TWO U.S. HEROES.

Auckland Star, Volume LII, Issue 71, 29 March 1921, Page 3

TWO U.S. HEROES.

AMERICA'S MILLIONAIRE SLACKER. STRONG OPINION OF UNITED STATES. SAN FRANCISCO, March 4. The United Statee Government has been badly baffled by the mysterious escapades of Grover Cleveland Bergdoll, a millionaire draft dodger, who was son* tenced to a term of imprisonment in Philadelphia many months ago, lint, under n clever pretext, escaped from custody and reappeared in scores of American cities as far west as Seattle, but always eluded pursuit, chiefly by the use of powerful racing automobiles. For a time ho was lost to view until at last he was reported to be in Coblenz, Germany. The American army officials in that city with the army of occupation instantly contradicted the- statement that Bergdoll was there, but the fact remained that the wealthy modern I)e Wet was in that locality. Then attempts were made by the United States Government secret agents to kidnap Bergdoll, but the interference of German authorities again gave the rich Philadelphian his liberty from the American Government. Now there is a possibility of a Congress sional investigation, and Chairman Julius Kahn, of California, speaking in Washington, announced he not only wanted an .investigation of the escape, but favoured a "most thorough and sweeping" investigation of the allegation, reported to have teen made by Bergdoll in Germany, that he had been offered his freedom if he would "come across to some American army officers with a bribe of 100,000 dollars." BERGDOLL INTERVIEWED. Because Bergdoll controls the posts and tolegraph systems of Eberbach, in Germany, a correspondent, who interviewed him, was forced to journey to Heidelberg to tell the story of how, by one of fate's little ironies, a man considered a slacker or worse in one country, had liecome tin? hero of another. The incident of Bergdoll and his companions turning the tables on the United States army operatives caused a local German bard" to burst forth thus: As lnnc us the Neckar Hows into the Rhine, As lonp m< the wind blows through the trees, So win In , linnonrrd by nil Germans. This brave man of Kberbach. lie priiiul. nil. land, that such a man can be So Bergdoll, the hero of Germany, with his list full of thousand-dollar bills, a mouthful of chewing tobacco, and a brpnd new racing automobile, now owns the town. He has got his own detective system, and he controls the police, Press, post office and pulpit. The correspondent had good proof of his power, when, a half an hour after filing a message to an American paper, he took the scribe a copy, saying: "Say, what the is this dope about V" When the scribe explained, he consented to talk freely about himself, liberally punctuating ins interview with large spits of tobacco. "'1 ain't got anything against America: America is all right," he said. "The trouble is with that bunch of crooks and grafters who head our Government. If——l- I am going to stay here until the country is a fit place to iive in. After March 4 1 expect there will be political amnesty. Then i am going home, but not before I have fixed those fools I of army operatives who tried to kidnap and murdiT mc. They are a line bunch of boobs and four-tlu-hes." NO SWEETHEART AWAITS. Asked whether he was homesick, Bergdoll replied ::"Xaw! I haven't got a sweetheart in America nor here, and I am having a good time. I've got money, and money will ge> y,,u a good time an'vwhere. But I am living quietly. I never cared for the bright lights of Broadway, anyhow." Queried as to whether he was worrying about his mother being arrested, charged with complicity in aiding him to escape, Bergdoll answered: "Naw! She can take care of herself. But le'mme tell you something. I have committed no crime. I ain't a slacker. 1 am a conscientious objector, and consider myself a good American, and a sight lx>tter than the bunch of crooks heading the country who brought it into war for commercial reasons. , ' Bergdoll was ably supported in his remarks by Eugene Steelier, a former I ennsylvania National Guardsman, who let loose the usual flow of German propaganda about America entering the war in order to protect her loans to France and England how President Wilson had arranged with England in 1016 to enter the conflict, and with other stale arguments which even the Germans are forgetting nowadays. Asked if he were afraid of extradition. Bergdoll said: "II , no! First of all. 1 haven't committed a crime; secondly; there is no peace between the countries, and when peace comes they can only extradite for murder and such. And I don't believe another bunch of guys will try a kidnapping. I am safe here, but I have got a spy system which reports every automobile twenty miles away and every stranger arriving at the stations. "Everybody is for mc here, which is different from what it is in America. I have got the Socialists supporting mc because my grandfather was a revolutionist in 1848. and the Nationalists support mc because I didn't fight Germany. I have got a bundle of letters of congratulation. T also got a letter from a fellow asking a job in our brewery and from guvs wanting to sell inventions. They think I have got million*.' , HIDDEN GOLD. Bergdoll was asked if anybody but himself knew where the -2(10.000 dollars in gold was hidden in West Virginia, and he responded: "I would be a fine simp to trust anybody. 1 got the gold from the Treasury in Washington. I put one over on the officials. Nobody seems to know that Federal reserve notes demand gold payment. They refused to nay until 1 insisted. I obtained from "(iO.OOO to 70.000 dollars on ench trip and then buried it in two iron boxes which are safe until my return. Steeher was chased by West Virginia moonshiners while seeking the hiding place."' Thus Bergdoll talked, lie was very proud of himself for putting things over the American and Canadian officials the attempted kidnappers. Mut he to obtain British passports and to foil is livinp: in the quietest manner with cousins in a country hotel, eating at the family table, learning to talk good tierman, enjoying pigs' knuckles and sauerkraut, drinking beer, attending pigfests, automobiling and especially playing the romantic role of a prosecuted martyr watching the high road-* for the approach of enemies. [It was announced by .able on Saturday last that the United States Government had demanded of Germany the surrender of Bergdoll. also of Carl Neuf and Frank Zimmer, two Americans who attempted to kidnap Bergdoll from Ger-

