MOTHER OF DRAFT EVADERS APPEALS TO PRESIDENT HARDING FOR HELP
Philadelphia, Pennsylvania (JFK+50) On May 28, 1921, the mother of World War I draft evaders said she "would appeal to President (Warren G.) Harding to keep government officials from 'continually persecuting' her."
Mrs. Emma C. Bergdoll*, widow of wealthy brewer Louis Bergdoll (son of German political refugee Grover Bergdoll, Sr.) and mother of Erwin and Grover Bergdoll, Jr., threatened to leave the country if her appeal went unheeded.
Mrs. Bergdoll said...
"In Russia, they wouldn't persecute a poor woman like they persecute me."
Son Erwin Bergdoll was serving time in Leavenworth while Grover Bergdoll, Jr.** fled to Germany. Mrs. Bergdoll's property was seized by the Alien Property Custodian.
*Emma Christine Barth Bergdoll (1861-1944) was the mother of the "#1 Draft Dodger of World War I. She died in Lankenau Hospital in Philadelphia, PA.
**Grover Bergdoll, Jr. was tried as a deserter & sentenced to 5 years hard labor (1920) but escaped to Germany where he married a German girl. He later returned with his wife & children to the U.S. under another name.
SOURCES
"Bergdoll, Grover," Haverford Township Historical Society, www.haverford.pastperfectonline.com/
"Mother of Bergdoll, Draft Dodger, Dies," The New York Times, December 5, 1944.
"Mrs. Bergdoll To Demand Aid From Harding," The New York Tribune, May 29, 1921, Chronicling America, Library of Congress, www.loc.gov/
