New Britain herald., 1926-04-05
LAST LINE IN STORY
 OF GERALD CHAPMAN
Continued from First Page.)

| criminology. He was d fugitive from the federal penitentiary at Atlanta, Georgia, where he had been sentenc. ed for the robbery of 0 mail truck in Now York city.
 In the face Of rldlcule, which they accepted as challenge, the police stuck to their story that the man who had fired the shot which killed skelly was Chapman. The public. or great part of it, was skeptical. It could not understand why a man of Chapman's reputed calibre would be interested in blowing open a safe ir department store in a small city, t having developed that the yegg who shot Skelly had penetrated a sefo at Davidson & Leventhal's witb a charge of explosive.
 Like Hunting Win O The Wisp
 Immediately the man hunt was in progress. Police in every city and hamlet were made aware that Ger aid Chapman, whose record prior to his visit to Now Britain had been one of daring theft. had blood on his hands. Everywhere. day and night. a search for Chapman was vigorously prosecuted. His haunts in New York were shadowed 2t hours in the day. The cleverest man hunters in the New York po- lice department Set out on his trail. Men who were known to be his in inmates were watched with the hope that they would lead detectives 10 his lair. Every effort seemed to meet with failure. Chapman had vanished. Suspects were taken into l custody in numerous towns and hope that bubbled high at each arrest burst time and again. The beief was beginning to take root that Chapman never would be captured. Again doubt arose that Skelly's slay- CT was Chapman.
 The world was electrified on Janu- ary IS. 1925. with the news that Chapman had been arrested IL Muncie, Indiana. on a clue discov- cred at local police headquarters. It was only slender clue-an ad- dress on the bottom of a travelling bag--but taken In connection with other information which the police had, 1t proved to be an arrow point ing in the right direction and Chap. man was taken into the tolls. He uas rI,sbnJ to Atlanta
 Brought back to Hartford county, his trial was arranged. States At torney Hugh H. Alcorn produced witnesses who identified him as q man seen leaving Davidson X Loven- thal's after the shooting. A tense moment arrived during the trial when Policeman Alfred Atwater who had been sent to the depart ment store with Skelly and Police men Clarence Lanpher, John Liebler and Walter Malona to investigate a report that there were burglars there. positively identified Chapman as the gunman who had fired the fatal shot as he was descending the staircase leading from the office of the department store to the main floor where Skelly was standing. Atwater's courage in facing the killer had been questioned and he was subjected to gruelling question Ing by counsel for the defense, but he remained adamant Tn his identif- cation of Chapman. This was the strongest link in the chain of evi- dence which the state had forged.
 Sensational Trial
 No trial in the history of Con- necticut was so replete with thrills. It was one topic Of conversation in store and factory. in homes and on the street. The difficulty In select ing q jury created acute interest. Panel after panel of talesmen was exhausted. The jury complete, a battle Of legal brains ensued between States Attorney Alcorn on one side and Judge Groehl and Attorneys Murphy, Wiley and Freedman on the other.
 And here a strange phenomenon occurred--the public which had been clamoring for tho blood of tho man who shot "Jim" Skelly sudden ly switched in it's sentiment, partly influenced by the romance which had been woven into a wreath and placed on the head of the man on trial. AS he sat in the courtroom watching States Attorney Alcorn spin 6 web of evidence before Judge Newell Jennings of Bristol and the jury of 12 expressionless men who were passing on his fate. Chapman remained calm and composed, the model of the criminal so popular in fiction. Only by his eyes was it pos sible to know that he was more than mildly interested in tho proceedings. But those eyes swept the courtroom at glance. seeming 10 fix every per son present in Chapman's mind, and yet hesitating only for moment on any individual or on any object At times Chapman appeared bored; oc- casionally he whispered 10 his law yers; never did he reveal any indi- cation of excitement.
 When the jury retired an eager public set aside all other interests 10 await the verdict. It seemed to he generally expected that the jury would disagree. The verdict of guilty came as surprise. On April 4. 1925. year ago yesterday, Judge Jennings septenced Chapman to be hanged on June 25. He was re- moved to Wethersfeld prison and his lawyers began making efforts to gain a new trial.
 Two reprieves were granted by Governor John II. Trumbull. the first to allow the Connecticut su- preme court of errors 10 pass on his appeal for a new trial; The court reported on November !. 1925, that there was no occasion for a new trial and Chapman was sen fenced to be hanged on December .. Tho second reprieve was to allow his lawyers 10 take other legal steps a o1ia,,t I-ipni ia-