davidaulloa/AmericanStories huggingface dataset:
The Bridgeport times and evening farmer., 1918-08-30
BRIEF NEWS NOTES

The emergency fund being raised by alumni of New York University to tide the university over its present war needs has passed the $S0o.O00 mark.
The Bridgeport times and evening farmer., 1918-08-30
How1AND's SUES FOR DEBT.

The Rowland Dry Goods Company has brought suit for damages for $150 against H. Ireland, of this city. Ireland bought a large bill of goods in June, 1917, and up to this time has not paid for same.
 The municipal authorities of Rome have taken over control of the egg market, fixing the price at ten cents each.
The Bridgeport times and evening farmer., 1918-08-30
Ex-U.s.sENAroR CAMERON DEAD

Lancaseer, Pa, Aug. 30-Former eron, of Pennsylvania. died at 4 o'clock thmis morning at Donegal Springs, near here.
 A campaign for the pensioning of all Federal employees was started in Brooklyn by the navy yard workers.
The Bridgeport times and evening farmer., 1918-08-30
Just Arrived ,! A lot of Jap BIOuses tO sell at S1.75

Fresh new blouses-surprisingly inex- pensive-made possible by special pur- chase. Come in and secure one or two they are decidedly worthwhile. Some have dainty embroidered collars and cuffs.
 Voile and Organdy Waists at SIPS
 Voile, batiste and organdy blouses in most attractive models, some trimmed with lace Several pretty styles to select from
 Blouses, Second Floor.
The Bridgeport times and evening farmer., 1918-08-30
TODAY'S WANTS
AUTOMOBILES

drive, $400; chain drive. S325, storage s7 per monthi repairing, etc. We wash cars Jackson 6 Beers, Madison Garage, 1090 Madison Ave. Noble 85e. P21 as
The Bridgeport times and evening farmer., 1918-08-30

Army airplanes bombarded the New York city hall and vicinity with circulars asking the people to buy tickets for the police field games st Sheepshead Bay.
The Bridgeport times and evening farmer., 1918-08-30

p. A. Ronssin, the new French minister to Cuba, in succession to Count De Clerq, who~ resigned re- gently owing to i'll health, has arrived at Havana.
The Bridgeport times and evening farmer., 1918-08-30

The chief cities and towns of the Rhine district. according to the Co., logne Gazette, formed a committee to deal with the increasing menace of Aluea air raIdErA
The Bridgeport times and evening farmer., 1918-08-30
Center SChe(

With the completion Of the new Honeyspet school. effort will be made
The Bridgeport times and evening farmer., 1918-08-30
Franklin School.

The Franklin school will receive pu- pills of all grades, all pupils reporting at g o'clock except. those of the sev- enth and eighth grades who will re- port at 12:30. District lines remain the same as in the past year.
The Bridgeport times and evening farmer., 1918-08-30
A Sale of Bathing SuitS !

Many warm days are on the way, and there will be plenty of bathing yet. Here are values that are really out of the ordinary. Each suit marked below usual selling price. There are mohairs, brilliantines, surf cloths and jerseys,
 Wool Jersey suits ........... S5.5O Jersey suits at ............ $2.75 Jersey suits at ............ S4.25 Brilliantine suits at ............. $2.0O Brilliantine suits at ............: $2.25 Cloth suits at ................... S2.OO Cloth suits at .............. $1.5O
 The Smith
The Bridgeport times and evening farmer., 1918-08-30

Pupils of the first half of the sixth, grade living in this district will report here at o'clock and those in, the ad- vanced half of the grade will report at 12!s0 o'clock. This school will re- ceive all seventh and eighth grade pu- pills from the Washington and Whit ney Districts.
New-York tribune., 1918-06-09
By Robert II. Rohde
T AIRY REGENSBURG is des

AIRY REGENSBURG is dead
and Sam Regensburg is dead
That can't be mended. In no
way can Law be applied to bring them
back.
Hughes Davis is dead, too-which
is just as we'll. He had gone into the
Regensburg home to steal, had stayed
to kill and had killed wantonly. His
life was forfeit. Had he lived through
the rain of police bullets which found
him in hiding near the scene of his
crime, then he must all but inevitably
have died by legal execution.
Harry Regensburg dead, Sam Re-
gensburg dead, Hughes Davis dead !;
and now it is Paul Chapman's turn.
Paul Chapman is sixteen years old
and in the Death House. He is
the youngest prisoner who ever has
entered that steel-walled one-way cor
ridor between here and the hereafter.
His status is the condemned murder
er's. His prospects are the con-
demned murderer's. An appeal has
been taken for him. Beyond the ap-
peal is the possibility of a new trial :;
beyond that possibility the Governor
But beyond all the door to the death
chamber stands ajar
New-York tribune., 1918-06-09
In the Matter of
Buying Chloroform

