The first request was met with a sug
gestion that this Government should sup
r!y more Information, it was learned.
Held Up by State ef Wtr,
Gen. March Informed the committee
that the United States could not formally
demand Bergdoll because of the state
of war setting aside extradition treaties
and could not send a force of soldiers
ufter hlrn because this would violate .he
terms of the armistice, which prohibit
any military operationa outside the oc
cupied zones.
"Bergdoll is only one of 150,000 draft
dodgers, but lie Is a Aery bad specimen,"
said Gen. March. "We are determined to
get him back at any price. The two
Americans who attempted to capture
him In violation of International law
have our entire sympathy. It would
have been very satisfactory to me per
sonally at least If they had succeeded
and turned Bergdoll over to the Ameri
can Army of Occupation. The two Ameri
cana who made the attempt were ex
army men, formerly attached to the
bureau of military investigation. When
news of their work reached here I of
fered to assume all responsibility for
their action, but this was not necessary
because they were not members of the
ax my."
"Who was it that apologized to Ger
many for their action?" .Representative
L.uhrlng (Ind.) asked.
"Gen. Allen," Oen. March replied. "He
I did so on his own responsibility. He
did right according to -international
practices."
"Would you have apologized?"
"Not a bit."
Gen. March said he discussed the re
lease of Bergdoll to hunt "the pot of
gold" for less than a minute with Ad
jutant-General Harris, and Instructed
him to grant the request If he deemed
wise.
? lon.ooo in Gold Taken Oat.
