Every evening, Wilmington daily commercial., 1918-08-16
SLACKERS SEIZED
ON OCEAN PIERS
At ATLANTIC CITY
Four Hundred u. S. Agents
and Local Police Make
Clean Sweep.
CALL ON ALL FOR CARDS

Atlantic City, y. j., Aug. l6.-Hun
dretls of draft eligibles were arrested herr
last night by Secret Service men and
American Protective League members
from Philadelphia and a dctal OF sixty
Atlantic City policemen after raid
ON the four piers.
Arrangements for the raid were made
at a conference held here last Saturday,
attended by Mayor Bacharach, Todd
Daniels, agent of the Department of
Justice; local police officials and MEM
bers of the Protective League.
Sealed orders" for the ralding party
were distributed. with instructions that
they should be opened last night; and
In order to prevent Atlantic City men
beng caught accidentally without their
cards, as was the ease with 800 Phil
Rdelphians recently at Shihc Park,
Philadelphia. notices were posted through
out the city giving warning that all men
without their cards were liable to arrest
at any time.
RAIDERS TOLD NOT TO BE ROUGH.
Secret Service men and league mem
bcrs who numbered 100, left Philadel
phia at 5 clock yesterday afternoon IN
about ninety automobiles. They ar
rived here about s o'clock. and imue-
diately gathered at municipal office for
final Instructions Among other things
the men were told
Courtesy ard diplomacy you will
find your best weapons IN handling this
work, and no man should resort To strong
arm, methods unless Of course, he meets
with resistance. which should he handled
with sufficient force to offset the resist
ance This league has high moral and
I'll ctorIo-f{ -, toI anI
Ders should never lose sight Of this fact
In other words. handle these people
as YOU yourself would like 10 behandlcd
under similar circumstances. They are
not criminals and will work with you il
you will be decent IN handling them.
SWEEPING THE PIERS
Quietly and in small groups the men
went to the vicinity Of the four piers
At 10 o'clock the police officers took
their stations and the men from the
Department Of Justice and their as
sistants began the work In each case
"a large squad under the direction Of
q captain and three heutenants went
to the ocean end Of the pier, where they
formed solid line. with q rear-guard to
keep back those who were passed through,
and then walked forward. sweeping ali
persons without proper classification cards
10 the front end Of the pier, where they
were gathered AT 4 prearranged place
Men possessing full knowledge Of the
draft laws had previously been selected
as judges. and they took their stations 1t
the entrance to the piers and the eimi-
nation process began
Those who had their classification cards
with them were released Immediately
those who gave satisfactory proof that
they were properly registered and cIassi-
ticd and had their cards at home had an
opportunity 10 get in touch with their
friends in order to have their cards
brought to them; and, finally, those who
were unable 10 furnish such proof or
produce cards were Immediately placed
in automobiles and taken to the armory.
10 be held for further investigation and
such disposition of their cases IS the De
partment Of Justice may see ii 10 make
of them