m IBM Li JUBIfJ'M m - K iWSRSS8SBBWS YttlS&AWfflrf W i S1"V i 'evejetg: 4i&cr ledger-pmrADaiA-.' Friday, Tbeptembeb is, '192S XL x'. k ?s& v Ml 'h INDIRECT CAUSE OF DUEL TO DEATH IN DARK 'i : jt a BFNTWS: SHR T JTPF.n WRFFN DAREDEVIL TO FATE S1 rvj Wm rV : Pretty Alice Thornten Insists She Did Net "Squeal" eh Jack Bergen and His Leve Affair With Wife of His Clese Friend' and Real Benefactor . BUT AGREES HER HINTS . AROUSED SUSPICIONS OF MAN WHO FIRED FATAL SHOT Stories of Latest Mevie Leve Tragedy Conflict and "Mysterious Blende" Finds Herself Threatened by Trial r as Accomplice in Murder DID ninctcen-ycnr-eld Alice Thornten lure "Daredevil" Jack Bergen te his death? Or is she the innocent victim of a chain of bitter circumstances which slowly and pondcreuslytanglod about her with cruel and impersonal pre cision ? Docs she fellow in the long train of fair women scorned, whom jeal ousy transformed, whose love, tinctured with disillusion, burned into the eeld livid flame of hate? Or did she pass through the portals of the lives of Cline and Bergen, unconscious of the imminent disaster she was bringing te them? Uncon Uncen Uncon ccieus of the conflagration she was destined te kindle? One man is dead, killed by the I depressed her, but lie netlccM thnt she licrsclf continued te net In nn unusual manner the remainder of the dny. Wife Confessed' Liaison With "Daredevil Jack" Cline learned tlint his wife hiidbecn out with Bergen. He questioned Bergen enil Bergen mlmltted lie Imd persuaded Mrs. Cline te tnke n drink. Mere mid inure suspicious, the litis Imnd continued te ply Ills wife with questions. He recalled what Alice Thornten had told lilin a few weeks b'efoie at the dance. He persisted In his Investigation, but apparently get no further until the day before the murder en August S!3, Jit that time his wife made a clean breast of the whole affair. She said that she became intoxicated after Bergen bad forced the drink en her. While she was under the Influence of the liiiuer, she said, Bergen attacked her. Immediately following the confession, both Cllne and his wife telephoned te Bergen, urging him te come te their home In Undcrcllff nvenue. At first On the night of August 25, bleeding and mortally wetinded, stag gered out of the Kdgewntcr home. A shot had pierced the night air, and a tnxlrnb di iter, his car pnikcd nearby, thought of highwaymen. When he saw it man stumbling toward him lie became frightened and speeded away, but net before the man with the death-face tried te grasp the running benrd of his car. Later, Unvid Landau, the taxi driver, who had carried Bergen te the Cllne home, met n policeman. To gether, they returned and found Bergen bin? in the read, thrce hundred feet from the Cllne home. When Bergen died a few moments Inter in the Edgewater police station, a bleed-stained note was found In hlsi rent pocket. He had evidently scrawled it while he Iny dying In the read. Itl read: "Geerge Cline killed me." ' Anether note In the dead man's I pocket proved that he hud expected death at the hnnds of Cline. This ' note rnn : "If by chance I am shot J in the next few weeks, it will be done f by a Geerge Cllne, alias Geerge Walz, of Edgcwatcr, X. J. Fer reasons tin- i .... .... LIm In a man, I but ins violent nest was upon mm a moment, pressing the gun Inte the small of bis hack. He ferccM him into the room again. Mrs. Cline screamed nnd rtislwd between the two men. Miss Thornten grabbed her. "It's wrong te sny I did thnt bo be bo catibe I wanted Geeige te kill .Tank," added Miss Thornten. "I was afraid the gun might go off, nnd hurt Mrs. Cline, mid I pulled her away." This happened in the front hall en the first fleer. "Letting his hand which held the gun "W1M f' i&. i " -XLW'"'"' s. , JlWv 7? W7 !.i 4& XHT Li ei $x$iiitttt H &;$ iviwa iSVJ.!' S friend who trusted him. One man is behind prison bars waiting for the scales of Justice te swing. One woman, stunned by the torture of niRny regrets nnd griefs, sits nt home, hclnjcss nnd alone, save for her mocking memories. And Alice