Bergdoll was born in
Philadelphia to a wealthy family, owners of the
City Park Brewery and the
Bergdoll Mansion. He was one of 119 people to train at the
Wright Flying School, and in 1912 he purchased a
Wright Model B biplane for $5,000. Bergdoll made several public flights from an airfield on family-owned land outside Philadelphia, and was the first person to fly an airplane between Philadelphia and
Atlantic City, New Jersey. After 748 flights the plane was placed in storage. Bergdoll attempted to qualify for the 1915
Indianapolis 500 and also raced between 1911 and 1916, almost exclusively in his brother
Erwin Bergdoll's cars. Although Bergdoll registered for the draft, he skipped a physical and failed to turn in a questionnaire on his fitness for duty. He was declared a deserter in 1918 (as he never enlisted, he was actually guilty of evading Article 58 of the
Selective Service Act of 1917), eluded police for two years, and was arrested at his home in January 1920. After he was found guilty of desertion at a court-martial at
Fort Jay on
Governors Island in
New York City, he was sentenced to five years in prison. During a stop at his Philadelphia home, he escaped with his chauffeur. Despite a nationwide manhunt, the duo managed to cross the border into
Canada and sail to Germany, ultimately finding refuge in
Eberbach at a hotel owned by Bergdoll's uncle.
Warren G. Harding ordered the seizure of Bergdoll's assets, worth $535,000, under the
Trading with the Enemy Act of 1917. The four surviving conspirators were seized and sentenced to prison terms. Griffis was widely considered a hero in the United States, and was also released early after a petition effort to free him collected more than two million signatures. Bergdoll later moved to
Weinsberg, Germany. In 1926, he entered a German sanitarium, where he met his future wife, Berta Francks; the couple had five children while he lived in Germany. On two occasions he made secret trips back to Philadelphia. He arrived in 1929 on the first trip and returned in 1933. The second time, he traveled to the U.S. in 1935 and returned to Germany in 1938. Bergdoll was arrested in May 1939, upon his third return to the U.S. == Later developments ==