Show Public Enemy Nol Dies Trying To Shoot Way Out of Trap MERIDIAN Miss Feb 23 UP The UP-The The riddled bullet-riddled body of Charles Irving Chapman 43 lay in a morgue here Monday marking marking mark mark- ing the end of the crime trail of the time one-time well-to-do well highway contractor who turned bank robber He was listed as public enemy No 1 by the New York office of the f federal deral bureau of investigation tion in 1939 after two twos s prison breaks and a record of crime in seven states ranging from Texas Louisiana and Florida to New Jer Jer- sey Chapman fell Sunday night on ona ona ona a highway near his Philadelphia Miss home as he tried to shoot his way out of a trap set by Percy Wyly II head of the federal b bureau bu- bu reau of investigation in Mississippi pi state and county officers and Meridian city police Driver Surrenders A companion Alfred Ward of county was driving Chapmans Chapman's car Wyly said and surrendered when they ran into the blocked highway Chapman opened fire and went down under undera a hail of bullets Chapman had been hunted ever since he escaped from the Texas state penitentiary at Huntsville on July 8 1937 in a bloody break that he led He was serving a year 60 term for an Atlanta Texas bank robbery Mississippi and Louisiana peace officers set a trap for him near near I I his home more than two years ago I but he came out shooting and es escaped escaped escaped es- es through a stream of ma- ma fire Officers learned that he shot a Meridian officer about two months ago and had been on his trail constantly Turned Criminal Chapman turned criminal during during during dur dur- ing the depression after he had made thousands of dollars as a contractor in Arkansas only to lose it in Florida After escaping charges in Florida Florida Florida Flor Flor- ida and New Jersey in 1931 Chapman Chapman Chap Chap- man man was convicted of robbing a bank at Minden La a year later He escaped soon after beginning a year 14 term In 1934 he robbed banks In Hope Camden and Smackover Ark and was captured in a gun gunfight gunfight gunfight fight at his Mississippi home While serving a year 15 term at atthe atthe atthe the Cummins Ark prison farm farmin in 1936 he took a pistol from the wardens warden's office and escaped Moving into Texas he was wounded and taken in the Atlanta holdup only to escape seven months later |