Evening star., 1926-04-06
CHAPMAN CALMLY
GOES TO GALLOWS;;
LUR|D CAREER ENDS
Is Given Friends Burial" in
Church Cemetery by Priest,
Last Companion.
FIGHT TO SAVE BANDIT
CONTINUES TO DEATH
Officials Homes Guarded by State
Troops-Reprisal by Gang"
Now Feared.
By the Associated Press.

HARTFORD, Conn, April 6.-In a
plot of ground in Mount st. Benedict's
Cemetery, just over the Bloomfield
line, lies today the body of Gerald
Chapman, mail bandit. who was hang
ed at the Wethersfield prison just
after midnight for numbering a police
man.
No priest went with the body to its
final resting place and there was no
service of the Roman Catholic
Church. The body was claimed by the
Rev. Michael p. Barry, Roman Catho-
lie chaplain of the prison, who had
said he would see that Chapman was
given n burial such as he would de-
sire a friend to have. Father Barry.
however, did not go to the cemetery.
He already had departed on a vaca-
ton of two months, leaving no word
of what had transpired during the
three hours he was in the room across
the entry from the death chamber
with Chapman.
Priest Firmly Silent.
1t had been thought that perhaps
the priest would tell something about
the murderer; that there might be
something which he could reveal of
the singular character with whom he
had come to be on friendly terms
something which would not encroach
upon the privacy of the relations of
the priest with the man. But Father
Barry had said that he would say no
word and answers no questions, for
to him the life of the man was a
closed book.
Chapmans body was hurried from
the prison soon after the hanging
and taken to the undertaking parlors
of J. c. Dillon.
Dillon refused to permit any one
TO enter his place, and turned away
n number of the curiously inclined
who put forward various excuses
which they thought entitled them to
look upon the face of the dead man.
The funeral arrangements were
kept secret, and the fact that the
body was buried in Mount st. Bene-
diets Cemetery was not made known
until after the burial, and then by
Frederick j. Groehl, chief of Chap
mans counsel The little cemetery
is but miles from the State prison.
The grave is in a plot of consecrated
ground, it having been found that
Chapman had been baptized in the
Roman Catholic Church as an infant
and in his boyhood days had served
on the altar of the church his par
ents attended.
Shows Little Emotion,
Chapman's sensation career of crime
ended on the gallows at 12:04 o'clock
this morning.
Showing little emotion, he stepped
under the moose of Connecticuts new
hanging machine and was executed
for the murder of Policeman James
Skelley of New Britain in a depart
ment store robbery October IL. 1924.
Seven minutes and five seconds
later physicians pronounced him
dead. Thus ended at 38 q life of
crime that began when he was 16.
led him in and out of prison and
made his name a byWord in every
police station in the country.
AS Chapman, whose real name
was George Chartres, started for the
execution chamber, at one minute
after midnight, the Rev. Father Barry,
took his place at the condemned
mans side. The Clergyman carried
no crucifiX and Chapman was with
out the consolation that it's sight
might have brought had he de-
sired it.
Bandits Career Was Vivid
A S1,454,O00 mail truck robbery in
Federal Penitentiary and another
escape from a hospital at Athens,
Ga, were among the high spots in the
criminals career.
Three times had Chapman been re.
prieved in last-minute efforts of his
counsel to save his life. His last re-
prieve expired last night at midnight. |
A minute later he began-his march to
death.
A small blue chalked circle on the |
floor of the death chamber marked the |
end of Chapman's life's journey. He |
did not see on the wall a moose in a |
new hempen rope, for before the moose
was thrown over his neck a black cap |
was drawn over his head. An instant |
later Connecticut's automatic hanging |
used for the first time, had |
jerked the man into the air with two |
distinct motions.
The body made a half spin in the |
air, and there We're convulsive mo-
tions, particularly noticeable in the !
twitching of the feet. Then at the |
end of the rope swung an inert body, !
its momentum checked by the hand of |
a guard on either side, who just could |
reach the ankles.
Chapman's face had a slight flush as |
he entered the chamber. He piercingly /!
glanced to the right and then to the |
left, sweeping the audience with his
(Continued on paee 9 Column 2l