Then there was chloroform to be
bought. That task, too, Hughey put
up to Paul. He and Leonidas were
we'll known in the neighborhood, he
argued, and the cunning trick would
be for total stranger to make the
purchase. And for another thing:
Wasn't it Paul who was all the time
objecting to rough stuff and threaten.
ing to back out if the pistols or the
blackjack were going to be used
We'll, wasn't chloroform a concession
to him, then? That wouldn't hurt any,
body-just make 'em sleep sounder.
SO Hughey temporarily took charg.
OF Pauls pistol and Paul canvassed
the drug stores of the neighborhood
for chloroform. In the first store he
was shrewdly questioned. He with
drew in disorder Farther on he found
druggists who were not so curious,
They filled his orders without oues-
ton until Hughey thought there was
enough chloroform on hand for the
nights business.
AS matter of fact it was onlv
chloroform liniment which had been
sold to Paul. Uneasy the slumber of
him under whose nose it were held.
Indeed. it was Hughey's effort to in
duce state of artificial repose in
him which awoke Sam Regensburg.
Hughey had run up the window by Re-
gensburg's bed and was waving a rag
saturated with the stuff under the vic
TINS nose. The chloroform liniment
might have been so much ammonia.
Regensburg stirred and Hughey, think
ing the stir was his last for hours.
crawled through the window and across
the bed.
TO make certain he wouldn't have
Regensburg on his hands prematurely.
Hughey held the rag to his nostrils
again. 1t was too much for him this
New-York tribune., 1918-06-09
PAUL CHAPMAN AND HIS
MOTHER

other to be consulted. That was
! Leonidas Davis, Hughey's 23-year-old
brother. Leonidas was married and
lived in Providence, R. I. That even
ing he had popped up unexpectedly
in Brooklyn. Together Hughey, Leon
idas and Paul sailed forth. They
rode on the Brighton L and Hughey
left Leonidas and Paul waiting on
station platform while he took him
self off on an errand. He had ex-
pected to bring back another boy, with
whom the ultimate decision should
rest in regard to Paul. The fourth
boy, under parental restraint, couldn't
join the expedition; but Hughey
brought back with him various para
phernalia of crime which, Paul under
stood, had been stored with the stay
at-home.
BY that time Hughey had upon his
person two automatic pistols rubber
gloves to shield tell-tale finger tips, a
jimmy, black jack.
Paul said-always has sad-he be-
gan to lose his nerve right there. He
didn't like the look of the pistols.
Plain stealing was another matter. This
array of deadly weapons looked alto
gether too desperate.
But the fact is that Paul didn't then
and there back out Of the party. The
suggestion from Hughey that he was
nj VI
cient to steel him. He went ahead.
Moreover he was persuaded to carry
one of the pistols. Hughey and Leo
midas were to have been the armed men
of the expedition, according to Pauls
story, and Paul's share in the enter.
prise was to have been to serve as out
side lookout. He was to stand in the
street and at the approach of police
man to signal to Leonidas, who was to
have been posted at the back door of
a shop which afforded a clear line of
vision through from the sidewalk.
Then Leonidas was to have passed IN
the warning to his brother
1t seemed, though, that Hughey had
no mind to let Paul earn his suit of
clothes SO easily. First he called it
to Paul's attention that Leonidas had
wife and baby. 1t wouldn't do, if
anything went wrong, for him to be
found with pistol in his possession
Better to have the bachelors take
chance. Couldn't Paul, as man and
bachelor, see that? Paul could. Re-
luctant or not, nevertheless he took
the gun and slowed it in his coat
pocket.
New-York tribune., 1918-06-09
Leonidas Davis
Goes Scot Free

