Weekly journal-miner., 1918-04-17
NEEDLES, CAL. IS NOW IN RANKS
 OF DRY TOWNS
CITY WHICH s U P P L E D HALF OF THE BOOTLEG WHISKY BROUGHT INTO ARIZONA, FALLS VICTIM TO CRUSADE OF PROHIS
(From Thursdays Daily)
Needles has gone dry.

NcculCS ndS gone uIN.
 The California city situated just across the Arizona line dealt Col. J.
 Barlcycorn death blow at the wet and dry election held there on Tues day, and thereby put sizablc crimp into the bootlegging trade which since January l, 1915, has flourished practically uninterrupted in this sup posedly dry commonwealth of Ari- zona Nearly fifty per cent of the illicit shipments of booze which have found their way into Arizona since the State went dry have, according ! to county officials, originated in Needles. and this rum-ridden village i in San Bcrnardino county has shared the questionable honor with Gallup, ! \. NJ. one of the last strongholds of the demon rum in the far west, of being the principal supply points | for the booze blockade runners who | choose to operate in the northern part of the State. Practically all Of ' the bootleg whisky which reached Prescott in job lots came either from ! Needles or Gallup. and with Needles dry and Gallup to go dry next Oc- tober. the bootleggcrs have taken out their pencils and started the indoor sport of figuring out where their fu- turc supplies of nose paint arc go- | ing to come from. Utah, on the north, is bone dry, and even manyana land to the south is dry or nearly SO,
 consequently the whisky merchant who hopes to deliver cargo Of the merry muscilagc into Arizona will have to make arrangements to haul it a long way, increasing propor- tionatcly his chances of being caught, and bringing him face to face with the possibility of cntangling with the authorities of any one of the three adjoining States through which he and his booty will have to travel.
 Kingman Cops Were Busy
 The cops in the Kingman and Oat- man districts have been having one magnificent parcel of grief on their hands ever since the booze caravan route was laid out from the Califor- nia town into Nohave county. So bothersomc did the gun runners and their liquid importaiions become that the supervisors of Mohave county made arrangements to place police men at the Arizona end of the inter
 State bridge which crossed the Colo rado river at Topock. The officers had the privilege of giving all cars the once over as they came into this State, and this plan for a time put a quietus on the activities of the booze brigade, but in a short while the bootleggers began 10 cross the river at out-of-the-way lords and ferries, and the bridge guards found themselves out of a job. During the boom days of Oatman so many gal | Ions of rcd eye came into that camp that the officers threw up their hands in despair, il is said, and gave up all efforts to stop the whisky trade. In October, l9l6, however, a crew of Los Angeles detectives got in some work among the Oatman boys, and nearly 40 of them were sent to jail. After this the bootleggers became q little more subtle in their methods and Mohavc county became the chief port of entry for all wet goods routed to Prescott and points south.
 How'll We Get It?
 However. with Arizona facing pronounced dryncss on all four of its boundaries, and being more or less dry itself, persons in touch with the ins and outs of the bootlegging trade state that the only solution of the
 problem" of getting wet goods into the State lies in the long-haul And when the long-haul is put into effect, the honest whisky merchant of course cannot longer afford to sell his pint bottles of lizard extract for the trihing sum of $500, but will be com pellcd to at least double the price if he is forced to import it from such far-away points as Los Angeles or Fl Paso Should the entire United States go dry, moonshining may be- come as popular out in the adjacent hills as it is down in G'orgia or Ala bam. and potting revenue officers may in time become one of the popular amuscments of the far west. And when the whole U. $. is dry, it isn't very likely that any entcrprising booze merchant will take a chance of tangling with Uncle Sam's GUS toms officials on the south border by attempting to bring it in from the wet districts oi the so-called sister republic. There doesn't seem to be | q loop hole left, and as the thirsty scribe sits at his table and pounds ! his Underwood typewriter, he fails utterly to sec any solution of the . problem, that is after the next year or so when everything is dry It would seem that the good old days , when it could be said of man that he was a scholar, gentleman and q