New-York tribune., 1922-08-24
Mail Robbers
Sent TO r r'ison
For 25 Years
Two Are Found Guilty of
Theft of So, 400, ,ON in
Daring Truck Hold-UpsI
New Trial Plea Is Denied
jury Is Out Four Hours
Third. Who Turned States
Evidence, Will Be Sem
tenced as Aid To-day

The curtain was rung dewn ON tue
drffpa of the Leonard Street mail rob
berry Just as twilight was stealing into
the dusty courtroom In the old Federal
Building, where Gerald Chapman and
George Anderson have been on trial for
the last week. The verdict of guilty
and the sentence of twenty-five years
came just before O'clock.
The judges words fell upon blank
silence in the crowded chamber, but
Though the open window came the
thpd of the mail bags on the platform
below and the pnrr of the mail trucks
as they started up Broadway-the same
platform and the same trucks that the
bandits had watched in the. darkness
that night just ten months before, as
they waited for Frank Haverack, the
driver, to start off with S2,a00,0o0 in
registered mail in the cage behind him.
AS though by some plan of master
dramatist the only lighted windows In
the grim building before them tnen
Were those in the courtroom IN wnlch
their guilt was established yesterday.
The Jury was out for four hours.
During that time the court room was
filled with babel of conjecture, IN
creasing as every minutes delay mace
it more and more likely that some
flaw had been found in the governments
.ase. The attorneys grouped together
IN the front of the room, going over
4ae trial and wondering whether they
had missed some crucial point.
The prisoners at the table were too
nervous to speak above whisper in
each others ear, and that only oc-
casionally, when the strain became too
tense for silence. Even the marshais,
veterans of thousand trials, patroled
the room with evident interest In the
outcome.
When Judge Holmes resumed his
place on the bench at $3.50 after
sudden hush, Chapman and Anderson
pulled themselves up, cast one. look at
George Loerber, the accomplice who
They blanched when the foreman,
speaking low, declared that they had
been found guilty as TO the first and
second counts of the Indictment, and
then stood up as the court called upon
them to say whether they had any
reason to give why sentence should
not be pronounced.
Chapman's lawyer moved for a new
trial, but his motion was denied The
attorney moved for stay OF execu-.
ton to give time to draw up bill OF
exceptions, but this, too, was overruled.
Neither prisoner could give any rea-
son for holding up the sentence, and
the court pronounced judgment at
once. The marshals cleared path
through the courtroom and the prls-
oners were led off to the Tombs, each
handcuffed to a deputy.
The conviction of the two bandits
was hailed by the postoffice inspectors
as probably the most brilliant success
ever attained in clearing UP great
mail robbery, not only because OF the
size of the loot, but because of the
intelligence and education of the men
whom they caught and the speed with
which they found trail. Haverack
reported that he had been just as help
less on Broadway with 100000 people
living within few miles Of him as
he would have been in the heart of the
Rocky Mountains. He gave fair de-
scription of two of his assailants, but
beyond that he could say nothing to
help the inspectors in their work.
Haverack's Identification of Chapman
and Anderson was one of the main
supports of the prosecution when the
case actually came TO trial, though his
partial identification of an Italian
named Calabrese in Hoboken gave the
defense a chance to challenge his rec
ognition of the two prisoners yester-
day. But the Identification did little
good in the actual investigation, and it
was not until after former convict
named Teddy Rose, living among Grim
inals, obtained tip in the underworld
and then had wormed his way, at the
constant risk of his life, into Loer-
ber's confidence, that the mystery
finally was cleared up. Loerber was
caught with stolen bonds in his pos
session after he had told the story of
the robbery to the stool pigeon: The
case against him was SO strong that he
took advantage of disagreement with
his two associates over the loot as an
excuse for turning states evidence.
Loerber will be arraigned for sem
tenca this morning on the first count
In the indictment, in which he was in
cluded with Chapman and Anderson.
He is liable to term Of ten years i'm
prisonment for the offense to which he
nleaded guilty.