St. Mary’s cemetery, where services were again held at the grave.

I’ve read elsewhere that the Bacchiocchi funeral was the largest funeral in Milford up to that time. The Bancroft Memorial Library has copies of the Milford Daily News and Milford Journal articles about the strike. They’re in a binder labeled April 1 – May 31 – 1913. It appears that there are at least 150 pages in the binder.

The Dana Osgood place mentioned in the first paragraph was the home that later became the Harel House. Osgood’s mother was a daughter of George and Hannah Draper. The Osgood property at that time went down to what later became Dana Park and McVitty Road, and perhaps even further over toward the Westcott Mill on Spindleville Pond.