The Washington herald., 1921-05-12
OLD SOLDIER NEAR
TEARS AT HOUSE
BERCDOLLIN INQUIRY
Sergeant O'Hare Relates
How Stacker Escaped
In Philadelphia.

A guileless army sergeant, John
O'Hare. twenty-three years in the
service. faced the House Investi-
eating Committee yesterday and
told how he had been hoodwinked
into letting Grover Cleveland Berg
doll, the millionaire draft Stacker.
slip from his grasp and escape into
Germany.
Sergt. 0'Hare and a fellow SOL
dier. Sergt. York. were detailed to
guard Bergdc!l when the Stacker,
under authority of the war Depart
ment, set out from Fort Jay, N. Y,
to locate the 100000 pot of gold
in the mountains near Hagerstown.
Md.
At first he thought he was TAX
ing Bergdon to Philadelphia to at
tend the trial of his mother, Mrs.
Emma c. Bergdoll. He permitted
himself to be guided entirely by
the instructions of the late D. Car
ence Gibboney, BergdolI's attorney,
who met him at the North Phila-
delphia station.
On Verge of Tears.
The sergeant's voice broke and
he appeared to be on the verge
of tears as he exclaimed:
Upon my word. thought the job
was on the straight. 1 never
thought there was anything wronc.
| didn't know whether / was going
to be gone a day or three weeks" "
Col. John E. Hunt, comma ndant at
Fort Jay while Bergdolf was i'm
prisoned there, spent several hours
on the stand again yesterday under
merciless cross-eXamination by
Representative Johnson. of Ken
lucky. Representative johnson re-
newed his charges that the eour-
martial trial of Col. Hunt had been
"a whitewash" in which the officer
who prosecuted Hunt. participated.
Hunt insisted that the prosecuting
officer was not a friend of his and
that be had prosecuted the case Wig
orously.
Wescott To Testify.
Judge Wescott prominent New
Jersey politician, who nominated
Woodrow Wilson at the Baltimore
in 1912, is slated to re-
sumo the stand today. according to
by Chairman Peters.
Judge Wescott wants to reply to
some of the testimony of Gen. An
sell. Another witness scheduled to
take the stand today is James z
Romig. confidential adviser of the
Bergdoll family, who was present in
the house when Bergdoll made his
escape.
Mother Called.
Mrs. Bergdoll will be heard to-
morrow according to present plans.
Sergt. OHare related how Col.
Hunt had called him to the COM
office and detailed him to
guard Bergdoll on the gold hunting
q
THE only orders I got were to
go with Bergdoll to Philadelphia
and meet Mr.. Gibboney," said o'Hare.
Then my orders were to come from
Gibboney. I had no travelling orders
of any kind"
The sergeant said he asked Col
Hunt whether he should handcuff
the prisoner. The colonel, he said
replied that handouts would be
too conspicuous"
Clad in Uniform.
He stated also that Bergdoll was
clad In a regular infantry uniform
and bore no insignia to distinguish
him as a convicted Stacker.
O'Hare testified how, instead of
proceeding to Hagerstown, the party
got off at North Philadelphia, placed
itself under the directions of Glib
honey, and took up quarters at the
Bergdoll home. They spent the az
ternoon automobilinC through the
parks and the evening at a bur-
lesque show. On the afternoon of
the next day, Bergdoll obtained per-
to go to the bathroom and
while the sergeant sat watching the
door he quietly slipped out of an
entrance and made his getaway.