The Beaver herald. [volume] (Beaver, O.T. [Okla.]) 1895-1923, 1912-01-25

layed her, and she is still at her pier.
The captain chosen for such a voyage
is a master hand at framing up in.
genious excuses.
Il have imagined a thousand things
for twenty minutes. But the trucks
always come. At once men spring
from out of the ship and big lanterns
are lighted with reflectors so placed
as to throw the illumination precisely
where 1t Is needed and no further.
These lights are shrouded, and Meth.
er from the river nor the streets are
the lights suspiciously noticeable. The
captain who runs guns knows enough
to do that cleverly. He charges for
1t in his pay.
"SIck . ship as this has a well paid
crew. Generally for these gun-running
expeditions not less than thirty men
are provided. So well drilled are they
that | have seen such crew in con-
siderably less than five hours put
board 5000 rifles and 100000
rounds OF ammunition. They work SO
swiftly and under such high pressure
and excitement that accidents are fire.
quent.
Work Done at Sea.
There is not a fraction of mo-
ment's delay when the last case gets
aboard. Long before everything has
been made finally ready. The ship in
the pink of condition Sc gun-run-
ming ship. The tug that is to tew her
down has already crawled up and
made fast My trucks have vanished
one by one as quickly as possible. |
and my assistants creep away by diff
ferent streets the moment we see our
ship out in the stream. Our work is
over.
The vessel has been chartered
somewhere In the south. She has
brought up in her hold, and has not
unloaded, many bamboo sticks. After
she has been out several days the
crew are set busy. Now comes one OF
the important things for which they
are hired. They break open the boxes
OF guns one by one and separate the
barrels from their stocks. The stocks
go down In the skin OF the snip,
where they would never be found II
she should be overhauled and
searched. The barrels are slipped into
the bamboo sticks. In the same way
the boxes of ammunition are broken
open and all their contents stored
away little by little In the bags OF
corn and salt that make up what
seems to be the cargo.
THE crew has done this many times
before, and when the job, which takes
only three or four days II the weather
isn't nasty, is done II would take an
experienced man, one who had done
any 9mount OF gun-running on his own
account, to perceive that there was
anything wrong, There are plenty OF
extra bags aboard, of course, to hold
the overflow OF salt and corn, and Just
before the ship reaches her destina.
tiou the stocks OF the guns are taken
out OF the ships skin and packed
away In these bags. along with the
innocent products.
Sometimes by arrangement the
vessel makes a landing at some de.
serted point along the shore at night,
and the cargo is taken of in boats. In
that event mules and reyolutionists
will have been hidden near that SPOT
for days and the beach patrolled sys.
tematically waiting for signals. This
is often a very good way But often,
II enough OF the custom officials can
be "fixed" or there are enough sym.
pathizers TO make 1t safe, landing is
made boldly at regular port and the
cargo taken out calmly and coolly.
Just as If II really was what Il pre-.
tended TO be-
New York Is a goc. .field, for it's
a pleasant place to stay and spend
your money between Jobs. Not all gun.
runners have their lines cast 30 agree
ably. I've been In many a wretched
hole for months In small towns on
the frontiers or exposed in the open
country, where had to endure eyeyy
sort Of misery. II is not so very long
ago that superintended for weeks at
time the carrying OF guns across
the Rio Grande on RATS. We would
load the raft as deep as safety per.
mitted and then men would swim
alongside OF 1t. ferrying the guns over
In this primitive fashion"