New-York tribune., 1922-01-19
Elusive British Schooner
Forced Into Port After
Collision Off Shore and
600 Cargo Seized
SIO,OOO,OO0 Jersey
Ring Broken Up
S35 Il Week Enforcement,
Man, Living in Luxury,
Headed Liquor Combine

The British auxiliary schooner
Bertha A. arrived Off Quarantine yes
torday morning with a cargo Of I16.O 600
quarts OF whisky conveniently packed
IN burlap bags ready to lower Into
small boats, such as arc rcportoN to
be used in landing liquor from rum
runners
Federal agents have been on the
lookout for her since January in
hopes of catching her inside the three
mile limit, but her putting into port
here ready to be seized came as com
plete surprise. II was not contemplated
by the ships captain until just before
dawn, when his vessel was rammcd by
the British steamer Sheaf Field while
anchored sixteen miles of Highland
Light.
The Bertha AS frceboard was cut
TO tho water line, and all hands had
to be rushed to the pumps TO keep hel
from sinking at once. The captain was
faced with the alternative of going
down with the ship and all his crew
or making for the nearest port to take
his chances of arrest as rum runner
lie chose the latter course, TO thc man
lfcst satisfaction of the revenue men
who have been patrolling the coast
with faint hope Of breaking up his al
legged operations.
Tip From Baltimore
The tip that the schooner was due
here to land cargo of liquor camc
from Baltimore January i, with the
charge that the Bertha A. had landed
large consignment on the Maryland
coast on her last visit to these parts
carly in December, and that New YORK
was her unofficial destination on thi:
cruise.
Ostensibly she was a ship i'm distress
bound from West End, Great Bahama
to st. Johns, New Brunswick, when she
put in here yesterday. But Maj or Johr
Holley Clark jr., the Assistant Unitee
States District Attorney who is han
ding the case, thinks it somewhat ex
traordinary that on such course as
that she should have anchored so nea1
the New Jersey coast. The schooner's
captain explained that he had hee1
blown far to the west by recent storms
Major Clark said that he had heart
OF no recent eastery gales.
The schooner was boarded upon hel
arrival off Quarantine by revenue
agents. Charles Lake, the captain;
Victor Mattson, first mate, and the
twelve members of the crew were land
ed and taken to the Federal Building
while the schooner and her $500 00(
cargo were seized and placed in dr.,
TT,
repairs.
The Bertha A. was transferred from
American to British registry late ir
1921, and the government claims tc
have evidence showing that she be.
longs to the rum feet which included
the Gully, the Marshall, the Arcthusa
and other schooners in connection with
whose operations Mccoy, the Gullys
and five others are facing trial il
Brooklyn. 1t was chiefly in the hope
of getting evidence which would assist
in the conviction of these men that
the sailors were examined by Fedora
prosecutors yesterday.
Seek CIcw to New York Agents
Major Clark, at the close Of the OK
animation, would only say that tho
captain had admitted that he knew
more than he was willing to tell anc
that the mate alone had refused te
talk. The captain, it was learned, was
signed on here for the cruise, and the
District Attorney believes that this
may lead to clew to the identity oil
the New York agents Of the alleged
rum-running ring.
A technical complaint charging
transporting liquor in violation of the
Volstead act was drawn against the
captain by Deputy Customs Surveyor
w. r. Sanders. He was arraigned be
fore Judge John G. Knox in the Dis
trict Court and released in $1,000 bail
all that was asked by the government
for "a hearing tomorrow morning
Major Clark said that more serious
charge probably would be preferred
later, involving the alleged smuggling
in Maryland An attempt may be made
to remove Lake to Baltimore to face
trial there, or conspiracy charge
connecting New York with the last tr1r
of the schooner may be drawn.
The mate was released in $50O bal
Continued on page ssven)