cover image Gentleman Gerald: The Crimes and Times of Gerald Chapman, America's First ""Public Enemy No. 1""

Gentleman Gerald: The Crimes and Times of Gerald Chapman, America's First ""Public Enemy No. 1""

H. Paul Jeffers. St. Martin's Press, $22.95 (0pp) ISBN 978-0-312-13500-3

Born in 1888 and executed in 1926, Chapman was called ``Public Enemy No. 1'' by a Connecticut law officer long before the FBI began issuing its list of most-wanted criminals. A Brooklyn boy, he was first arrested at 14 and, during one of his numerous incarcerations, met European-born and -educated George Anderson, who became his mentor in crime. Under Anderson's tutelage, he developed an interest in books and music, well-tailored clothes and a lifestyle that brought him the sobriquet ``the Duke of Gramercy Park'' when he lived in Manhattan. Together, Chapman and Anderson hijacked a Post Office Department truck carrying some $2 million, but they were caught and sent to the federal penitentiary in Atlanta, from which Chapman escaped twice. Eventually he killed a policeman in Connecticut and was hanged. What is interesting in this otherwise undistinguished biography by the author of Commissioner Roosevelt is Chapman's popular appeal during his era, similar to the romanticizing of Jesse James in an earlier day and that which John Dillinger would enjoy later. Photos. (Dec.)