The sun. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1833-1916, 1897-09-19
MADE MOoNSHINE AT SEA.
AN 0ILER VINO RAN a WHIsKEH
TILL ON A MAN-OF-HAR.


tureo Cou,terre,t silver Dollars - Check
Forging by = Private In the ArmJ-A Pick
pocket on n British War Vessei-The Moral.
wAsuryoToN. Sent. 1s.-"If I over took It
into my head to embark In the check.kiting
or counterfeiting business, or to engage in
any other sort OF nefarious game the carrying
on of which demanded tho greatest secrecy,
tho first thing I'd do would he to enlist either
in the army or in the navy" said an old.time
secret service man the other day. "Whyi Be-
cnuse I'd have n heap better chance. wearing
n uniform, to escape detection and capture for
a much longer time than ! would II ! engaged
in crooked work as a civilian. When Detective
Parrin brought the murderer Novak back from
tho Klondike the other day, after chasing him
moro than 10000 miles, / couldn't help but
say to myself. If that chap Novak, instead of
racing all over tho world and leaving n good
trail behind him, had just enlisted ms a soldier
at, say, some one.company infantry post on
the Western frontier. he might to-day be n
long distance on the hithcr side Of the gallows.'
what do you think of the nerve OF n blue
jacket in the American navy who made a'tirst-
class income on a man.of-war as a moonshineri
A California friend of mine in the internal
revenue service told me about this case tho
other day. 1t happened q few years ago on
one of tho cruisers OF the Pacific squadron.
When the ship went TO sea Off the coast OF
southern California for a great gun firing and
practice cruise 1t was noticed by the officers
that tho bluejackets on tho shin Of alcoholic
tendencies began to show UP for watch duty
about three parts drunk. There was no way OF
explaining tho thing. Before. leaving San
Diego the ship had been searched fore and aft
and top and bottom for liquor by the executive
officer, the officer Of marines, and the master
at arms, and not a drop had been found. When
the men began to show up drunk In sets of
tours, the commanding officer simply had
them cast into the brig without questioning
them. He was too old and. experienced II COM
mandor to suppose that he could dig any in
formation ont of man.of-war's men as to the
sources of their booze supply aboard ship. But
he ordered another thorough search OF the ship.
The search was made as with a hne.tooth COMB,
ut II brought nothing. No liquor was found.
"Then the skipper had all hands mustered TO
quarters for the purpose OF giving them some
plain talk. He had hardly begun to speak his
mind on this mysterious liquor question before
the bunker fire alarm, suspended near the door
of his cabin. began to ring. One Of the officers
leaped to the alarm. which was a registering
apparatus, and saw that the alarm proceeded
from one Of the spare bunkers. The fre-alarm
apparatus in man-of-war bunkers is set to go
off and arouse the deck force when the tenn
| p~erature Of the bunker becomes greater than
that at which the apparatus is set. Well, all
hands were at fire quarters in q jiffy, and the
spare bunker from which the alarm proceeded
was opened. 1t had not been inspected. as it
afterward came out, for several weeks.
mo fire was found In tho bunker, for the
,r.r ,vho h,a boo, rrnn,n, n va,l.contrive
still there for the manufacture Of corn liquor
had just putt the. fire out. He was discovered
red.handed in the bunker, not having gone on
deck at the call of all hands to muster because
he was on watch. below. The heat of tho fire
under the still had been greater than usual on
this day, and had set the bunker alarm ring
ing. The oiler said that he felt like kicking
himser Ior 1orge'',hs 10 cut tne electric wires
leading from the bunker alarm TO the regis
terinorepnararus on deck as he had done on
-. ~. ~ go. a.. ,,a,.r so-o,n hi.
other ships. ne was also pretty sore I" VI
sold them. although they had nothing to do
18th his bs;ng caught The fellow owned nm
that he had been making liquor on the war
sbins tn which he was attached for nearly
,hrpo ro.-s and had made a .eood thing ~ Il
He sold tho raw liquor :o his shipmates for u
couple of dollars a quart. He was turned over
10 the civil au'hori',es 70 puhi'nnentn II
got a heavy sentence besides being compelled
80 r. e.
But this fellow was a minor man.of-w war
~ nhI III hFH IA THA fhfN Hf
sran - NV tho ~ cy,ss Nth oId nm
was never In the same class win oid BIZ
Haddaway-which was one Of his two dozen
and odd aliases who made silver dollars, and
.,n,o" onaa ,oo ON ono ~ rho ola wooden shins
uptop Ones 100 on one OF the Ola "ooueh shilS
about twenty years ago. lie was called old
Bill by his shipmates. not because he really
was oid-he was under 40 when captured but
because he had a weakened. heavily lined.
crafty face: In the latter part OF 1879 the
secret service office found that a great many
workmanship and finish, very dangerous, and
with a good amount OF silver in them, were
showing up at Charleston, Savannah. Jack
sonvillc, and "A number of other ports down
South on the east const. This fact. that they
invariably seemed to make their initial appear.
ance at the ports. puzzled the secret service
men who were sent down to inyestign'e he
off their stuff in the interior and in the smaller
towns. The secret service mon reasoned that
the stuff was being showed by sailors, and for
a few weeks they kept n careful line on the
movements OF the tars and petty officers OF tho
merchant ships ashore on liberty. Their cf.
forts In this direction were unrewarded. The
spurious silver dollars seemed to have disap-
pearrd. While the merchant sailors were