New Britain herald., 1922-08-28
KILLED IN COLD.
 BLOOD, IS BELIEF
Prosecutor Thinks Bergen, Movie Man, Was Lured to Death

New York, Aug. 28.-John Bergen, moving picture "daredevil'' shot to death Friday night at No. 19o Under cliff avenue, Edgewater, N. J., the home of George Cline, location man for the Fox Film corporation, was murdered without being given a chance for his life" in the opinion of Prosecutor Hart of Bergen county, N. J.
 MT. Hart said yesterday he disbe- lieves Clines story of his proposal to Bergen to fight pistol duel in a darkened upstairs room. He is con vinced that, when Bergen went to Cline's home at the latter's invitation, he walked into trap deliberately set and from which it was not meant he should escape alive.
 Another development is that Cline appears to have been living under an alias. Saturday he telegraphed his sister, Miss Margaret Walz of Phila- delphia. Yesterday she arrived in Hackensack, N. J., and visited him in Jail. One of Mrs. Cline's brothers, who visited the jail with Miss Walz, when asked why Cline had been using an alias, became confused.
 He questioned the statement that Miss Walz was Cline's sister until told that she came in answer to a tele- gram sent by Cline to that name. None of the members of Cline's fam lily or that of his wife would say anything about the matter. It was recalled that one of the notes found on Bergen referred to Cline as ..Alias George Walz."
 Told Two Stories.
 Cline told the Prosecutor two sto- rles of the tragedy, the only material pont of difference being that in the first version he said his wife and her two brothers, Charles and Lawrence Scullion, were witnesses, while in the second he described the death struggle as taking place in his bed room in the dark, with no others present
 Admitting his first story was lie invented under the influence of liquor, the story he now says is the truth is [ that Bergen attacked his wife six weeks ago and he learned of it from | her Friday. He then telephoned Ber- gen to come and "clear up" the mat ter.
 Cline said he, his wife and her two brothers talked the matter over with Bergen who boldly admitted the | attack. Then Cline proposed he duel and, pistol in hand, forced Ber- gen to mount the stairs ahead of him. In the room he handed Bergen Ger man Lueger pistol. As Cline reached up to turn out the light, he says, Der gen attempted to fire and they grap- pied. Cline got Bergen's pistol and in the struggle for the Colt Cline had, Bergen wAs shot.
 Hart Disbelieves Cline.
 There was no evidence of strug- gle, and do not believe Cline ever gave Bergen a pistol" said MT. Hart yesterday. "Cline's own statements disclose the commission of a first de- gree murder. He tells of struggle with the men so close together he is not sure who pulled the trigger. Ex- animation of Bergen's body and clothes shows that neither his skin nor the coat he wore bears the slight est trace of powder burn. The shot that killed Bergen must have been fired from distance of at least three feet
 Cline, who, it seems, had hobby for firearms, was particularly fond of z the German Lueger. Bergen knew , this. In one of the notes found on s his body after death he had written ., that, if he should be killed, it would , be by Cline and, in all probability, ; with a German Lueger, .25-calibre, as it is the favorite of his many guns. q No man with fondness for a paA ticular pistol would, under such cir } as Cline describes, give + his favorite weapon to his enemy.
 Angle of Wound. 'sThe fact that the wound in the back is lower than the wound in the c breast suggests that Bergen probably was shot in the back as he was going :, upstairs. Another theory is that he f was pleading for his life when the 4 shot was fired. To me it looks as d though Bergen was politely invited to ', come from New York to Edgewater s to be shot to death, and I am pre- o pared to present all the facts as I . have them to the grand jury Tues lay"
 Mrs. Cline has been in a collapse since the shooting. She spent yester-