Evening star., 1922-08-27
FILM MAN ALTERS
STORY Of SLAY|NG
Cline Held on Murder Charge
| Pending Further Probe
at Edgewater, N. J.
"ATTACK WAS IN ROOM"
Actor Pointed Gun as He Reached
for Light, Prisoner
Now Says.
"ATTACK WAS IN ROOM"

/ BY the Associated Press.
EDGEWATER, N. j.. August 90
George Cline, movie location finder.
was held on murder charge today
after he had given the authorities
two versions of the shooting in his
home last night of John Bergen,
screen actor, who. he said, admitted
| having assaulted Mrs. Cline several
Adirondacks.
| His first story, as reported by
| county police who quizzed him, was
that he and Bergen were going up
| stairs to fight a duel when Bergen
whipped out his pistol. Cline knocked
| the pistol from the actors hand only
! to see him take out a. blackjack, he
| said. Then Cline fired.
| The second version. as Prosecutor
| Hart said Cline had told it to him.
| was that the men had gone to an
upstairs room. Cline had given Ber--
gen pistol, kept one himself, and
duel in the dark. AS he reached for
the chandelier to turn out the light,
he saw Bergen point his pistol at
him, and he knocked it from the
actors hand. whereupon Bergen
grasped his own gun. and it was
weapon that the shot was fired. Cline
| said he was not sure who pulled the
trigger, the prosecutor said.
| Note Charges Murder.
Mr.. Hart said Cline added that
he must have been drunk when he
| gave his first description of the affair.
George Landon, taxi driver. told
Clines home about o'clock and
obeyed instructions to wait. When
he heard shot, he said, he drove
away. and seeing Bergen running
faster, thinking his fare was a hold
up man. He notified policeman, and
going back, they found Bergen dying
a short distance from the Cline home:
In his pocket was a bloodstained
note, reading: George Cline Killed
me-"
Another note found in Bergen's
clothes. and held by the prosecutor.
said: "If by chance / am shot in the
next few weeks, it will be done by a
George Cline; alias George Watz OF
Edgewater, n. j., for reasons un-
known to me. He is threatening me.
No doubt a German Lueger. caliber
IS, will be used. as 1t is a favorite
of his many guns. l am John Bergen
PA East 11th street"
AS the prosecutor related 1t, Cline
said that Mrs. Cline had been acting
strangely since their return from
Saranac Lake. but it was only yes
terday morning that she told him
Bergen had assaulted her there, after
inducing her to drink.
Man and Wife Phone.
"Cline and Mrs. Cline both tele-
phoned to Bergen after she had told
her story yesterday" said the prose-
cutor, urging him to come to Edge
water to clear up the situation
When he arrived. Mrs. Cline. in the
husband and Bergen. repeated the
story He attempted to justify his
act by alleging that all women are
traitors. Cline said. and then the
husband told him he would have to
fight it OUT
Cline told newspaper men that he
met Bergen three years ago when the
latter was professional dancer in
New York. He was a corner loa1er'
but made man out Of him, making
him work, and even spending $1,000
to get him out of Jail in Atlantic
City," he said.
"on this trip to saranac Lake this
boy accompanied me. I left him alone
in, the hotel with my wife and two
kiddies. trusting him, naturally. and
then to think he went and pulled
rotten deal like this on me.
Down in my heart l am sincerely
sorry that this affair occurred. We
struggled for the gun and in the
struggle it went off and he was hit.
don't even know who pulled the
trigger"
A woman who called at the local
police station today said she was Mrs.
May Bergen of New York, declaring
that Bergen had deserted her and
their five-year-old child four years
ago, two years after their marriage.
She said she had called in the hope
of being of assistance to Cline, de-
claring she considered that Bergen
has gotten '1his just deserts"