| Show tricks mother of dead soldier convict palms himself off as son of grief strick en parents atlanta go ga it I 1 Is a curious a and pit but III little at atory 1 that but of mr old and sirs air 2 B at deeper bergeron of Menas Menu alm hB wis and thelt thel cle d dead ad idi r BOO whom he they ma can not at believe lie a dead urban jolin john bergeron went overseas me with mith a contingent of tile the A E F P in july 1918 to an entry in the military records he was killed in the bidding omund around belleau wood tile the tt lar ar department notified his par rate eats back in the little IN ft I 1 at tow town in due time his bis body was sent it back b la a casket abet r cohered ered with a nig flig the old couple wanted one last look at t tile the face of their lot son am q ahey hey 1 tn stated listed on oil having haling the lid ot of tile the casket opened ed but the cold ilat countenance t they ey looked aged up upon on did not at con farm conn ui falth lit the am to I 1 tin image an athe that had bad dwelt in their minds since their by bay left to join the colors they were rm not it absolutely con convinced laced that this dead adler was U urban than john Ber bergerod Berge germi roo their hicar doubt was bolstered by the man 3 rumors illes had bad he headd 1 I of at in doeu a report pd ed slain elain in battle who aate afterward ecord or turned up safe nafe and sound bound than 1 ahey I ey told each other chase that may maybe A U urban jolla john had not really hem been killed at be belleau I 1 leau they asked the war do de pa apartment part ment to cheek over mer it its records record they even went BO a far me as to bill broadcast 0 act th of f printed ell circulars lors nil it over the country each bearing a photo hot graphic likeness of urban john der ber rome heron and A an urgent request that any in information f or mation about lire him be transmitted to I 1 them v but this method failed to daal dA disclose cl any trace of rea the bov final li the their burled wept WIG nelcome and thai buried the soldiers soldier a body I 1 in their to lam lly P plot tel in the age cap cemetery antery 1 identify or z afy CO convict vict as son san about th three r 1 0 months month ago a pl prisoner s was mas brought from hew orlenna to tile it de III penitentiary flar at atlanta he be me ABB do docket fd d A Huber st clim COD can vs it ug a stolen etolen auto mobile from one state to another the and ad ault led to IS 18 imprisonment llie its pit paison gates had hardly closed behind him ban when abon the bergeronn Berge rong reas up tn in U A received a letter from new orleans written by I 1 mrs lucille old hall and ad asking when ben and ad why you eer A befriended a man n I ft bass first name la Is urban john ba thal anfor all n in the missive missile revived ahr I 1 their sit hope t that it at their son men still lived fired they hurried houlle d to tew orleans and after a brief A there them went mart on to ath atlanta robert abc st it claire a sick nick ahad abad man A eteen an placed placed in the prison hospital the aged boulde were conducted to 11 hla bedside e and p promptly aptly identified him as th alfir TOO the convict con firmed thel their assertion and the gloomy hospital was a the llie scene as of P th site re jailing ax ai the rid old people wept and ad r crooned A the boy who he had bad so all li but u t miraculously be been restated to them in the slow glow of the greater 1 sol I ce a hla his plight as convicted criminal f failed ailed to shark chock or sadden beau for tile the time being inquiry begun AM but tile the 1 ela el A 0 1 started an investigation of tl strange case boult tile the fi flies es of the aar department they got toe hie fingerprints of urban john bergeron an and compared tal them those of robert st claire the prints print did not correspond even remotely and st claire at stood 4 exposed a as a cmel hoaxer boulte but when alie divergence diver geace mi was point ed out to tile llie parents ants the old mother having little e understanding of made modem ineth mhd of 71 id identification s li tint grubbed aside tile the e ei deLce slie she will insisted it alie lul prisoner ther as a urban john bergeron geron flea my bon am whom I 1 brought to manhood sah d and I 1 will n I 1 I 1 not be cheated a RZ bej second a cand time she t told aid the file motion author I 1 ties tem her husband sharing her ea emo tion maa j juat t a aa positive tivo deaf to ta all 11 persuasion pe muenta it the mother other mane made preparations preparation to stay in atlanta till her boy had completed his term and ad could a go bade back to menasha me a and tart start life anew tile the father went at back to wisconsin to strange arrange lb affairs ma BO that lie he too could in make she his him is temporary home in atlanta meanwhile the war department determined to find bud out whether there had bea been mistake c 1 la transferring the bodies of sold soldiers am sent bent home for burial searched scorched its records nod and checked up rosters eastern then a new ans factor entered alberta the aleua U alon A 1 in the person of urban job john A A als 1 ter mrs men stella steil burger bergeron emmerich informed by her ove joyed cd parents that her brother won was oot not dead she mile also hastened to atlanta she took one a look at the prisoner and breaded branded him on an impostor but eien een lie lier PosItIve ress could not shake the credulity of her parents parent when she persisted in denying the claimed kinship they became greatly embittered against her grieving over or tile the estrangement she