Rockland plaque honors policeman slain in 1938

ROCKLAND – A color guard, a gun salute, prayers and a splash of holy water were the ways community leaders dedicated a park Thursday in honor of a police officer shot down in the line of duty 64 years ago.

The park, at the corner of Main and Park streets, was named in honor of John D. Chapman, a Rockland police officer slain Feb. 16, 1938, at the very spot where a large boulder and plaque have been placed to commemorate the event.

Chapman, 39, was killed by a man he had arrested for drunkenness the previous day.

When Harry B. Hall shot Chapman, “death was instantaneous,” the Bangor Daily News reported in a front-page story after the shooting. Hall was arrested at the scene.

“Let me share with you the fatal event that occurred on February 16, 1938, here where the monument is placed,” Police Chief Alfred Ockenfels said Thursday during the ceremony.

“Officer John D. Chapman, on the day before, had arrested an individual for public drunkenness. The perpetrator found Officer Chapman on patrol at this very site the following day and shot him dead at point-blank range. It is important that officers who make the ultimate sacrifice for their city not be forgotten.”

The dedication attracted numerous law enforcement officers, city councilors and newly elected council members, as well as other city officials.

The Rev. Mark Reinhardt, pastor of St. Bernard’s Catholic Church, said prayers and blessed the monument with holy water before the color guard fired off a gun salute.

According to the NEWS of Feb. 17, 1938, Chapman was standing at the southwest corner of Main and Park when Hall, “still apparently sodden with drink,” stepped up to him.

“How good are you on the draw?” Hall asked the officer, pulling the trigger once. The weapon made only a click. A witness reported that Hall told Chapman, “You fool with me and I get you.”

Then Hall leveled a pearl-handled revolver and fired a shot. The bullet struck Chapman “immediately beneath the right eye, plowing upward … He fell without a word or groan; quite possibly he was dead before he struck the sidewalk,” the NEWS reported.

Oddly, Chapman did not flee.

He waited for police, who quickly arrested him and he was “marched to the county jail – from which, a little later, he was taken to the superior court chamber for questioning.”

At 9:30 p.m. that day, Sheriff Earle Ludwick announced that a warrant was being drawn for Hall, charging him with murder.

In May 1938, Hall pleaded guilty to murder, and a few minutes later was sentenced to life in prison at hard labor. The sheriff took Hall to the Thomaston prison.

The state Department of Corrections was not able to say Thursday how long Hall served or when he was released.