The Bridgeport evening farmer. [volume] (Bridgeport, Conn.) 1866-1917, 1916-12-23
burr and KNAPP
DEALINGS AGAIN
TO Be REVIEWED
Expect Hearing Next Week
in Petition for Removal
of Chamberlain.
MORE SENSATIONS
MAY BE OUTCOME
Efforts to Change Banking
Laws Not Unlikely to
Follow Decision.

Interest has been revived in the
Burr & Knapp scandal with the an
nouncement made in Hartford today
that Carleton E. Hoadley, of New Ha-
ven, referee in bankruptcy for that
district of the United States District
court has been appointed special mas
ter to take testimony in the petition
for the removal of John c. Chamber
lain Of Bridgeport, as trustee of the
estate.
Hearings are expected to begin
early next week and will be held in
Herbert M. Knapp, the convicted
banker, now serving a years term Of
Imprisonment in the county Jail for
embezzlement probably will be, one of
the star witnesses at the hearing.
Upon the representation of Referee
John W. Banks, the accredited referee
of the United States district court in
Fairfield county, that he felt himself
disqualified to sit on this hearing,
counsel for the Burr & Knapp cred
itors and for Chamberlain, are said
TO have agreed upon Referee Hoadley
iof New Haven with the result that
the appointment was announced today
by Judge Edwin S. Thomas at Hart
ford.
Because of the big sums of money
involved in the Burr & Knapp failure,
the high finance methods alleged to
have been practiced in partial set
tlement of the estate and the prom
inence Of those persons and firms
mentioned in the transactions that are
recited in the petition for the re-
mova1 of Trustee Chamberlain, the
case promises to be thefmost interest
ing tried in Bridgeport legal and
banking circles for many years. AS
result Of disclosures that are said
to be imminent, a campaign for
changing the banking laws Of Con-
necticut may be an outcome
Though the removal of Chamberlain
is asked upon,s14 specific counts, filed
last September, and an answer has
been expected to be filed with the
district court, it was said by counsel
that this document has not as yet been
fully prepared.
John C..Pullman, who has beer. re-
tained, as attorney to defend Trustee
ers, attorney for the petitioning cred
itors, could not be located in Bridge
port today. At their offices it was
said that the matter would now un-
doubtedly come to an immediate hear
ing.
Chamberlain has issued a statement
that he intends to fight the matter to
a finish. II have not done one thing
in my custody of Burr & Knapp's af-
fairs which is open to criticism, and I
do believe that I have done more for
the. creditors than any other man in
the city of Bridgeport could have
done. I do-not say this with egotism.
but because of my familiarity with
their business he said.
Among the many witnesses who will
undoubtedly be called to testify in the
case will be Knapp, former head of
the defunct banking concern; Adolph
Sherman, Signe Sherman Lockwood &
Nichols, Daniel M Nichols, H. G. Ely,
officials Of the Title Guaranty & Trust
Co, the First Bridgeport National
bank, and City National bank, Law
renee G.. 9Finkelstone, Elizabeth Faxon
Knapp, officers Of the Hungarian Sick
Benefit society and others, including
clerks formerly in the employ of Burr
& Knapp and the City Title Guaranty
Trust and Safe Deposit Co.
Because of the big issues that are
said to hinge on the result of the de-
cision, deeper concern is felt by the
creditors in the present hearings
than upon the criminal trial of Her
hort Knapn for amhazzJement Hum
dreds Of thousands Of dollars are in
volved in the transactions alleged to
have been participated in by the trus-
tee and disclosed in the IA counts
alleged. A verdict against the trus-
tee would, it is said in legal circles,
tend to upset present disposition of
the property and return, it in great
measure to the creditors.
Among the concerns involved
prominently in the case are the Title
Guaranty & Trust Co. of Bridgeport,
the First bridgeport National bank,
holder Of over 100000 worth Of
securities, the Watervliet Hydraulic
Co, Of Troy, N. Y, and the Georgia
Loan & Trust Co., of Augusta, Ga.
1t is expected that the hearings
will extend over period of several
weeks, much of the evidence appear
ing in vo1umineus records which
will require Interpretation of expert
accountants. Acting in this capacity
for the creditors it is expected the
same persons employed in the Barnes
Roosevelt trial, who have previously
gone ever the Burr & Knapp books
will appear. =