be begs began so an independent investigation she itic was sure bure st claire had some same del definite luite motive tor far imposing on tile the confidence of the aged cou couple pa forms forces confession enlisting the aid it at 0 government agents and ut uti lising illing every other agency she ali could command al mrs emmerich organ began gathering arp of elt evidence dance here old and there till she he had bad s her e can case against st clair rion thoroughly me g lily prepared alin she confronted the pria prisoner I 1 at and delivered in an ultimatum ile he must repudiate his statements to her and admit he had imposed upon them but even in ID the fare face of her seeming ly incontrovertible controvertible evidence eidene he in alsted I 1 e b he was 8 urban john Berg bergeaon Ber eeron econ he answered q questions put bv mis ren fm merlon rag iding their earl memories as an brother old and sister showing allowing e k alto able know knowledge ledl a of f urbe urban job john 8 habits hd is and ad incidents incident of hlll lit boyhood b iod but or he As I 1 was as all at sea on so amab many sit vital al points that mra alm emmerich P persisted arlan led and finally finall caught him lith she S a asked him about red wing mint where 11 the 1 1 family had lived tor for some yea years mil and im he re tuned altogether t to answer am v in tile the end st claire clair made a sworn stat statement eirean to repudiating I 1 all claim to the Id identity ottil of urban A job john bergeria Ber geroa and he a ad admitting he b had d perpetrated an A ably ubly I 1 Y hoax on the old people bunt hia true name he be said aid was robert 13 st claire born ae september 14 1894 old and A at I 1 the age of one year placed an orphan in the cath alla protect orv at west scram N Y then th lie be entered a plus plea in I 1 extenuation consa mulan tt IN hen ben mr hit unit and fills alm bergeron came to the prison hospital and ad identified me as 1 their wn BOD 11 ran the mw sworn statement they insisted I 1 was waa their son regard less iran of anything I 1 I 1 said neer near having big known the love of a mother or father belas Allue and helpless hel plesa being critically III and not knowing how haw am much II 11 time was we left me am to in this world I 1 permitted these kind old p peo pla to a visit left me a an their son A As time went on an and ad at mrs ber bar aaran geton leitel 1 me e almost daily giving me A the love and com care I 1 craved my condition improved and ad I 1 permitted myself to believe that when I 1 we was released eased I 1 could go to their home as 43 their con A and begin bacin all over again I 1 did not Im however lever take into conald crati the sister mrs emmerich from the day she came here and saw we me I 1 knew it was merely a aard of time before the truth would be b it known arwa several it times since ideen then I 1 he have ben been a on the verge erge of telling mrs M arac bergeron I 1 was dot a let her son but each time lime when I 1 would look at the kind old led lady I 1 simply imply I 1 lost courage I 1 now it abate a that met I 1 willfully wilfully encouraged I 1 them am I 1 in the bulet I 1 was their heir no aon I 1 at bin covely regret tho the humiliation and et these kind old people were wem sub ejected to by my actions will adopt kim him astounded though they were by this confession the bergeronn bergerons Berge rons could not put fields aside the affection TeUlon nl the supposed suppo aed iden idea city ot of st claire with their son had engendered in them for far him they say now that when he finishes hla him prison term they will adopt him legally and take pike him to their home borne in menasha it wilt still be observed that bt clalra claim 1 in his him statement tta vouchsafed no info anfor mation regarding tile the mysterious letter that first brought the deluded p parents rents to new ew orleans and atlanta little has been learned an of his ante ce dents except that lie he served an a a soldier in france th there re he have been ban rumors of other offenses against the ate 14 law in 1 estem states and it is un dera der tood stood the that I 1 auth authorities 10 a ort an the pa coast are anxious to lay fly hands r adi A on lit him when hea he be 1 IB re released I 1 from at war IRA his nemesis alm mrs mr emmerich Fm holds hold to the belief that he be met her la brother reths ill A lie m anny and ad became me an In intimate last summer bummer she rea sos song F st cl delro lire must have learned of the Ber kerons refusal to bellee believe their son am dead probably fr from in one of the circulars circular they sent seat out at and ad conceived called the notion of palming himself off tor for a while at least as urban john be ber geron gerle in tile the hope of pecuniary gain I 1 from the transaction she asserts was the has baa dosithe pos itle slid evidence that tile the awe man batore hla him conviction went to menasha to get lara information mitlon he needed in his plot by discreet dusome inquiries among friends ef of the it bend ad soldier she davs a he gath ered red up the stock of intimate details concerning urban john bergeron and hia has family chic which b ambled him for a till to a a answer A eol questions dum plausibly but bill lie did not RO go to the other boy bay head home in red ked wing and in the end tills thin oversight might trapped lit him A piti pitifully fult strange alps yet simple little atory t ar it Is 19 that of the area 3 soldier idle w who he fought at 1 belleau wood in hanm france and ad 1 is officially reported to have died there new A ork world |
