New Britain herald., 1925-03-24
Defense Explodes Sensation at Open ing of Trial by Attempt to Halt Pro-
 ceedings s-Spectacular CavaIcade of Armed Guards Escorts Bandit
 From Prison to Courtroom
Five Jurors Chosen Up To 2.45 This Afternoon

" .. to the Herad3
 Hartford, March 24.-In court room tense with expectancy Gerald Chapman accused of the murder of Policeman James Skely in New Britain, on October 12, l9 today began his fight to escape the moose at Weth ersfeld state prison
 When court recessed at o'clock this afternoon only two jurors had been chosen. They were Fred w. Viets, farmer, of East Granby and Thomas Rourke, an insurance man, of Pennington. Viets is young man-ln his thrties. Rourke is 59 years old.
 "Vlets seems to be fair man-hell decide this case on the evidence" Chapman said during the recess.
 Juror No. 3, A. w. Burrows, Bloomfield book keeper was accepted by both sides within ten minutes after court opened for the afternoon session. As in the cases of the first two accepted defense counsel did not accept Burrows until Chapman had nodded his ap- proval
 The fourth juror was chosen few minutes later lie was Lawrence Klein, an Enfield salesman
 The fifth juror chosen was Walter S. Case of Canton.
 At the opening of the trial, which is expected to be repete with thrills the defense created sensation bv attempting to have the panel of taesmen from which the jury will be selected changed Attorney Murphy of counsel for the defense argued on the challenge clang that too many talesen were selected from re- mote rural districts and that they were not chosen in public.
 During the argument of the challenge spectators and officials held their breahs as it was realized that the case which has attracted attention from one end oA OtlcI llSuC D6 HdlCeQ DeI0fe It was we'll under way. States Attorney Hugh M Acorn. upon whose shoulders rests the burden of bringing about conviction did not appear disturbed by the mo- tion to enlarge the panel
 Attorney Murphy argued that would have been more fair to select panel of tesmen representative of the county He pointed to the fact that the city of Hartford with one third ot the population in the county represented on the panel He also noted similar situation with regard to other cities.
 Judge Newell Jennings, who will hear the evidence in the case sat lmmobe during Attorney Murphys argument and then denied the motion He explained that due notice had been given that the panel would be drawn and therefore it could not De properly said that it not held in public He ex pressed the conviction that the jury would not be chosen from the 5O taesmen who had been summoned and said that m cuded in the next panel would be citizens of larger comun tles such as Hartford and New Britain.
 After Judge Jennings had denied the motion the work of selecting the jury was begun
 Chapman is personally picking his own jury the 12 men who are expected to reach decision which means life or death to him. As each prospective juror is called Chapman studies him nteny apparently relying on his acute and traned powers of observation determine the fitness of the candidate. ~
 Attorney Nathan o. Friedman of Hartford associated with counsel tor the defense examined the tasnen this morn ing as they were called He asked several questions and then went over to Chapman and sat down with him. In every n stance the decision whether the prospective juror was accent able to the defense was made by the bandit himself He gave each candidate severe consideration and then made his de- clon after rubbing his chin and apparently reectng on the impression the candidate had made him. terse No" and the prospective juror excused
 Each side IS entitled to 25 peremptory challenges