Thornten, who will come en trial en October 9 along with Geerge Cline nnd Charles Scul lion for the murder of Bergen, des- children, Mildred, six years old, and Cenrad, feui. "I was in the front of the house with Mrs. Cline nnd Jack," Miss Thornten is reported te have said. "Mr. Cline was away. On some laughing pretext Jack took Mrs. Cline te the kitchen, where they re mained for about a quarter of an hour. Later they slipped up the back stairs of the house and stayed in an upper room together for nearly an peratcly hopes that no jury will mis interpret the part she played in the ' hour drama which ended in death. Alice Thornten's interest in Jnck ,, . . , , , Bergen straightway cooled. She at- Mustcneus Blende Was tcmpted t0 (liscentinue their friend. Real Keu te Mystery , ship, and Cline, loyal te his friend, Without Alice Thornten, the story ! tried te patch up the breach, of the woman wronged and a duel te j "Several weeks after the episode the death is a story of ellipses and nt Edgewater, some ' of us were inexplicable gaps. Without the identification of "the mysterious blonde," who was seen te enter the Cline home at Edgewater, N. J., just before the killing, as Alice Thorn Thorn eon, detectives investigating the case wcic baffled. Alice Thornten, light-hearted, lithesome, trips through the mere or less completed story, as some Pippa who passes, but who bears pain rather than peace. She was a filing clerk for a private banker in Wall Street, and since the death of her fa Hi or has lived with her grandparents, Mr. nnd Mrs. Rob Reb ert II. Harris, of New Yerk. Her blonde curls and her trim figure gave her the appearance of a happy child, her eyes expressing endless surprise that life is se entertaining. Her days passed by comfortably and well, much the same as the days of any ether nineteen-year-old giuf's de, until one fateful day she met Jack Bergen. "I met htm two years age," she uid. "A girl friend -Introduced us, and I liked him." The air of romance hung about Jack Bergen. Immaculately dressed, trimmed and pruned te the point of femininity, he had the heart of a rugged two-fisted man. He played in the movies! He doubled for Eugene O'Brien and ether heroes of the silver screen when especially daring feats were te be done! Apparently, he was single and graced with a trange attraction for women. Alice's grandfather protested against ftheir friendship. He said Bergen was tee dressed up, tee care ful with his fingernails, tee anxious about the cut of his hair. But his objections seemed unwarranted te his granddaughter. She continued te see Bergen, and her friendship for him ripened into love. "I didn't knew that he was mar ried and thut he had deserted his wife and baby," said Miss Thornten. "It was only later that I found that out. When I asked Jack if he had been married he admitted it, but 'he insisted that the marriage had been nnuled, and I believed him." It was a day in June of this year that Miss Thornten met the Clines. Bergen introduced her te the cozy household. Geerge Cline was a lo cation man for the Fex Film Com pany, nnd Bergen appeared te be one f his most intimate friends. She wet met them nt the Cline home in Edgewater, and, dramatically enough, n this first day she began te suspect that her sweetheart was paying "tee much attention te Mrs. Bergen." Suspected Couple After First Trip te Cline Heme Mrs. Bergen is n smnll woman lth the figure of a hey. Her deep et dark eyes burn sadly out of a Hie and lined face. She is twenty-fix-years old and the mother of two dancing at Fert Lee," she said. "Bergen was there, as were Cline th; "xi"" K .?, 'vl; . TV is n? i--xrti .YtJU-. ; -& t?0'. b&: 's ?' ;- :- ,i f :&& KSKSSffitf KMs'fe - .'V., v. K Kf& ' ,vNSji rSPSt V-'iV.Si agnzM vXwt.SC. A v v 'r.v;- $":;,., 's V' l-W -.' '"i Si , 1A. . ?" i i "V: Is , V JC. . fe.W . w .. " &?TxM -r Xi '&&& J'"r.