The Bismarck tribune. [volume] (Bismarck, N.D.) 1916-current, 1925-04-04
FOUND GUILTY
OF MURDER IN
FIRST DEGREE
Spectacular Criminal Must
Pay Death Penalty For
Murder of Officer
DISPLAYS NO EMOTION
Mail LOOter Remains Calm
As He Listens to Judge
Pronounce His Doom
(By The Associated Press)

Hartford, Conn.,, April 4.-Gerald
Chapman, spectacular mail bandit.
Jail breaker and criminal extraordi-
nary, today was sentenced to hang
in the Connecticut State Prison June
%, in payment for the life of New
Britain patrolman, Of whose murder
last October 2, jury had convict
ed him at $3.50 this morning.
Chapman. the stole criminal whose
flaming misdeeds have made him an
internatona figure, did not finch
or falter as his doom descended up
on him. With his arms folded across
his breast and his frail body held
stiffly erect, he listened to the
Judges sepulchral words spell out
his doom, with only flushed face to
mark his emotion.
Gerald Chapman was found guilty
of murder in the first degree for
the staying. The jury had been out
few minutes more than eleven
hours when it announced it had ar
rived at verdict. Standing in the
prisoners dock in the courtroom he
gave no evidence of emotion as the
clerk read the verdict handed him
by the jury foreman. Frederick j.
Groehl, chief defense counsel, pre-
viously had announced that he would
file an appeal if Chapman was con-
victed.
After dismissing the jury and con-
graduating the jurors on reaching
this verdict which II believe is a
just verdict" Judge jennings re-
cessed court for half an hour at
which time he set for hearing de-
fense counsel motion to set aside the
verdict.
"Chappie, Pm sorry" Groshl said
to the prisoner after the jury had
been dismissed and Chapman had
returned to the courthouse base
ment to await further developments.
The attorney, tears in his eyes
reached out for the condemned mans
hand. Without break of the voice
! or wavering of the cold blue eyes
Chapman squeezed his lawyers hand
and replied:
"Oh, that's all right"
Chapman's frail body was erect,
his head held high, the eyes looking
straight ahead and the lips COM
pressed as his guards manacled him.
He took his chair in his basement
cell asked for cigarette of one Of
his guards, lighted it and went into
a whispered consultation with
Groehl.
Chapman was convicted of the
murder of patrolman James Skelly
of New Britain in the grey morning
Of Sunday, October ~, 1924, in
shooting his way to freedom after
three policemen had trapped him in
the rear of the department store Of
Davidson and Leventhal, where he
had just blown two safes.
! Gerald Chapman, often called a
modern Jesse James, first gained
notoriety in his daring leadership
of the sensational $2,40O,0O0 holdup
Of government mail truck on low
er Broadway in October, 1921.
Chapman and his band had watch
ed the downtown Post Office for
weeks. Learning of rich shipment
of registered mail, they followed the
| selected mail truck in an automobile
when it started to the General Post
Office uptown just before daybreak.
Drawing alongside, they crowded the
truck to the curb. With both
vehicles still moving, Chapman
boarded the government van and
covered the driver with a pistol.
Then the robbers turned the truck
into Leonard Street and removed its
wealth of cash and securities at
their leisure.
Chapman was traced and caught
few months later in fashionable
Gramercy Park where he was found
living in a luxurious apartment.
During his subsequent grilling on
an upper floor of the Federal Build
ing, he suddenly disappeared through
an open window while his captors'
backs we're turned. He was cornered
after crawling along a narrow ledge,
high above Broadway and opposite
the Woolworth Building. He had
nearly reached a window in another
office farther down which would
likely have led to freedom.
Chapman and George r. WDutch")
Anderson, an accomplice, were SEN
fenced for the mail robbery in
August, 1922, both receiving 25-year
terms in the Federal penitentiary at
Atlanta, Georgia. Both afterward
escaped. Anderson is still at large.
Chapman made his own first sue
cessful dash in March, 1923. He
was recaptured two days later. bleed
ing from various wounds, and placed
in hospital in Athens, Ga. Within
month. and still in care of sur
geons, he escaped mysteriously a
second time. For months he eluded
nationwide search in which
SVNAS Va VIC OSOe Au0uekA0SASIS III
the country took his trail. Various
crimes and "jobs" meanwhile, which
} apparently, could not be otherwise
) explained. were put down as: "It's
! Chapman" Almost invariably, how.
, ever, they proved to have been don,
by someone else.
! Patr0lman James Skelly Of New
. Britain, Conn.,, was slain when hs
surprised two safe blowers in q dc.
; partment store Sunday morning
!, October, IL, 1924. He fell under tk,
bullets OF one yegg who shot hi.
way out. The other was caught ans
; proved to be Walter E. Shean, soI
Of a Springfield. Mass, hotel owner
Shean said Chapman was the MAJ
who got away.
: Three months later, January Il
8 last. Chapman was finally run {,
3 earth in Muncie, Ind.r BY posta
9 agents who had never relaxed thei
two-year hunt. He was taken hael
) to Atlanta, but was latAr broneA
= to Connecticut Tor trial lor q
Skslly hllinx