New-York tribune., 1921-05-12
Saws Col. Hunt
Kept Handouts
OFF Bergdoll
O'Hare, i'm Command of
Escort for Draft Evader,
Declares He Never Heard
of Gold Before Escape
Guided by Cibboney
Long Auto Ride and Visit
go Bsarlesquc Preceded
Flight. Witness Asserts

WASHINGTON, May I1.--rn giving
irst-hand account of the escape of
Grover Cleveland Bergdoll, fugitive
drats dodger, Sergeant John o'Hare.
who was in command Of the escort
which started ont with Bergdoll from
Governors Island for the mountains Of
Maryland, told the House investigating
committee to-day that he had never
heard word about the buried pot of
gold until long after the prisoner had
| fed.
| o'Hare was positive in the assertion
that when he started out for the noun
tains the only Instructions he received
| from Colonel John E. Hunt, his SUI
perior officer, was to proceed with the
prisoner to Hagerstown, Md, get some
money from s. bank, take it to another
| bank at Philadelphia, and return to the
| barracks.
There were no written orders except
| to stop off at North Philadelphia, meet
the late D. Clarence Gibboney, Berg
dolls lawyer, and thereafter be guided
| by what Gibboney said, the witness
| declared with some emphasis in relat-
ing his part in the whole affair,
O'Hare declared he wanted to hand
cuff his prisoner. but Hunt refused.
Gibboney Ordered Auto Ride
It was by Gibboney's order, he said,
that the party halted at Philadelphia,
went for q long automobile ride with
Bergdoll at the wheel, visited bur
lesque show and stopped at the Bergdoll
home, from which the prisoner escaped.
The sergeant told how Bergdoll, who
had evaded the draft for couple of
years, was sent from the island in the
full uniform of an enlisted man, with
a hat cord indicating that he belonged
to the infantry branch of the service
how he had sat in the train from New
York to Philadelphia without uttering
q word and chewing tobacco all the
while.
Step by step he told of various
moves up to the moment when Berg
doll walked into bathroom to answer
the telephone. He was never seen
after that, and to this day the SER
geant said he does not know how he
got out Except for that single mo-
ment, ne declared the prisoner was
never out of his sight.
Ignorant of Pot of Gold
No amount of cross-examination
could bulge the witness from his state
'nent that he was in entire ignorance of
any plan TO go out and dig up the
buried gold, the object for which the
prisoner was released in custody Of
O'Here, and York, another sergeant.
| Mrs. Emma C. Bergdoll, mother Of
the draft evader, and James Romig, the
S105,ooo in gold from the Treasury
were around the Bergdoll home all the
time the party was there, O'Hare said
When not shooting pool or recitine
Shakespeare, Grover, he added, was
, walking about, perfectly at ease and as
cool as little white stone in a brooA
where trout might play.
When Mrs. Bergdoll learned tha
her son had gone she was greatly. ex-
above her head as she walked about
getting supper" The woman and Ro-
mig, he added tried to persuade him
not to worry, assuring him that Berg,
doll would be back after while. AS
the guards were being entertained 6
bottle of gin mysteriously appeared in
the pool room, O'Hare testified, but he
did not touch it. as he had not taken
a drink in twenty-one years.
York, however, drank some of it, but
was warned by O'Hare to let it alone.
Weeps on Witness Stand
Tears filed the eyes of the little
sergeant as he told the committee OF
his return TO the island, empty handed
with barely enough money to pay his
fare, and OF his plea that he be per
mitted to go over to Brooklyn to tell
his wife of his misfortune before be-
ing locked up. He was tried later by
court martial and acquitted.
Representative Johnson, Democrat
kentucky, in concluding the examina-
tion of Colonel Hunt, reiterated that
he would attempt to show that Hunt
was "whitewashed" by a court martial
for failing to take adequate precau-
tions for the safety Of the prisoner.