Atlanta tri-weekly journal. [volume] (Atlanta, Ga.) 1920-19??, 1924-10-14
BANDIT CHAPMAN
SOUGHT IN KILLING
Of POLICE OFF ICER
MiIIion-Do|Iar Mail Robber
Who Escaped Pen Here
Surprised Blowing Safe.

NEW YORK, Oct 13.-Geralc
Chapman, who escaped from Allan
ia in April, 1928, now is being
sought for the murder early yestel-
day of Policeman James Shelley, in
New Britain. He has eluded thG
police of New York, Connecticut and
Massachusetts with the same skill
he showed in escaping three times
from the authorities after his cap
ture in 1921 for a.million dollar mail
robbery in tbs city. His confederate
in a robbery which yesterday led to
: the killing of a New Britain police
s man, was Walter f. Shean, son of
M well-known family of Springfield,
Mass. Shoan was captured as he
was entering an automobile waiting
near the department store which the
pair undertook to rob.
In the automobile, the police
found burglary tools, a revolver, and
5000 in currency which the police
believed was all the robbers obtain
ed from the store safe which they
blew open with nitroglycerine. The
pair were preparing to blow a sec
ond safe when the employe of a
livery stable nearby turned in an
alarm which brought five policemen,
including Shelley on the run.
Shooting of Officer
The yeggmen were at work on the
mezzanine floor and as the officers
were half way up the stairs, the
man alleged to be Chapman appear
ed at the head of the stairs and
warned the patrolmen to halt.
The policemen did not stop and
they had gone but one step upward
when the man fired. Shelley fell
back, bullet in his abdomen. In
the confusion, the man escaped.
Shelley died in a jpital.
The man who was later identified
as Shean was arrested after he was
seen coming out of the rear door of
the building. He first gave his name
as John B. Clark, of New York, but
an inquiry to New York diclosed
that both the name and the address
were fictitious. 1t was not until
Sunday afternoon that the stranger
was identified. He admitted he had
known Chapman for some time.
Five Safes Drilled
The police found that five safes
in the department store and an
other store adjoining had been
drilled and charged with niEoglycer.
inc ready to be blown open.
Chapman escaped from the Allan
Ia penitentiary March 81, 1928, and
reward of 81 900 has been offered
by the warden for his capture. He
is So years old and at times has
gone under the names of G.. " Cal:
well, Edward Brice, George Char
ters and c. w. Eldridge.
Shelley was Sc years old and had
been member of the police depart
ment for '22 years He leaves
widow, two sons and one daughter.
A close watch was maintained over
railway terminals, hotels and ferry
houses. Chapman, who is also
known as Bryce" and THE Count"
was believed TO have been the brains
behind the 81 100000 robbery of a
registered mail truck in lower Broad
way three years ago this month.
After trailing him for weeks, police
arrested him and George Anderson,
pr Rochester, in July, 1922.
berry and sentenced to twenty-five
years in Atlanta penitentiary. They
s,sr2 served less than eight months
~ their sentence when they escaped.
.snean said he first met Chap
hian last July in Springfield.
Shean is the son of Charles T.
Shean, president OF the Kimball
Hotel Company of Springfield, and
owner of the Cooley hotel of that
city. Young Shean was suspected
Of completely in the robbery of the
Peoples Trust company, of Wyomis
ing, Pa, in 1921, after stolen bonds
worth $4,000 had been recovered
from him. He had the prosecution
stopped, however, maintaining that
he had come by the bonds honestly.
Chapman's Escape
n chapman started his record of
capes an hour after his arrest for
mail robbery here. Postal in
sEctors recaptured him by threat
sning to shoot if he jumped from
the coping of a building in which
he was being questioned.
His second escape was six months
after he had been committed to At
lanta prison. While in the prison
hospital he and another prisoner
DVerpowered a male nurse and es-
capped by ropes made from bed
sheets
Two days later Chapman was re-
captured in Athens, Ga, after an
Interchange of shots during which
he was wounded While in a hos
pital he escaped an hid in the base
mem. There he overpowered a
guard and escaped in the guard $