There is Paul Chapman's story.
And in what degree was Paul Chap
mans gAllt greater than the guilt Of
Leonidas Davis?
Leonldas was tried after Paul's case
had been disposed of. The police had
FOUND Hughey''s brother in bed when
they reached his home, but they bad
wrung a confession from him. Paul
chapman would have testified, had he
neen brought down from the Desth
house as a witness, that Leonidas had
been standing watch outside the Reg
ensourg store no more than twenty
minutes before the shooting. That
must have threatened the alibi supplied
by the defendants mother and step
rather, who testified Leonidas wa
nome and in bed at that time. Then
There was another potential witness
Mrs. Agnes Powers, who was not
called. Mrs. Powers, a neighbor Of the
rregensourgs, says she saw two boys run
from the entrance hall at 636 Park
race shortly after the shooting, one
OF whom disappeared around the cor.
ner while the second darted back
into the building. Neither of the
palr. she is sure. was Paul; so the in
ference to be drawn from her stor
~S viz IVY WuO returned INV Wv
house was Hughey, and his companion
a third participant.
District Attorney Lewis did not ~.
pear personally in the prosecution q
Leonldas Davis, and in general shs
state did not seem to prosecute win
nearly SO much vigor as in the trial
of Paul.
1t was Justice Cropsey, Mr.. Lewis
predecessor as District Attorney ID
kings, before whom young Davis W.
tried. In public speeches the justios
had more than once upheld the con.
viction of Paul Chapman, yet when :
came time for him to charge the jug
with whom the fate Of Leonidas Dsvs
rested he pointed out they might con.
wet on several lesser counts sn@
nrst degree murder.
notwithstanding that the verdict "
not guilty" Straightway other 10.
dictments pending against Davis wss
quashed. He is scot free. He nssa
can be tried again.
New-York tribune., 1918-06-09
He Was Ready
To Tell the Story

Paul was arrested the next morning.
BY refusing to admit his completely he
might have saved himself then and
there. Not bit of evidence stood
against him except that of the note
book. He was acquainted with Hughes
Davis~~that was all
Getting Paul to talk, though, was no
difficult task. He seemed glad Of an
opportunity to free his mind Of what
New-York tribune., 1918-06-09
The Story AS
Paul Told 1t

Now, aside from the question of Paul
Chapman's age-if for single moment
1t is possible to explore into the facts
and forego that question-there is GER
tainly another as to the measure of
his guilt.
At the trial expert had faced expert
and the wise men had disagreed. One
set was sure that some of the bullets
which had been fired had come from
the automatic pistol carried by Chap
man. Another set, equally learned in
the use of firearms, had testified It
wasn't so. Paul, retelling his own
story on the witness stand-exactly
as he had told it again and again on
the day of his arrest~-had asserted d
ne had abandoned the crime before
ever the shooting started
II was in it, and ought to be pun.
ishcd; but I backed out short of muir
der and l shouldn't be killed"-that
was the gist of his narrative, and that
was his plea.
1t wasn't apparently just a matter OF
words, nor Of playing for effect. What
Paul Chapman said he seemed sincerely
to believe. He felt that punishment
and severe punishment, was his due
he had said as much to Matthew
Wood, his lawyer, and Wood at his sue.
gestion had proposed to District At.
torney Lewis of Kings that his bow
client be permitted to plead guilty to
second degree murder. The sentence
then could not have been less than .
twenty year term. 1t might have been
imprisonment for life.
The prosecutor was rather conf;d.n,
then that he could prove Paul was on
the firing line with Hughes Davis
when the Regensburg brothers awoke
to find burglars at their elbows. To
convict. he didn't have to prove
that. 1t is the Law that ono who
joins in the plotting Of a crime i,
equally guilty, if murder grows out Of
IT, with the murderer. II is not even
necessary to conviction that the CO.
plotter OF the first part be present
during the commission Of the crime.
He may be sixteen years old or sixty
s-ths same law applies. He may in.
New-York tribune., 1918-06-09
Jurors Sign a
Clemency Petition

The twelve men who convicted him
think it is too much that Paul should
die Every one of them has signed a
petition urging clemency Herein is
their final judgment. They may be
jurors no longer, nevertheless they
are the same dozen who heard and
weighed all the evidence which the
state was able to pile up against Paul.
What they did when they returned
their verdict finding Paul guilty of
murder in the first degree they are
now only too anxious to see undone.
Is it too late?
The "Society" whose will the Law
aims to interpret is an abstract thing
More often than not the voice which
speaks through the Law is the voice
turies have rolled.
Will the actual Society" Of to- day
the men who vote and think and the
women who always have thought and
now may vote-countenance the exc
cution of Paul Chapman?
Paul, as he sits in his cell in the
Death House, is neither angel nor
devil. He is just boy, sixteen years
old, and, calamitously for himself, "big
for his age" With a mans physique
to carry him through, he had tasted
something of mans experiences be-
fore he came to the moment of temp
tation. Of his stature and his minor
adventures in life the state made much.
They were put into issue against his
age in proof of his accountability.
But Paul Chapman is only sixteen
years old. The brain which directs
the body that has OUTRAGED it is a six
teen -year-old brain. That the jury, re-
considering, has come to realize The
hue and cry has subsidized long since
and there has been time, all around,
for reflection. Directly as result of
the fate which confronts Paul a bill
passed the Assembly at the last session
of the Legislature providing that only
men past twenty-one may be required
TO pay the death penalty The bill was
lost in the confusion Of the last three
days in the Senate, so that, as concerns
Paul Chapman, the legislation inspire d
by his plight is hint to the Governor,
and nothing more-a suggestion Of $50
clety's" will in regard to Paul.
New-York tribune., 1918-06-09
The Lure Held
Out to Him

