Local · Connecticut
Jurors From the Gerald Chapman Murder Trial Break Their Long Silence
More than two years after a New Britain policeman was shot during a store burglary, jurors who convicted the bandit are speaking about the case.
Policeman James Skelly was shot to death in October 1924 when officers answered a burglary at the Davidson and Leventhal store on Main Street in New Britain. Gerald Chapman, a notorious bandit and mail robber, was arrested, convicted of the killing and hanged at the Wethersfield prison, the New Britain Herald recalled on Monday.
The romance attached to Chapman’s escapades made something of a hero of him at the time of his trial, the paper said. The jury that found him guilty kept its silence until now, when two of the twelve spoke to the Herald. One juror, from Manchester, called Chapman “a dumbbell” rather than a clever man and said he was a crook who would shoot a policeman or a child without hesitation.
Chapman was executed on April 6, 1926. Skelly, wounded in the abdomen, died hours later at New Britain General Hospital, according to the city’s police department.
Sources
- New Britain Herald, Jan. 3, 1927: the jurors’ remarks and the trial’s background <https://www.loc.gov/resource/sn82014519/1927-01-03/ed-1/?sp=1>
- New Britain Police Department, Oct. 30, 2026 (later source): Officer James Skelly’s death in October 1924 <https://pd.newbritainct.gov/about-nbpd/nbpd-heroes/officer-james-skelly>
- Wikipedia, Oct. 30, 2026 (later source): Chapman’s April 6, 1926 execution at Wethersfield <https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gerald_Chapman>
This article was drafted with automated tools from the sources listed, checked by a review pass, and published by Daniel Varrone. Corrections: editor@monochromechronicles.com