New-York tribune., 1921-09-10


torney Collins's aids. The District At
torney personally questioned the cap
tain, John Lamhriadias, Of Athens,
Ireecc. Mr.. Collins said later:
We received underground informa~
Hon some time ago from member Nof
the crew that the King Alexander hnd
been engaged in fragrant smuggling OF
liquor and narcotic drugs. and selling
the cargces on speculation to any one
with money enough to buy the drugs
and liquors.
Had Reinforcements on Land
"without notifying the customs Of
iicials the government narcotic d;vi-
sion and Federal enforcement division
arranged this mornings water raid,
with twenty-five deputy marshals as
sist;ng from the land aide. Ernest l.,
Langley. supervising prohibition en-
forcement agent, went with the raiders.
Narcotic agents Ralph Oyler and
Peter Reager several days ago entered
into deal to buy $4,000 worth Of
drugs. They said they would bring
the money at 8 o'clock ths ,.:.ozfiine,
: sae missing Sabbas Mcntinhs, with
whom they dealt directly. They were
late in getting started so their launch
did not reach the liner until 4:a5. AS
mad been agreed upon, they gave two
flashes from an electric hand lamp.
The answering signal was the lighting
OF a stern port hole. A Jacobs ladder
{ was lowered astern and Oyler, Reager
snd Langley went on deck, where they
were to appraisc the drugs as per
agreement.
"They found the drugs strewn on the
deck and paid over $500 as forfeit
IN ,,Ic
soon as the drugs had been lowered
into their boat. A large number of
the crew were about the deck as were
some of the officers. All seemed to
nave knowledge of what was going on.
The sailors manning the derrick made
It ready to lower the big bags of opium,
liquors and other contraband into the
small boat. Two sacks of opium and
one of liquors had been lowered and
one had fallen into the water and was was
lost when police launch came up out
Of the gloom and. it is said, opened
fire. The police boat, you see, was not
in on the deal.
The Inspector in the police boat saw
through the gloom the bags being low
cred and believed the government men
were smugglers, whom he had caught
In the act. He acted instantly and the
police began firing. This acquainted
the sailors of the slip that they had
been betrayed and they opened fire on
the government mems launch from the
deck.
Caught in Cross Fire
THE government men began TO
scramble up the Jacobs ladder, lowered
over the stern Of the boat, with the
idea of getting out from the police fire
and at the same time prepared to fight
and arrest the entire crew Of the liner
During the cross fire the govern
ment men swinging on their ladder
were plastered against the side Of that
ship like flies while. lead rained around
them The boats side, peppered with
lead. shows the effects of battle now
The shots attracted William F. Nc
Cormack. in charge of the BROOKLYN
narcotic squad. who had been left on
the dock at Columbia Street. lie sum-
moncd twenty-five more men stationed
block away. Mccormack, leading the
way. bowled men over in his path
along the dock as the reinforcements
made for the deck of the ship.
"Ihey found pitehed battle raging.
ing pins and reviewers and the gov
ernment men swinging blackjacks and
splitting lead from fifteen automatics.
The fighting continued for some min
utes, with the government men firing
from whatever shelter they could find.
Finally the crew had enough of it and
backed down the matches.
"The captain of this vessel tells us
that he slept through this fight and
knew nothing about it until his crew
were lined up to await the arrival Of
arabulances and patrol wagons. VIC
arrested everybody and viii weed them
cut. We will hold some as witnesses
ard others as conspirators, while
charges will be meted out as our evil
dence is examined.
I'VE had evidence that the narcotics
end liquors were to be loaded on the
King Alexander at Athens don't
know where they were manufactured
The narcotic people have told nc that
az the drugs seized arc valued at
$1000,00o retail
Before we took possession of the
ship and the drugs and liquors, this
ship had been searched three times by
customs officials. Our tip was that
customs men - certain inspectors on
dock duty-were in on the deal. We
were tipped off after the boat left the
other side.
"The suicide of Fitzpatrick is mys-
te.ry. The boys were all through, and
some one ;\gSssted that Fitzpatrick
10 anu cav. w SdlU All rlgnt ana
started UP the dock with others to get
cup of coffee. He left them to enter
lavatory. They heard two shots and
entered to find him dead. That is all
any one seems to know about it.
Eleven men already have been
charged with conspiracy, and | have
issued blanket complaint for the
whole crew and for Brennan the
watchman.'
Denies Inspectors Involved
Milton j. Jackson, Deputy Surveyor
of the Port, appeared deeply hurt when
1t was said that customs inspectors
had been named by Mr.. Collins as
under suspicion. THAT simply could
not be-, he said. "Mr. Collins does not
know that we have taken drugs and
hquors OFT this boat on two occasions
when we searched it and that we made
three searches and two raids on SEN
tember ], 2 and 8. In one raid we
seized go bottles of cocaine, 12 pack
ages of opium. 272 bottles of LIQUOR, s
cases OF liquor extract and a package
OF mysterious powder which has not
peen analyzed. In another raid we
seized o9o bottles of cocaine. rs Mound a
OF opium, 10 bottles of liquors in II
pags and $50 bottles of liquor in 20
pags. This was taken and rece;nt
given to the Prohibition and Narcotic
squads. narcotic
On our second visit to the boat o,,r
men were almost scaided bv lot ~
stesm which was opened on then, ~ "a
grove them out of the enoino 80, a,,a
me crew said this was an acc;dont