Arizona republican., 1916-01-22
WHEN \ C[EW
 NAS REAL CLEW
It Was a Rope That Led to the Arrest of the Boot leggers Larrabee, Ford and Benson. Held for Trial Yesterday

Irlal ! eSterday
 A clue or a clew is a ball of thread or yarn. By association then, clew may be a ball of several threads l twisted together; that is. it may be q ball or length of rope. Criminals are usually traced by cleWs which are not usually ropes or threads but | the bootlegSers, Larrabee, Ford and Benson were caught here after inn porting two trunks full of Old Tay- Tor by literal clew of rope. Sc far as known q cleW and a rope were never the same in all history and only once nl mythology and that was when Theseus threaded his way through the elaborate Cretan laby- rinth which the architect, Daedalus lad built for King Minos and had guaranteed it to be unsolvable. But Theseus with his clew threaded it. How a rope at last enabled Sheriff Forces of Pima county to thread the mystery of the importation of whis- ky into this state from Lordsburg will hereinafter be related. Larra- bee. Ford and Benson were examined yesterday afternoon before Justice De Souza and were held to the su- perior court in the sum of $1,00G eacn. The whisky in two trunks was re- ceived in Phoenix on January 19, and was immediately removed to 527 East Adams street where it was followed ivy two deputies who had been ap- prised of the character of the impor- tation. The house having been To- cated, Undersheriff Woolf and Depu-- ty Sheriff Murphy later armed with search warrants went to the house opened the trunks and found the bot 1 ties of whisky wrapped in blankets and alfalfa.
 This is the way the shipment was 1 traced from Tucson: Walter Brawner who was on his way to Phoenix was at the depot when the train from the east reached Tucson. Sheriff Forbes was there looking for contraband and saw these two trunks on the train
 and saw that they were checked to Phoenix. He recognized the robe that
 bound them as q peculiar kind of
 rope that had secured tWenty-SiX
 trunks he had seized and had stored. But he had been unable to prove the
 relation between the shipments and
 Larrabee and Ford. though he had no doubt that they were the shippers and consignees. These two men were
 on the train which was bearing the
 trunks He pointed them out to MI. 1 BraWner and told him to watch them. 1 I.arrabee he said was an old rail
 road man and Ford was q gambler.
 He said that they had moved about
 50 rapidly while in Tucson that it
 had been impossible to locate them
 in connection with the shipments. For
 instance they had registered at three hotels within the space of two hours The checks had always passed through so many hands that they could not be traced back.
 The sheriff suspected that the men
 might take the trunks off at Red 1 rock and he entered the train with MT Brawner. When the men did not leave it he came as far as Maj icopa where the trunks were removed. MT.
 Brawner then kept his eye upon them until Deputy Sheriff Murphy came ill from the west when the es- pionage was turned over to him. In
 the meantime it had been learned that
 the check numbers were 503s1 and
 505S2 One of the trunks bore the
 name of Mrs. James Douglas and the
 ether, Mrs. Moore
 The arrest of the men followed the
 identification of the contents of tue
 trunk. Benson was represented i'll
 court yesterday by Attorney Johns
 LarraDee and Ford had no lawyers
 and were depending evidently upon
 their natural shrewdness which had
 enabled them to elude the Pima coun-
 ty authorities. It should be said though
 that though they had escaped capture
 the Pima sheriff must have broke them for a great deal of money can be tied uD in twenty-siX trunks of whisky.
 The state was represented by AS siStant County Attorney Leon Jacobs wno connected the defendants with
 the shipment through the testir.ony of Mr. Brawner, Deputy Sherif'
 Murphy and L. l.. Blankenslip, { mining engineer. who said tina I4arraDee had told him tha he had just received a conslGnmen of wn.ky. Benson said that he ha. had nothing to do with the affair an'
 tfal as soon as ke learned of the sin
 ful practices of his companions h'
 had shaken them. Mr Johns move
 for a severance oe the case but oh' F. lection was raised by the asslstaA
 county attorney tat it was too late
 Mr. Johns withdrew his motion an'
 the case proceeded.
 c Larrabee and Fed denied that the, c had had anything to do With tf' : whisky or that they knew anything n about il until they were oVercom c with surprise when it was discovere' a at the very house where they hap c pened to be stopping.