The Bemidji daily pioneer. [volume] (Bemidji, Minn.) 1904-1971, 1919-03-01
rum RUNNERS
MEET ROMANCE
IN SMUGGLING
TO MICHIGAN |
Operators ingenious and Oar.
ing to Circumvent Forces
Of the New Lew Il Il Z. .&z.
LAW vIOLAToRS HEAVILY
ARMED WITH WEAPONS
Padded Chairs Contain Booze,
Book Cases, Cars Of "Ce-
ment," Auto Tires, Kits
{By United Press. J

Detroit, Mich, March, IA col
orful chapter in the history Of pro-
hibition is being written by numer-
GUS daring bands Of whiskey- snug
glers operating in Michigan.
Their attention in .centefed princi-
pally on Detroit. 49, g..
Smuggling whiskey into the state
today is not the, crude, haphazard
business it was when Michigan went
dry, last May. Brains, daring and in
genuity are necessary to circumvent
the forces engaged in enforcing the
dry laws. =. <.@ g. Il. !
The principal source Of supply for
Detroit and vicinity is Toledo, o.
Two good automobile roads connect
the cities. Along these roads at the
Michigan-O Ohio border and at Mon
roe, Michigan, q stopping off point
between the cities, the state consta-
bulary, deputy sheriffs and agents of
the state pure food and drugs bureau
are nobilized in force. 4, 4,@
Exciting Night Races. ..
They daily intercept automobiles
laden with liquor, Some Of them
they capture. How many get by un-
deteced is prob blematical. Not a
night passes without leaving its tale
of exciting races through the dark.
Anywhere from one to four wrecked
automobiles are found in the bitches
BY the. road satufatsd with their ifls
fated cargoes. 8 = s ..S II. 3,t :;
Practically every weapon known to
war, except poison gas and howitzers,
is to be found in the snuggler's ar
senal. Clubs, revolvers, knives, rifles
blackjacks; shotguns, rocks, slugs Of
iron and bottles are used. ~
~ Offices Are Attacked. ), 7
r.. Officers peering into freight cars
in search Of contraband have been
pounded with clubs, beaten with
tblackiacks, stabbed, shot at and
otherwise discouraged. Booze run
ners often smuggled themselves and
their goods into freight cars, under
piles Of material in the hope Of evad-
ing detection, and always fight with
every weapon lat hand to" escape ar
rest and jail. MI -. X @.
90, The automobile, Ndaiskey smugglers
often work inassquads, one machine
acting as a scouts car, well in advance
of the main body, to discover traps
or draw the pursuit, Conveys of
this type bring in anywhere from l.
900 OF 5000 quarts of whiskey in
one trip. At current prices the value
of the larger amount would be close
to $4,000. .s5 ~-@''s.-. r
..- Use ,Camouflage. = ~.
individuals. travel daily between
nctroit and Toledo and seek to sn1up-
gle back few quarts for home con-
sumption. They use suit cases with
false bottoms, hot water bottles,
capacious pockets and double COM
partment cans. Women have been
known to carry girdle of whiskey
bottles about their waists, under
interurban cars thoroughly. is.
'S@E Automobile owners make use 3of
practically every part of their cars
to smuggle in a supply Of drinkables.
Camoufaged tires and inner tubes
succeeded for a while, but the police
found a leaky one and now all tires
and tubes are examined. Tops with
double Innings, tool kits, hollow seats.
extra, gas tanks, special compart-
ments built around the motor hollow
doors and other parts of the machine
were successful in the early stages,
but today they are hopeless.
Probably the most successful OF
the rum runners are those who use
the railroads. They operate on a
large scale, risking carloads of liquor
at a throw. The whiskey comes
buried in piles of vegetables, stuffed
into piailo- cases and shipped as fur
niture, bibles, ink, rags, oil and a
hundred other common commodities.
Chairs Booze Stuffed.
A carload of huge, padded arm
chairs arrived from Chicago and an
inspector noticed the wrapper of ex-
celsior on one chair appeared to be
damp. One of the bottles inside the
upholstering had broken. A car of
cement yielded several hundred cases
of whiskey. Leaking cases of books
and other non-leakable articles often
announce the real nature of ship
merts.
Other cities in the state offer a
good market, but Detroit is the recog-
nized ready market where good
prices obtain and the huge quantities
of wet goods disappear like SO much
rain in the desert. The margin OF
profit is great. The ewhiskey, pur-