The Brattleboro daily reformer. (Brattleboro, Vt.) 1913-1955, 1922-08-09
FLORIDA LIQUOR
PIRATES ACTIVE
Their Escapes Exceed Those
of Morgan, Kidd and
Company
GASOLINE MOTORS
EXCEL SAIL EXPLOIT

Rum Running Ships Robbed With Inn
punity Because They Are Lawbreakers
and Dare Not Squeal = Negro Master
Shot on One Ship.
MIAMI. Florida. Aug. O. Associated
Press. when Bobby HES himself to
the hayloft or crawls under the house
and in wide eyed wonder persues a pa
per-backed chronicle of Morgan. Cap
tain Kidd and other gentry who roamed
the seas under the jolly Roger, he usu-
ally expresses regret that he did not
live a century or two ago so he could
have Joined the adventures.
The boy may not know it, but the sea
royers are on the job again and the esea-
pades Of liquor pirates off the south
eastern coast of Florida and in the Ba-
hamas, if recorded in a book, might
cause Bobby to regard Morgan. Kidd and
company with less awe Morgan and
Kidd were forced to depend upon sails
for motive power but the modern pirate
has a gasoline motor and puts to sea
in boat that viii move faster than any
sailing vessel ever built
He overhauls a liquor runner, holds it
up, steals all, or as much of its cargo
as his vessel viii carry. waves his hand
TO the luckless owner and disappears to
hand his loot at some unfrequented
cove on the Florida coast. Others have
landed on small keys in the Bahamas
where cargoes of liquor for rum runners
have been assembled, and raided the
warehouses.
Smugglers Make No Complaint
Official reports of piracy have not
been frequent. The liquor smugglers
who have been held up at sea charge the
occurrence to profit and loss and make
no complaint because they are law
breakers themselves. The pirates ma
turaily do not tell about their operations
but numerous stories of hold-ups and
robberies leak out through underground
sources and there is every indication
that prohibition officers are not the only
people he liquor runners are constantly
on the lookout for.
Hanford Mobely. s. held in jail at
West Palm Beach as one of the four
men charged with The robbery of the
Bank Oh Stuart, at Stuart, Fla. several
months ago. also has a piracy charge
hanging over him. just what part he is
believed to have taken in a sea hold-up
the federal authorities have not stated
but they have announced that if Mobley
was granted his liberty on bail. or was
acquitted of The robbery charge, he |
would be arrested Immediately on a |
federal warrant charging piracy
Latest Piracy Report
The most recent case of alleged pi- |
racy to be made public officially resulted |
in the shooting to death of George Edge |
comb, Negro master of the British /
schooner William III. Albury, at Cat /
Key. in the Bahamas short distance |
from here, and the theft of between (
= 900 and IS 900 from the vessel. The |
IL ,oy T,,T~r
according to British officials. has been +
engaged in the rum carrying trade be-
tween the Bahamas and Jamaica. Dody I
Carey. cashier aboard the Albury, was
sent to Miami by the British commits
sioner at Bimini. to tell the story of the I
hold-up to the British yice-eonsul and
state and federal officials here
The Albury was at anchor at Cat Key,
Carey said. when an auxiliary schooner
said to be the Falcon appeared. Three
men were aboard the Falcon and after
they boarded the Albury and
Captain Edgeeomb they wished /
to purchase cargo of liquor. They
were entertained bv EdgecoTb during
the forenoon while the crew piled 81 900 I
worth Of liquor on deck to be transferred
to tbs Falcon. according to the account.
STEELE Ships cash.
AT noon the Albury's crew except
Edgeeamb ard Carey went below. Carey
WAS B1iklKg on MS DOCKS III MS sJdte-
room when one of the visitors appeared.
pointed a pistol at him and ordered him
to hand over what cash he had Carey
gave him more than 50 900 The other
visitors in the meantime had gone below
and covered the Albury's crew with piss
tolls Edgecomb was nacing the deck
within view of the cabin when one of
he men saw him. The master was or
aered to enter but seeing the pistol
turned his back A shot was fired and
the captain fell dead
The crew of the Albury then was
ocked in the cabin and the visitors de
parted The prisoners. Carey said. re-
gained their liberty within few mo-
nents
The Falcon. which had baen absent
rom Miami several DAYS havino bow
oaned BIZ it's owner. - 3 man said 10
florida peniteptlsrv. wac found at her
a. ! =