The Washington herald., 1921-05-14

Slacker's Mother Won't
Tell Where She Hid
$105, 900.
SAYS SON WRITES
HE'LL COME BACK
Denies That She Gave
Any Treasure to
Grover.

The END OF the r1lnooW IN ING
Berxdoll case was still far of last
night when the House investigating
committee adjourned after trying
vainly for two hours to get Mrs
Emma C. Bergdoll. mother Of the
millionaire Stacker. to tell where she
buried the mysterious s1o5.ooo pot
OF gold
Mrs. Bergdoll knows exactly
where the rainbow comes down. She
buried the pot of gold there her
self. II was somewhere in the
vicinity Of Philadelphh. II is still
there, but no other living person
knows where sne buried 1t. and
she won't tell. It's nobody else's
business, she told the committee
Grover worth Half Million.
There may be two pots of gold
nrurinr in the Bergdoll case. &C
cording to Mrs Bergdolrs testimony,
which was taken with grain OF
salt by members of the committee
Her son Grover is worth at least
half a million in his own name.
she said. He knew nothing what
ever, she testified, about her pot
of sold. He may have had a pot
all Of his own. 1t Is entirely likely.
she thinks. that he stopped of in
his Night to the Canadian border en-
route to Germany. and dug up the
gold he said he had buried near
Hagerstown. Nd.
Grover the slackeS, isn't So keen
about Germany. He likes the secur-
L. . -
United States much better, Mrs.
Bergdoll thinks. He writes her that
''as soon as the armistice Is signed
up" he1 come back, she said. BY
"armistice." IL was evident. she
meant the fnai restoration Of peace
with Germany.
Visited BY Inposter.
An interesting but somewhat as-
surd feature of the hearing was the
dragging Of the name of President
Harding into the case James z.
Romig. tine Bergdoil handy man,
told the committee that in 1919 a
man representing himself to be
Senator Harding" called on Mrs.
Bergdoll and told her he could get
her son out of Jail. He proposed
contract which Mrs. Bergdoll was
to sign. Romig made trip to
washington once to see senator
Harding" but found the man was
an imposter-
Mrs. Bergdoll followed Romig on
the stand. She prides herself on
her self-reliance, does all her own
housevork and cooking. She has
no lawyer and wants none. When
shs travelled around with s1o5.000
IN the back seat Of her automobile
fa1
her own guard.
Case Has Cost Her s30.000.
She has gone through ceaseless
litigation because of her sons un-
willingness to go To war. She has
been convicted and fined for help
ing him to evade the draft His
stacking has cost her about $4,000.
she testified
Only once did her sclf-assurance
seem to desert her. Toward the end
Of the session she exclaimed with
some show of emotion, there are
thousands and thousands of slack
ers and not one of their mothers
has been mentioned except me-
Why is 1t that there are different
kinds of laws. There seems to be
law for the Quakers. a law for
the rich man and law for the poor
man A poor man could get ex-
empted from the draft. the rich
man had to GOV
Two Trips to Treasury.
Mrs. Bergdoll told the committee
that she came to Washington twice
during the fall Of 1919 to get gold
from the Treasury Department.
Once she took back s45.oo0 and an
other time she carried $4,000 She
said that she had raised the ready
cash by calling in mortgages over
due and by Withdrawing deposits
from various banks.
why did cor want all this goId?'
she was asked
well. 1 had read about people
getting gold and burying 1t, and
then making money out Of it. I
thought 1 would try that scheme.
Besides I thought it would come In
handy anyhow"
She and Romig took the gold back
TO Philadelphia in canvas bags of
$4,000 each and put It under the
kitchen table, she said.
Buried II, She Says.
The next day took 1t away and
buried it, she said.
without meaning to start any
gold rush, said Gen. Sherbourn,
counsel for the committee. where
dfd you take it?'
won't say" she replied That's
nooody's business but my own.
didn't go very far away from Phila.
delphia."
Did you take it over into Mary
land?"
No; I never was near Haxers-
town in my life," she answered.
She denied that she had ever
turned a dollar of the gold over to
Grover. I've still got IL in the
same place where I buried it," she
said.
Mrs. BergdoI told Of retaining
d. Clarence Gibboney as counsel for
her son. She paid him a retainer
OF tz,50o, and later gave him a fee
OF 10000 He wanted more, but
she refused to advance more money
until he had freed her son. She de-
eiared that when she retained Glib
honey Judge John W. wescott, a
prominent New Jersey politician.
was present.
- Thought Wesestt Retained.
She understood that Judge wes-
cott was being retained also as an
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