Capital journal. (Salem, Or.) 1919-1980, 1922-11-06
UNIQUE METHODS
| USED BY UNCLE
/ SANS DRY MEN

washington, Nov. 6. - Buyers
!, bootleg whiskey visiting the
,.unts of bootleggers may be buy.
,pg from government agents.
The answer is that the govern
nont is planting" its enforce
ment operatives in the BOOTLEG
headquarters.
Federal agents are adopting va
lied DISCUSSES. They appear as
huns entering some strange town
Thev are taken in by the boot
,ogs who are moved not by pity,
MI by the selfish purpose to use
the alleged bum as a tool to
nalm off their wares.
The "bum" later turns UP in
the headquarters Of the state pro-
bibition director, with records and
charts that offer the key to the
bootlegging industry in the sec
tions covered by their operations.
Hotel bootlegging has been cur
tailed by another very shrewd
method Of the enforcers. Govern
ment agents, skilled in the art OF
crime detection and wise to the
WAYS of the bootlegs, suddenly
show up in the most fashionable
bostelries. They are for the time
heing gentlemen of leisure, with
lots of money to spend and with
lavish programmes of enterta :
ment for their friends.
A hotel guest, on the law OF
averages, can muster a big flock
Of guests, without much advance
notice, by a pronouncement that
ne is to have a rum party" The
"boys" fall over each other get
ting in on the big time. The al
legged wealthy host, who has
blown in from some more or less
indlstinct manufacturing centre"
Is none other than rum raider.
He gains the confidence of the bell
boys, the porters and the walters
by his profligate demeanor. He
flashes rolls Of banknotes with
reckless abandoni. The tip goes
around the hotel that new
Sucker" has arrived. He's the
"fall guy" think these smart
young fellows who are lying
around waiting to make easy coin
On the liquor clean-ups.
The prosperous gent, who idles
around with lots Of cash, buying
dynamic drinks for the crowd
gathered about him in his suite
Of ornate rooms, stays long enough
to get the goods and soon disap-
is not quarrelsome about pay. He
but with the stuff that will be
used as a basis for indictments.
Battle Of Wits
In the war on illict distilling
In rural districts operatives have
been put to their wits ends. The
rural dweller may look the un-
suspeCting part, but agents have
found him the wisest type of
bird yet encountered. It's a joke
among government agents them
selves that the corn likker" ex-
pert would rather take shot at
them with his musket than go to
q festival.
Your prohibition raider there
fore adopts the simplest ways
known to men. He migrates sud-
denly to the country, with a two
weeks growth of beard, and seeks
on humble job in a region suspect
cd Of being a moonshine center.
He will do any handy thing and
Is mt quarelsome about pay. He
appears as an honest-looking man
wanting work and needing it bad
" Sometimes he ventures into the
dangerous fastnesses of the noun
tain districts. Sometimes he does
not come out alive. But that is
another story. The odds are in his
laVor that with caution he will
eyentually emerge with the proof
mat the government wants.
The disguises adopted in the
nunt for liquor makers and VEN
aors are as humorous as the brands
q cheap concoctions that are be-
ing peddled under the name OF
''whiskey." The net result is that
llcit liquor making is growing
% be a mighty precarious pastime.
u is not doubted that its profits
lor the liquor distiller are great
while the going is good but when
me hands of the law fall upon