Bergdoll

The War Department denied that it was implicated in any way with an incident which took place in Baden, Germany.

Grover Cleveland Bergdoll, millionaire American draft evader (who escaped in 1920 from Governor's Island by plying his guards with liquor), shot dead one man and wounded another when they attempted to seize him in his apartment at a hotel in Eberbach, Baden, Germany. Out side the hotel, in an old U. S. army car, waited Lieutenant Griffith, U. S. Army, and "Prince" Gargarin, a Russian. After the shooting a crowd menaced the two in the car, who promptly started for Heidelberg and were arrested en route, charged with attempting to kidnap Bergdoll. Bergdoll went free of any homicidal charge. He was a local hero. Lieutenant Griffith and " Prince " Gargarin, jailed and awaiting a trial, escaped a lynching by no great margin.

Referring to the man he killed (Schmidt, a Swiss), Bergdoll said: " He was a juicy thug the American Legion hired in Paris under Lieutenant Griffith. ... He was promised $1,000 to get me dead or alive. Americans don't dare try these jobs themselves. They get the worst thugs in Europe. I could have got out of the war by paying $15,000. Why don't they allow me to return?

... I hope I get a shot at a few more American Legioners."

Apropos of nothing, Mrs. (Mother) Bergdoll, who was present, said: " I hate Harding! You did good work, Grover."

In 1921 intelligence operatives attached to the American Expedition ary Forces at Coblenz attempted to kidnap Bergdoll at Eberbach. Shots were exchanged; a girl bystander was wounded in the hand; the operatives were sentenced to fifteen and six months' imprisonment, respectively. Efforts of the American Legion got the prisoners released on condition of a compensation for the wounded girl. Since then it has been reported a number of times that Americans planned to capture Bergdoll and bring him to the United States to take his medicine.