The New York herald., 1922-02-20

! Is authority in this admlXture. IL
J fetches results and it costs the whisky
runner only s12 a case. His invest
ment is smaller. his losses the same II
he is caught and he gets tie same old
price in the States-anywhere from
$50 TO $110 case. There is money in
this business.
whisky Is Not All.
This account of the alcoholic trail
from here TO the Gulf ports has to dc
with whisky only, simply because
whisky constitutes about 80 per cent
of the stuff carried. The quantity OF
Bacardi rum is relatively small They
are making gin in the States as
quickly and as expertly as they can
make it here. so gin doesn't figure in
! this article.
! II was a captain on a tug In New
! York Bay just before l came here to
Havana" said one of the most daring
of the rum runners. MY experience
at sea is broad. / knew the Gulf as
well as / came to know tie harbor at
New York. I had a little money and
left New York for Key West early in
1921. A friend Of mine tipped me Off
to what was going to happen.
II had enough to charter a forty
foot powerboat but not enough to get
load of booze here in Havana. So /
came to Havana anyway and began
casting about for stake. 1 went to
one of the big rectifiers here and asked
him to stake me. He turned me down
and another American saved my life.
He took me aside and said:
Say. YOU need money, don't you?'
You said it, 1 replied.
"'All right he answered, come with
me-
II went and what do you think he
staked me to-"
"What?"
Fifteen Chinks," replied the booze
runner. He gave me fifteen China
men to haul over to Tampa at $4O0
head. l might have got $500 head
for them but I needed money and was
willing to cut rates. That netted me
Sc, 900.
Il came back to Havana and bought
booze and I've been running it ever
since. Now and then carry a Chinlx
or few Europeans because it's good
business but booze is my standby. A
lot of us Americans in this business
were pinched when the Cuban banks
went under but 1 never trusted these
Central American financial institu
tions. l did my banking in the States
through my son.
"Is your son in business with you?"
"Oh, yes; he's my American repre-
sentative. He gets the orders and I
fill them"
No Bother over Ports.
These whisky runners are not ham,
pered by port regulations as they are
in Nassau. In the Bahamas there is
but one port of clearance and that's
Nassau. Here there are several. Fur
thermore Cuba Is larger than any or
all the Bahamas and naturally the
business of losing oneself here is cas-
ier. In Nassau there is a bother of
getting false papers and making false
clearings with false declarations.
There is nothing like that in Cuba.
Every day you may see motor trucks
numbering out Of Havana to points
4
of this city, Each is heavy with
whisky. You can so to any whole
saler and buy anything you want. He
does not care what you do with it. If
you are going to run it into the States
you ship your stuff out of town to the
cove that you are making your port
and -.
"Papers?" laughed one OF the run
ners. What for? All we need is the
hooch in the boat and we're off,"
Practically all the rum runners are
Americans. The other day your COR
respondent was down in Reina street
with one of the oldest of them.
when are you going TO New York;"
the old fellow demanded.
''I don't know, yet" was the reply,
"Why?"
"Well, I've just been talking to one
of the biggest distillers here and he
has made me a proposition that re-
quires help. He has at his disposal,
between two and three hundred thou
sand gallons of cane alcohol-proof
spirits, mind you-and he has given
me an option on it.
'He offers it to me for thirty cents
a gallon. What do you have to pay
for medicated alcohol in the States?'
you can buy 1t in the drug stores
retail for about SO a quart" hazarded
the reporter.
Cane Alcohol.
well, l can get pure cane alcohol
for 80 cents 900 gallons
OF 1t and what am / going to do with
It? IL you want to make some money
connect me with some one in New
York who can handle it. / can get a
three masted schooner at moments
notice and I'll take the stuff up myself
All want to know is how to dispose Of
it and what would you do about it?"
That's somewhat out of your line,
isn't it?"
"Yes, replied the old chap. 1--WE
| made a neat pile running stuff across
the Gulf, and I'm going to make much
more. But this looks like a cleanup
and I'd like to make a hundred thou
sand dollars at a clip"
There is another industrious runner
down here who used to conduct a sa-
loon on Third avenue, New York.
II tried running my gin mill after
prohibition set in" he explained, ''and
was pinched. The Grand Jury failed
| to indict me, and I started ND again.