The Richmond Virginian. (Richmond, Va.) 1910-1920, 1919-12-12

UUnl u sLILHU
| Continued from Page One)
!
and abstaining people were misied
| by these 'bootlegger" lies--unti
! never perhaps in the history OF the
state were men SO slandered, vilified
| and abused az the brave gentlemen
who. at the hazard Of their own
! lives were striving and daring 10
protect the people of Virginia from
a traffic which they had ostracised
! The newspaper attacks were utterly
; reprehensibie for often the propagan-
dists knew better but propaga ted
these attacks merely TO break the
/ morale Of the department by intirnid-
ating ard discredting the inspectors
ana Tor The purpose of destroying
the department.
/ 4n .the Inidst-o these trying times
| / am greatly indebted to Honorable
Josephus Daniels, secretary of the
/ navy. who placed at the disposal OF
| the department submarine chaser
| of the United States navy TO patrol
the waters of Chesapeake Bay and
! Hampton Roads, and the presence
OF that vessel in those waters had Il
very happy effect in destroying the
traffic in Eastern Virginia cities and
counties Ivy small vessels, who first
threw their cacgocs overheard to
| avoid arrest and finally desisted in
their attempts to run this blockade.
In blockadinls- the railroads. diff
ticult task confronted us Hundreds
perhaps thousands OF bootleggers'
undertook to bring whiskey by the
Richmond. Fredericksburg and Po-
tomac railroad into Virginia At
nearly every station on the Chesa-
peake and Ohio. llorfoIk and
Western. Southern and Richmond.
Fredericksburg and Potomac rail-
roads ''bootieggers" sailed forth to
profit by this local demand. From
the. larger towns they. were more
numerous and from each city there
WIS a multitude but every one. no
natter where he started from. must
return over the bridge at Alexandria
over the Richiaond. Frederic k sburg
and Potomac tracks There was d
division of counsel among attorneys
as to the rights OF travellers al
though 'bootleggers' and the rights
Of prohibition inspectors to arrest on
these trains. The railroads were I'M
der the United States railroad adj
ministration, the country was at war.
and there were special statutes gov
erning these railroads In a time of
war. These situations made the en-
forcemeht of prohibition al this
strategic point not only hazardous
hut complicated,
+ consulted my own attorneys. the
attorneys for the commonwealth in
some of the counties and cities and
the attorney general Honorable
John r. Saunders, las to our rights to
make arrests in the only way arrests
were possible. They advised me to
get one of the best attorneys In the
state 70 consider the question of our
rights on those trains fully and COM
prehensively. I did SO, and obtained
a very much priced opinion from Il
lawyer OF unquestioned integrity OF
character and acknowledged reputa~
ton for legal acuemen. He had
worked over the. problem and | pro-
co"d"d. Counsel for the United
States railroad administration did
not concede the rights We held hut
they never positively denied them and
the blochade was established. Hun
dralis OF 'bootleggers'' were taken
OFF OF those trains and prosecuted II
Alexandria city or Alexandria county.
and such was efficiency, the discre-
ton and courage OF the inspectors
entrusted with those delicate and
dangerous duties that that traffic was
reduced 10 minimum. There was
friction of course with 'booteggers, -
and on IL few occasions with pas
sengers who were not ''bootleggerJ"
but friction was negligible. Indeed
there was more friction with rail-
road employees. who were either is-
norant of the law or coliusive with
the ''booteggers' than with pas
sengers.
The malicious tales that these
gentlemen had searched ladies ir.
their berths were all exploded and
your exceileucy will recall that the
Gentleman who wrote you of these
ISLANDERS finally wrote your excellence
that they were not sustained by evil
dcnee after a most careful investi-
gatlon which was made.
But for this blockade il is hard r
estimate the decentralization which
would have ensued. Certainly .he
prohibition law would have fallen
into .disreputc.
WnLIAM r.. PAYNE
While this war with the
'bpot!egEers was at it's height.
ono OF tho ablest meu who ever
served in this capacity was shot
dead on February ~. 1919. at
Rosslyn. Virginia, by negro
.hooteisger", This lis the second
man in this department who has
given his life to this cause. And
ir the annals OF prohibition in
this and in other states there mas
nor lived Or died Il Drawer, truer
more conscientious officer than
william f. Payne. His untimely
'eath by murder was a loss TO
department that has not
.supplied~-nor will be. His
he state of Virginia can
no II. Perhaps his name
viii enrolled among
thoc. III. who have made
Virginia $ ~ song and
story. But AZ prohf-
hiionist he had mics, he
was an officer and - had
more enemies, a prohiu. ntfi-
Ger and therefore his ou g
were both numerous and malici-
Gus. out there will always remain
n few friends who admire his
honor and his courage. who will
cherish his memory and defend
his good name.
DANGEROUS TASK
ON HIGH w A Y s
But by far the most dangerous
work ever assigned a mortal man III
the blockade Of the highways over
which in the night time the most des-
ar thnnf f.ppyar&fi Ia. =