-,s-4'2 $$ 3? w i c.s. -; .. --'i..i .Sfi SvsJtSSSS-N fx, EfsaKaKS,sv M'uMt i"rfr3a.,tvj-tss - " ,Ns" it Fk.IVJ Vtv4. T'JW'W ' js;xft i :: K m ,Ak-TP .. JLTy. msm. $ : "'vr't-v- -i. "$&& -?i 2 &S s f MWAr . .. ' m .x & fe m $M "S SWiS v m. "Daredevil Jack" Bergen and his wife. At that time Cline again tried te make things up be tween me nnd Jack. While we danced together, Mr. Cline asked me pointedly what the treuble was. "I evaded his question, but he forced me te admit later that the 'trouble' was another woman. He wanted te knew her name, but I could net tell him she was his own wife. He trusted Bergen and his wife se that I knew any revelation like that would break his heart. I continued te evade his direct ques tions, and he continued te insist thnt Jack Bergen was a fine man and I ought te smile at Jack again. In the end it made me angry. Angry that he should trust se foolishly the man who was disloyal te him. And finally I blurted eut: 'Don't trust your friends!' And he understood immediately what I intimnted." It has been declared that Alice Thornten "squealed" en Jack Bergen out of jealousy. The young woman denies this. "I did It beeaue Grergc Cline was being treacherously treated. And I would hnve said nothing at nil if he hadn't pressed me." At that point Cline nsked her what she meant. "I told hlm'what I had seen in his own hem at Kdgewatcr," she suys, Cline, according te Miss Thornten, wns dtimfetinded. He said no mere about it that night. He remained friendly toward Bergen, but there Is little doubt thet he watt hed Bergen carefully. Net long after that, Cline went te examine a location near .Snreniic Lnkc, He took Mrs. Cline with him. The couple and Bergen worn nt the St. Itegls Hetel. One day Cline' left for Stamlish, forty miles nwuy. It Is reported that when hn return'ed te the hotel he found hi wife In te.ri. She told him that the eight of m many tubercular victims &s lsM I 'willltK i r Geerge Cline known te me, he is threatening me. Ne doubt u dermnn Lticgcr, caliber .45,7 will be used, as It is n favorite of his many guns. I am Jehn Bergen, I'll East 11." th street." But the events thnt happened nt the Edgewater home, that dnrk night, were net fully known until "the mysterious blend" whom Landau, the taxl-drher, hud seen enter there was Identified ns Alice Thornten. Denies She Lured Man te His Death in Duel "The intimation that I lured Jack te the Cline home out of Jealousy is ridiculous," Insists Alice Thornten. "I believe that Geerge Cline wanted te ask Bergen for the last time whether he had been Intimate with Mrs. Cline or net, nnd he wanted te be there te tell what I had seen, in the event that Bergen denied it." Cline phoned Miss Thornten in the afternoon, nnd nsked her te come te i his house thnt evening. Hn did net i explain his reason for inviting her, but , Istlggeted that Bergen would be ene of the guests. "I understood that he wanted In set- ' tie the matter once nnd for nil. T get I Alice Thornten sm 4 .J 3 wk mm KfSS ... . aIj'3 hand, and thnt his own pistol wen wm. -, during the ensuing struggle. t, Vjy "If I could hnve get close te W9 fi husband," weeps Mrs. Cline, VI cefW hnve stepped It nil, but Alice wouleVfc let me. I can't remember much. I don't remember seeing any guns. When Bergen said he didn't want te fight, I wns glad. I didn't wnnt them te fight. But then I henrd him sny, 'All right, I'll fight,' nnd I rushed te my husband. I wnnted pence. But they wouldn't let me go te him." " I met this boy Jnck three years nge," Cline is reported te have said. "He was a corner loafer and a pro fessional dnnccr. I made n mnn of him. Made him work, and even spent $1000 te get him out of jail In Atlantic City. And when we were up nt Snranac I naturally left my wife nnd children with him. I trusted him. "I'll give you another gunl" cried Cllne. "We'll turn out the light and fight!" "And te think he should play a trick like this en me, after all I did for hlra. And I might even have forgiven ' him, if he hadn't called my wife a vile name." Mountain Girl Gets News of Dead Man An aftermath of the gruesome story , was the presence the ether day before the police, near Saranac Lake, of a girl who gave her name as Mnudp Beyca. She wnntcd te knew when