Cogitator Sept 25, 2013

Posted by George Cooper 
on Sep 25, 2013
 
 
 

 

VISITING ROTARIANS

None.

GUESTS

Katie Rendine, Community Relations Manager from Barnes and Noble, joined us as a guest of today’s speaker, author Paul Caranci.

ROTARY ANNIVERSARY

Happy Rotary anniversary to Keith Peacock this week.  Keith was inducted into the club two years ago on September 28th, 2011. 

MEMBERSHIP

Janet Essex and the Membership Committee will meet at 9am on Friday, October 4th, at Ken Colaluca’s office (1050 Main Street, East Greenwich).  Also, a reminder from President-Elect Ron Winde—don’t forget to pass out your two invitation cards to prospective members.  

PHONEBOOK

Phonebook Chairman Matt D’Agenais urged members to keep charging ahead these last few days of the Phonebook campaign, and get your ads in as soon as possible.  We still have some $16,000 in renewals to make this year’s goal.  Let’s finish strongly, and make sure to bolster our Charity Funds for the remainder of the 2013-2014 year!

LITERACY COMMITTEE

Karen Taylor mentioned that the books for London Bridge Child Care Center have been purchased, and the committee will soon present them, each with a stamp inside proudly stating ‘Presented by East Greenwich Rotary.’

IMAGINE DINNER

The Lindsay Ann Burke Memorial Fund’s ‘Imagine Dinner’ will be held on Thursday, October 17th, at the Atlantic Beach Club in Middletown.  There are 10 seats available due to the club’s table purchase.  Please see Chuck or Bonnie Sauer if you’d like to attend. 

OCTOBER BOARD MEETING

‘Come one and all—board members, committee chairs, members at large,’ said Ron Winde, referring to our next board of directors meeting which will be held at T’s Restaurant on Post Road Friday, October 11th, at 7:30am.  It’s a great new venue, T’s Restaurant, and there’s plenty of important club business in which all can participate. 

CHUB CLEMENT

Florence Clement passed on word that hubby Chub is doing well after his recent cataract surgery.  Chub is anxious to get back to reading books again, and he hopes to return to the club in the near future.  Come back soon, Chub!

HAPPY BUCKS

-Kathy McMahon made it official—she’s now officially a Rhode Island driver, with a license to prove it.  (You’ll know it’s Kathy from her courteous disposition behind the wheel, early turn signals, and her adherence generally to speed limits and rules of the road.)

-Steve Lombardi was thrilled that MSNBC is going to film a special which includes ‘our little town,’ thanks to Steve’s efforts via the East Greenwich Chamber of Commerce.

-Vin Meola was happy to see friend Paul Caranci on hand as our speaker.  Vin also continued his vigil for another friend and Yankee die-hard, Dave Iannuccilli, worrying what lasting damage may have been done to poor Dave this year as the Yanks missed the playoffs for only the second time in 19 years. 

-Bob Miller, handling the Yanks’ demise far better, asked the club to be gentle on Dave in the days ahead, and offered a hearty ‘You deserve it!’ to Sox fans who happily watched their boys secure the American League East title.  Bob also thanked Steve Lombardi for great Patriots tickets last weekend, and looked forward to his upcoming trip to Amelia Island, Florida.

 

SPEAKER/PROGRAM

Paul Caranci, Author of ‘The Hanging and Redemption of John Gordon’

Paul Caranci took in a play, ‘The Trial of John Gordon,’ at the Park Cinema in Cranston several years ago.  He was riveted by the tragic story of John Gordon, an Irish immigrant, who in 1845 was sentenced to death by the State of Rhode Island.  It turned out to be the state’s last execution. 

After countless hours of research and investigation, Paul finished what would become a widely acclaimed book, ‘The Hanging and Redemption of John Gordon.’    

Nicholas Gordon escaped the Great Famine of his native Ireland in the 1830’s, ending up in the Knightsville section of Cranston.  It was an area to which many immigrants before him had settled due to the abundance of mill jobs.  Several of the local mills were owned by the prominent Sprague family. 

By 1843, after years of hard work, Nicholas had done well enough with his liquor, tavern, and retail grocery businesses to bring the rest of his family over from Ireland.  Their reunion was indeed a happy and proud moment for the whole family.       

However, Amasa Sprague was growing tired of workers drinking and returning to work incapacitated.  Gordon’s tavern was most likely not the source for these workers’ libations.  However, it was easy picking for a powerful Sprague, given the family’s political connections, and given the fact that suspicion fell on an Irishman, to manipulate the Cranston City Council and shutter the pub.  Gordon and his helpless family were shattered.

Soon after the tavern’s closing, on New Year’s Eve, 1843, Amasa Sprague was brutally murdered outside his home.  Given their possible motivation, Nicholas Gordon and his family immediately came under the microscope.  Law enforcement, naturally friendly to the Sprague family, pressured nearby residents to present (and perhaps manufacture) circumstantial evidence against the Gordons. 

Three Gordons were ultimately charged.  Nicholas’ brothers William and John, newly arrived in the States, were charged with murdering Sprague, while Nicholas was indicted as an accessory. 

‘It was a horrible case,’ noted Caranci, ‘a sham of a trial, and the judge was complicit.’  Terrible evidence was presented as fact, sound alibis for the Gordons were discounted, and the Gordon lambs were led to the courtroom slaughter. 

John ended up receiving the death penalty in 1845.  He went to the gallows stoically, yet defiantly.  There was no confession but rather a speech railing against the harsh bigotry toward Irish immigrants.  He even added, ‘I forgive my persecutors, for they know not what they do.’ 

William, stunningly, was found not guilty.  Nicholas remained behind bars for a total of nearly two years.

The episode tore the Gordon family apart.  William succumbed to raging alcoholism years later in 1862.  Nicholas died a year after his release, heavily indebted and simply a broken man. 

Not long after the case concluded, several petitions were presented to the Rhode Island General Assembly seeking to abolish the death penalty.  The movement succeeded seven years later, in 1852, and no Rhode Islander has been put to death by the courts since. 

Today, John Gordon is buried in St. Mary’s Cemetery in Pawtucket.  St. Mary’s was in the 1800’s, and remains today, an parish largely made up of Irish Americans. 

Caranci concluded that, ‘In a way, it was the death of innocence for Irish immigrants in Rhode Island and elsewhere in the country.’  In fact, the travesty of justice, as well as the attendant prejudice, bigotry, and hatred, were all somberly absorbed by all immigrants throughout the land.    

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Katie Rendine, from Barnes and Noble, and author Paul Caranci

 

 

NOTE:  A special thanks to Bob Greene, who this week brought in his first official Rotary pin (far left) from 1967!  Note the badge differences throughout the years...