The Washington times., 1921-09-18
]. 8. WILL HUNT
BERGDOLL' SPOT.
Of BURIED GOLD
Federal Picks and ShoveIs Will
Soon Ring Out in Search for
Draft Dodgers Treasure.
OFFICIALS OBTAIN CHART
Alien Property Custodian and
Justice Dept. Will Bend Every
Effort to Find Cache.

With picks and shovels instead
OF pistols and handouts Uncle Sam
is getting ready to collect the
estate of Grover Cleveland Berg
doll.
Chasing the golden fleece with
miners tools, maps of the Mary
land countryside and a hunch that
vii! not be denied, the Government
will soon risk several odd thousand
doubloons in a junket brought
about by jokester-slacker.
After the fashion of Robert Louis
Stevenson's famous fictionized expe-
dition which set out in quest Of the
center of underground attraction on
treasure Island, a Government expe-
dition will soon start on an organized
nunt for Bergdoll's alleged hidden
$150,000.
Believe They Have Chart.
Department of Justice gold-diggers
believe they have the true chart to the
end of BergdolTs rainbow-somewhere
In Maryland-where. in a woodland
patch. is buried a pot Of gold.
Late prisoner No. 1918. the name Of
the man without a country which
Is gadding about Germany, seemingly
forgetful Of the $150.000 in gold he said
he left cached, when he ducked the
leave from his voluntary abode.
1t may be that the dishonorably dis
charged draft dodger is smiling over
the fact that the United States Alien
Praperty Custodian, Thomas w. Miller
Is bent on an official search for gold
that never was.
l. l.
the U. S. Government is endeavoring
to do as he was uninterested in the
brief story contained in the newspa-
pers Of the past week, telling of the
burial. with high honors, Of the
man who took the German bullet
which would have been his had he
played the man.
II It's There, Good-by.
But in case the fancifully embroid-
cred yarn upon which Bergdoll won
his freedom-physical II net mental
should be the real thing, he can quite
appropriately forget his gold. And
for good reason.
II the gold Is where the Department
of Justice has a hunch 1t is, Bergdoll
can cross off his Maryland cache as a
defunct item. for the Alien Property
Custodian is going after Bergdoll's s
property with vim.
Tough luck, too,-for Bersdoll. The
S15O, 900 he Is reported to have buried
will be worth approximately 5000, 900
II II is found. Here at least is a case
of the buried talents piling up the
next thing to interest The change in
the buying power OF the dollar since
Bergdoll planted his gold will add one
third more to the value, II Uncle Sam
succeeds in unearthing 1t.
Typical Golden Fleece Tale Seen.
The early impression of those who
read of Bergdoll's proposed trip into
Maryland to recover his escape fund"
was that the pot of gold was the
pretty song Of one who would distract
attention from the main fact that he
was escaping.
The mention Of money has a strange
tendency to divert the eyes and ears
of the American public from more Sc
rious things. So II was then, that
cnce the draft evader had escaped,
newspaper readers believed that the
pot was more likely a plot.
But Uncle Sam. through Miller, is
apparently convinced that there is
truth in the tale Of hidden treasure.
And Uncle Sam is therefore going into
the treasure hunting game-for the
satisfaction that comes with an orgy
of fruitless digging, If nothing else.
Bergdoll will undoubtedly remark
that the only doubloons to be found
in the searching party-one.half dubs
and the other half looms.
But his laugh may soon disappear
when the dirt begins to fly in the
spot where he left his $150,000.