Jnck Bergen 'would remc back te the mountains. She, said she was his sweetheart. She had net heard of the death of Bergen. Her coming te the police te leek for him was nn extraordinary coin cidence. When the police told her that her lever was dead, that he was u married man. she trembled pitifully. She had met him when he was deln; stunts for the pictures in the neighbor hood He had become her here. "Jack premised ini he would write i te nie when he left." she sobbed. "I watched all the mull", but no letter ciitue. Anil new 1 11 Jiccr fcee him agnin." And this jeung woman has dlsap- 1 peared. The police near Saranac have been unable te find her. She was dark and plntient looking, a slender girl of t the hills and she has perhaps gene ' bu k te her home in the Adlrendacks with her heart-pain. And tragedy of this sort is as far reaching as it it often unexpected. Little did Alice Thornten suppose within two jenrs. after she had set eves en her handsome Jack, that he would be sitting, charged with murder, behind the iron bars of n prison. . She cannot believe it tedny, though even new he awaits trial. And the scales of blind justice may tip one wny , e)' they mnv tip another, and her young and heretofore happy life will he ended or begun ngnin depending en bow the grim scnle.s swing. Maybe Jury Can Get Real Story of Tragedy It's an inexplicable world for mortals. Ter mnn of them, It is as a tale told In an idiot. Mgnifjing nothing, n philosopher hns said, h'er Alice It is a moing-pit'ture sterv, with nil of I'fe' instcrles, griefs nnd Ironies thrown in.' And she is one of the ter 1 tured actor? the heroine, perhaps "N. "'Wl r A fe. drop. (,oerge told Charles Scullion e I co upstairs nnd get the ether gn for I Bergen. Charlie, went upstairs, nmi h I enme down almost Immediately. But we were nil he worked up j ,. remember whether he brought the ether gun or net." Miss Thornten does remember seeing Bergen with a gun In his hand. "Geerge and Jack went upstairs nlene. I don't knew whether they both ad guns. Indistinctly, I remember hearing Geerge offer Jack the first gun or the one upstairs. And I de knew that Jack had a gun in his hand when lie went upstairs after Geerge." Mrs Cline tried te fellow the men, but Alice held her back. " I didn't wnnt. her te get hurt." snld Alien. 1" the l.ttle room downstairs, the distraught wife, her brothers and .Miss Thornten waited an,i listened. Th' iiiinpens(i ik syj '& -.. xm , v !"ls?l- V'', ' ' i&$L i , km? nn J-'X? yrffiXi m SVjOS mvi km ?Ji'jrxS ' PM & $&-m && rfi m. &? 'J&! &LW Vi Z?i 'V m ' m there about 0 o'clock. Mrs. Cline', lit- , ,, ' ,. ' . ' , ',n' ' could -"i" "i me two men slowly climbing the , talrs, and then there was silence-deep oppressive bllence, punctu ated by the f,eft sobbing of Mrs. Cline uu.meiiiy mere came te the ears of the Barbara Bergen, daughter slain movie actor of Daredevil .lack refused, hut eventually he consented. Cllne then called up his wife's brothers, Lawrence and Charles Scullion, asking them te be en hand. And Miss Thornten was Imltcd, In order te confront Bergen with the story of what she had seeu ut Edgewater months before. tle son and (laughter were ever at their grandmether'n home which Is next deer. Mrs. Cllne nnd her two brothers, Geerge Cline, Bergen and I were in the house. "I was determined te confront Ber gen with the whole business. He was stunned when he saw me. We had come ever from Manhattan en the same ferry. I had seen him, but he hadn't seen me. When he spied me In the same room with the ethers, I guess, he realised there was no use In lying." Cline appeared in his shirt sleeves. He accused Bergen point-bio nk. accord accerd ing te Miss Thornten, of having had im proper relations with bis wife. Bergen apparently hnd made up his mind te brazen it out. "He threw out his chest," cxplnined Miss Thornten, "nnd admitted his con duct. Geerge Cline rnked him ever the coals." "I knew I'm a rat and nil that," Bergen Is reported te have answered. And he attempted te justify himself nc- cording te Cline, by