Paul was in desperate straits-in
what way will be developed further on.
de needed clothing and was bound to
have it. Readily he fell in with
Hughes's suggestion that the two col
laborate for profit. Paul didn't have
the stamina which keeps many a poor
boy from making q bad thing worse
for which an explanation is coming.
he was willing to go wrong In fair
ness that must here be conceded. as
Paul conceded it in his confession.
Just before the Regensburg murder
hughes Davis had planned another
Job" He and another boy went into
hardware store in the Bedford sec
tion of Brooklyn, leaving Paul posted
across the street. When the others
returned. as Paul said, he learned for
the first time they had contemplated
robbery. They had known the brooms
were kept in the cellar and while the
proprietor OF the store was getting one
for them it had been the scheme to
rlne the cash register. 1t might have
worked-but the hardware man had
company.
That was Paul's introduction to the
source of Hughes's easy money. 1t
was good and sufficient warning that
hughes Davis wasn't square and a
preparation for what happened sub
sequently.
On the following Sunday evening
Paul met Hughes in Brooklyn pool
room by appointment. Hughes said
he thought he saw way to make a
little money for an old friend-one.
say who needed a new suit and had
no means of getting it. He wasn't
sure. He just thought he could help
out. The final decision rested with
others than himself.
AS it developed there was only one
New-York tribune., 1918-06-09
deed. be no more than seven, and the
law will call him killer.
Put On AS His
Own Witness

1t was this technicality in the law
which menaced Paul Chapman. Wood
found another technicality to serve as
foundation of the defence. For the
law allows opportunity for repentance.
Let transgressor weaken in his Grim
inal resolve and turn his back upon
the crime in contemplation; from that
instant he is clothed with innocence.
Let him be frightened. away from a
crime and kill a policeman, say, in his
higkt---it is written then that it was
not in pursuance of a criminal act he
did the killing. 1t is all highly tech
ncal.
Anyhow, Wood decided to put Paul
on the stand. Satisfied the boy had
been telling the truth right along and
would tell it again in the same
straightforward manner, the lawyer
called him as his own witness. When
Paul was sworn the main facts in the
case had been established. For that
matter they were conceded
There was no disputing that the
murdered Regensburgs had been de-
cent and peaceable citizens, and for
their taking off there was no excuse.
Harry Regensburg, years before, had
opened little stationery store at
636 Park Place, Brooklyn. He and his
wife had moderately prospered there,
and there a son was born
On the night of Sunday, October %,
1917, the Regensburgs had about $400
on the premises, hidden in divers par
cells in the shop and the living rooms
to the rear They weren't expecting
burglars; the precautions were routine.
Sam Regensburg, Harry's brother,
had been visitor that evening He
helped in the store until it was closed
at II o'clock and then accepted his
relatives invitation to spend the rest
of the night with them
At 1880 Harry Regensburg, his wife.
his four-year- son and his brother
were all in bed and asleep. An hour
later Sam Regensburg, sleeping with
his small nephew curled to him, awoke
with a start. The window beside his
bed was wide open. He rose on his
elbow to meet blow from a blackjack
or jimmy. There was a heavy odor of
chloroform in the place. Sam strug-
gled to his feet, screaming
New-York tribune., 1918-06-09
What the Public Thinks
of the CHAPMAN Case

A dozen letters to The
Tribune voicing public opln-
ion on the case of Paul Chap
man appear on Page /, Sec
tion VI, of this issue. These
letters were written in re-
sponse to a brief article pub ?
lished some weeks ago, and J,
is in response to a demand
for fuller information Oh
the subject that the abose
article is printed.
New-York tribune., 1918-06-09
Getting Away
From the Scene

