New Britain herald., 1926-04-08
Bandit Had Expected Associates to Come Forward With
 Money He Stole
HAD BUT S8,7OO TO USE
 TO WAGE LEGAL BATTLE
This Amount and More Was spent by His Lawyers in Fighting Case --Murphy and Wiley Got Only Expenses, While Freedman and Groehl Both Expended More Than They Received.

Hartford. April s-Gerald Chap man, reputed to have had at least $2,4o0,o0O at his command at the time he was arrested at Muncie, Ind, on a mburier charge had but sS.7OO available for his defense. it became known today.
 Of this amount $4.000 was con triDuted by friends and associa'es of Chapman in New York city following his conviction here. The $S.7Q0 and more is declared to have been spent by his counsel in the preparation of he defense and in expenses follow ing his conviction in April Of last year.
 Lawyers Get Little.
 Attorney Joseph NJ. Freedman, of the law firm of Freedman and Freedman, today declared that but $l,000 had been received by his firm as counsel fees, and a similar amount went 10 Frederick J. Groehl of New York, senior counsel in the defense. This represented an adjust ment of Chapman's finances on Oc- tober l5 Of last year. and since that time in the various steps which were taken 10 continue the fight for the condemned man, it Is claimed more than $l,000 was expended by the New York end Hartford offices of counsel, so that actually nothing was realized by counsel for their efforts in Chapman's behalf.
 small Amount Left.
 Of the money received by counsel, 54,'0o represented the money taken rom Chapman when he was arrest od at Muncie. and was turned over 10 Attorney Nathan O. Freedman by order of JudEe Edwin $. Thomas Of the United States district court. or his amount it was necessary 10 pay SIS3 for the printing of the record in the appeal to the supreme court of errors and the expenses inci- jtntal to the trial and the prepara- tions for it. There was but little re Maining when these expenses were paid, and what was left was for wa0ded 10 Mir. Grochl at New York.
 St.O00 Contributed
 Shortly after the conviction, At torncy Groehl received S2,0o0 from friends in New York. Later an additional S2,0o0 was con- tributed for Chapman's defense from the same souccs, bringing the total amount to SS,700, None Of this lat tor sum came to Hartford, and 1t was said by Mir, Freedman the orig inal 1000 received for services had long since been expended in ex- pcnsos incidental to carrying on the fight
 Murphy and Wiley
 Attorney Charles W. Murphy oF Uanbury. who was in charge of the motion for change Of venue, which was filed and heard after Chapman mad been produced in the superior court on a writ Of hahoaS corpus, spent more than $400 of his own money in the effort and later was reimbursed to tho extent of some hing more than S3oo. He has per sonal)y borne all expenses Of his many trips 10 Hartford, New York and other places, and his hotel bills while away from panbury. and has r,ceived nothing to recomponsc him for the outlay.
 Attorney Ray Nj. Wiley Of Spring field, who came into the case after the appeal 10 the state supreme court had been heard, was in charge 0f tho several mOvrs which were mad, in tine federal courts. H. re- ,piytd his actual expenses while in Hartford and m th" trips to Wash Ington. but received nothing for his services.
 Expected Aid
 T. is an open secret that Chapman expected some of his friends to rome forward and provide funds literally for his defense. r has leen maintained that never one" during his year of confinement al he state prison did he mention to any one, the hiding place Of the thousands Of dollars in bonds and securities he is known 10 hav" oh taincd in his ribherics, particularly the New York mall robbery. lt was assumed that Chapman expected some ot his former associates 10 dis pose of these securities, and come 10 his aid with the proceeds. lt was never done, however, and tho reason appears to be there was no market for them because of the close watch that was being maintained or else those holding them were waiting until Chapman had been disposed of before they attempted 10 convert trom into cash and use the pro- c,cds. The delay had all inc ear marks Of double crossing Chapman while he was held in prison.
 Attorney Charles w. Murphy has made public lctter he received un- dor date Of February ., 1925, sup posedly written by Chapman from Atlanta. requesting Murphy's serv- ices in his behalf and assuring him that sufficient funds would be forth coming 10 pay all expenses. Murphy identified himself with the case and followed il through tn the end. but the "suTicicut funds" were not forthcoming.
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