saying thut all women were traitors te their husbands. nnd by making a slurring remark nbeut Mrs. Cline. "Geerge was Infuriated," continued Miss Thornten. "He drew n pistol, and broke it te show that It was leaded." He dnrcd Bergen te go upstairs with hiin." Fight in Dark Offered By Angry Husband "I'll gle you another gun." cried ('line. "We'll turn out the light nnd fight!" This cowed Bergen, said Miss Thorn Thern Thorn ten. "He started moving for the deer, waiting four, a sound of shuffling feet Then a shot. It sounded from directly "ver the heads of the listeners from nine's bedroom. A second later Ber gen stumbled down the Htalrwny and out the front deer. Cline followed him panting ami e.vited, but unharmed. "After- that I am net certain what happened," Nli, jiNm Thornten. "I grabbed my hat, jumped into a taxi and sped te the ferry." What transpired uptnirs in the bed room may never be kWn. Cline, ac cording te the prosecution, has given two versions of the story. Struggle in Dark Preceded Fatal Shet Miss Thornten ban stated that she cherishes faith in Geerge nine's second story -that hn hnd given Bergen n pistol, nnd that Bergen had tried te double-cress him as he turned te switch .mi uie iignt; mat in the liund-te-hand grappling for the gun it had exploded "I don't believe Geerge had a re velvcr In his hand when he went up stairs. Bergen did have one. I think Charlie Scullion laid the ether gun somewhere upstairs for his brether-ln-law." The bullet thnt entered Bergen's left breast and Injured the spinal cord w.is found t ledged in the stair outside the second-story bedroom, it N f,ln )( .15 Celt automatic. Bletyl Htnins marked the retreat of Bergen down the mx ry'S 'fteA rt-&X '?& I&f &&m- V-Wfe.. V xN fm H. m - V&fc.iV M & a. Mrs. ("line and lur brother, Geerge Scullion nnd stairs, through the fi,.nt d..nr n'"nS the street for .'toil jard. I Nhepe Geerge ( line will he ac quitted, " Alice Thornten Is reported te have said. "Beigen whs n cur nnd desej-ved what he get. Jnck wns wild, 1,11,1 Petted, und selllsh. Mis. Cline is weak and tee easily led, but Mr. Cline s u geed man." Miss Thornten cannot understand why slie has been arrested. "Surelj there Is something wrong," moaned the girl in her cell m Hat-ken-Mick. "I came here uilliugU bcfeie i he Grand Jurv and the n-ked m te Kil (he truth nnd 1 ,. , ' ,, ,i,v urit'Klcd urn urn) put ni hi n .,11 "I did net lure Jack te hi- death. I waa net jealous and vindictive. I didn't -Miunl' i ii t ' ,n,i m tf'-ll '. 1 1 T , ,. v . , MI.M '"' a- aii. tinny I i i i. 1 p. Cline (,'arc Tire Stories of lulling of Bergen 1. 1 tiin 'nglnall, ( in,.. vi-i-mu killing, whi h he iter i, pudi it nig nun lie was drunk when he had Chen it. was that en the vvnj up'-tiiirH, Bergen bad whipped out a gun, nnd that in the nit pt t wrest It from him, the gun hnd exploded In hi hcciind version I" idnittd l"l' I' ' ' " .111 I III l-i ., I, , I ...... 1 1 " m ' .i I ii i ng out ii,, i I., ti.i. i. ..i ,i.... i ... . . -"'l' l l,ei) POJIlieU hs g in ins unpieteited buck Cline said I that he knocked Bergen's gun from his whose role Ik no pleasure, no part , " he paid gcnerimbjy for, eicept with , l"im I 'Iho louclusien of the scenario one I""' ,ml hepewin i, H ,,,, ml tigs can be. But it will be never i s., happy ,1H a moving picture en the silver Hi-in-n. If All,... i, i... . I . ends for hei. and lu..r wretchedness ' "' "KKiiivnieu, jf Alice Is ' "'""' "'"'" 'll remain for Her the gloom of memory. " rertuiiate aie the movie stars wh 'in ihrew off ihe pain, the "ffirnw 'it (leir Meiy, with the ciiHtunicH IliiT wear: who uu I, ,,..... ..n .,' " . ,,,e' ii ehaiacier uliii "I-.. in-Ill- ti- I'd of -In li f-i ie Mi -e mi matter hew her itnrv i" u. I- ti. t.ugedy ,,f ,h ,ulr; 8 "'ja in V , r,,,,"i"' wl Ji 'r nl w iyH : UPtSluuA ,,,, of the mind which will never ,.! (.esmetics which will burn late hrli'i corrosively, forever. llHt ' "ii tf i ni i pj & m m m H k f i .in j ' . vfc a. !.?. i.'.-K?' Miiill.ntft.uu , . t'JK-lki'iN
Significant historical Pennsylvania newspapers