man territory and were sentenced to imprisonment by a German court.] ANOTHER AMERICAN "HERO. -, While this rich American fugitive of Oerman parentage has been keeping in the public eye, finis has just been written on another strange army character who was a pseudo-hero airman, a man who deceived the whole world by an extraordinary story which has feuequals. • Just before President Wilson made hiexit from the White House he approved the dismissal from the service of Captain E. G. Chamberlain, marine corps, of San Antonio, Texas, under a courtmartial sentence imposed in London, in ! May, 1010, following the officer's conviction of "falsehood and scandalous conduct," in connection with his story of his exploits as a volunteer pilot with a British aerial bombing group in Francp. With the action of President Wilson in the Chamberlain case, the story of one of America's greatest war "heroes'' passes into oblivion. According to Chamberlain's story he had become separated from his organisation and had spent the night with a British squadron. Leaving the ground! with the English pilots the next morning (July 20, 101S) on a bombing mission over the enemy lines, Chamberlain, who was then a lieutenant, encountered twelve fierman pursuit planes, and in the battle that followed he shot down five of his assailants and crippled two others. His own machine, riddled with •bullets and out of control, fell behind the German lines. Chamberlain then, according to his story, captured a German soldier by pretending that a compass he held in his hand was a bomb, and taking his prisoner with him, escaped through no-man's land. Here he stumbled upon a French officer severely wounded, slung him upon his back, and made his way in the face of a heavy German fire in safety to the Allied trenches. British flying officers doubted Chamberlain's tale, ana a month after the exploit had been published to the world an investigation was ordered by the Xavy Department. Out of the investigation grew a court martial in London on March 24, 1019, and which four.d Chamberlain guilty of "falsehood and scandalous conduct unbecoming to an oflicer." It should be mentioned that for his supposed exploits Chamberlain ha;l been recommended for a captaincy and for Victoria Cross and the (Medal of Honour, the two highest awards that England could make to military heroes. As a result of the London Court martial, Chamberlain was sentenced to dismissal from the service. His case was sent to President Wilson, as provided •by law. After nearly two years the decision of the court has 'been concurred in by President WHsoti. just prior to the inauguration of Mr. Harding as the new President of the United States.