Nobody questioned Paul when he
walked out the front door. For few
minutes he stood in the scantily attired
crowd on the sidewalk. Leisurely then
he strolled away. Between the crowd
and the ~" station for which he was
heading he met policeman.
Guess you're needed back there"
Paul blandly informed MIN. There's
been a robbery"
And at that moment. Paul insists. he
didn't know crime graver than rob-
berry had been committed.
An Il" train carried Paul safely away
from Park Place He snatched a little
sleep on station bench and in the
morning resumed his search for work.
New-York tribune., 1918-06-09

tlne. hegenSpufgS eyes opened. He
saw the dark figure bending over him
and started to climb out of bed.
Hughey raized his black ack-and in
that instant lost an accomplice.
Of course this is all Paul Chap
mans story. No witnesses survive to
corroborate or contradict him. But the
police have no reason to doubt that
Paul told the truth here as he did
everywhere else.
Protecting
A Family Man
AS Hughey moved to strike Paul
says he was seized with panic. For
there had been another change of plans
to which Hughey had won his agree.
ment through the old argument that
Leonidas was "family man" and it
was Paul who at the last moment had
been assigned to act as the lookout
in the yard. Leonidas, as Paul's story
has it, was in the street and compara-
lively safe. CAS- after events proved
he was all but absolutely safe.)
Paul resolutely denies he stayed long
enough outside the Regensburg window
even to see Hughey's blow fall. 1t
had been in the compact there would
be no violence. By PauPs lightning
reasoning the partnership was dissolved
when Hughey lifted his arm. There
upon Paul was through. As his story
continues he turned and fled into the
cellar, lost his way in the darkness,
bumped his head and tumbled while
searching for the stairs into the build
ing and at last groped his way back
into the yard, there to meet Hughes
Davis
Hughey had flash lamp. He was at
the top Of cellar steps when Paul re-
Joined him and fairly flew down, his
light twinkling. Paul followed. In
the glow of the fash lamp the other
stairs were quickly located.
AS Paul reached the first floor hall
at Hughey's heels he saw a shadow
fit past the front door. He took it
to be policeman's shadow and raced
blindly on upstairs. When he paused
for breath he and Hughey were on the
roof together. But by way of the
roof there was no escape. No. 636
Park Place is an "island block"
At Hughey's suggestion Paul threw
away his pistol Hughey did like
wise. Then he slipped onto the dumb
waiter. There was only room for one.
II two trips must be made, Hughey
would go frst-he was that kind Of
leader
Paul didn't wait for the dumbwaiter
to descend and come back to him. He
started down the stairs Half way to
the street he met a man.
Coin down to see what's the mat
ter" Paul painted, and the man was
satisfied
New-York tribune., 1918-06-09
The Woman Only
Survived the Crime

Harry Regensburg, half awake. came
running from the next room. He never
knew what hit him. AS he appeared d
IN the doorway, white target in the
blackness, spatter of lead eliminated
him as combat factor-also as a
factor in the Park Place cigar, cigar
cite and stationery trade. His wife,
following him through the door a mo-
ment later, was hit by several bullets
of the fusillade which greeted her.
She was red-haired woman, With
wounds that ordinarily would have
been mortal she kept her feet, ran to
the front door through the store and
gave the alarm by breaking the glass,
collected the $4O0 from its several
hiding places, told the first policemen
to arrive what she knew of what had
happened, and finally insisted on walk
ing unaided to the ambulance which
had been called for her. And she is
alive to-day, widow. She still runs
the stationery store in Park Place and
lives in the rooms behind it. There
are bars on the windows now.
But Harry Regensburg and Sam Re-
gensburg had received their death
wounds Before the end each had
spells of consciousness, but if the po-
lice had been forced to rely on what
the dying Regensburgs could tell there
would have been scant hope of bring
ing the murderer to book.
Eyewitness testimony, however, was
not necessary to make it plain that the
windows opening on the back yard had
been used to enter the Regensburc
home and again to escape from it
Detectives climbed into the yard. A
couple Of them started over the fences
Others found cellar door open and
stumbled down the precipitous steps
stumbled straight onto what they were
seeking
In the dumbwaiter shaft an unnat.
ural commotion had arisen. Somewhere
above tenant had reached out into
the shaft and caught the rope and was
holding on for dear life. The dumb.
waiter was stuck between two floors
Aboard it was passenger The DO.
llcemen, achieving a vantage point over
his head, called on the passenger ia
explain himself. No answer came from
the dark figure below. Threats to
shoot were likewise ignored. And then
the detectives turned loose.
Hughes Davis, Immediately recog-
nized as one time tenant in the PARK
Place apartment house, was dying
when he was lifted out of the shaft
Naturally he couldn't have much to say
then; but notebook found in his
pocket talked for him. In the book
were names and addresses of several
boys. Paul Chapman's was among
them.