The Birmingham age-herald., 1922-01-22
MAL|GNED BIMINI
 IN ARMS AGAINST
 US. DRY OFFICERS
Wet Little Island Suffers Greatly Because Liquor Is So Plentiful in the
 United States
By GRENyILLE BROWN Special Dispatch to The Age Herald (Copyright, 1929, by The Age Herald)

Special Dispatch to The Age-Herald
 Copyright. 1922. by The Age -Herald)
 Bimini, Bahama Island, January 21. (Ry Asroplane to Miami. Fla.l-The little island of Bimini---a bit of coral thread five miles long and about 200 yards wide--is up in arms against the American prohibition enforcement of- ficers.
 Bimini has been held up to public scorn as the haven of the bootlesger and the starting point of most of the rum-running expeditions which dash for the Florida coast under cover of the velvety tropical darkness which marks the gulf stream nights. Bi- mini calls herself misunderstood and mAligned.
 Bimini was not designed as a means of violating the American Volstead act. Bimini was organized to bene- fit from the strict enforcement of the volstead act and Blmini today favors enforcement to the last dotting oftan ~i" or the crossing of a 't." Yet Bi- mini has had evil fame in tho Amer ican newspaper. Bimini has become a reformer's byword and has even suffered the ignominy of being pratt tied about in popular song.
 It's Wet, All Right
 Oh. yes, Bimini Is wet. There Is an alcoholic scent in the breeze as it rattles through the topmost leaves of the towering cocoanut palms. Bi- mini Is wet almost to the point of saturation. Unlimited supplies come TVnv v,H r.YA nd s50o,oo0 worth of "red licker' from America was shipped here just be- fore the Volstead act took effect. A couple of people went to jail in con- neetion with the shipment but the whisky came under the protection of the British flag here and here 1t has remained, waiting for thirsty Amer jeans to come and drink 1t up. But the Americans have not come in any great numbers despite the fact that Bimini is only 70 miles from the Florida coast.
 The answer is plain. Why go to Bimini whom Florida Is soaking wet? Echo answers "why?" Yachting parties have put into Bimini from time to time and hardy adventurers across the gulf stream from Miami in flying boats like the one which stranded week ago on a nearby coral reef. But the great army of the hard drinkers, the old corner saloon bri- gade. have been conspicuous by their absence. Hundreds of thousands of dollars have been invested here in the building of reinforced concrete hotel | and club house. the construction of | docks and the dredging of a shallow water channel. The shareholders in l the Bimini enterprise, however, are | waiting for dryer days in the United | States before they begin to collect any dividends.
 Need Prohibition fn u. ..
 Honest John" Kelly of New York | was here last season running the | Casino with it's costly roulette, faro and other gambling layouts, but he went away shaking his head and saying: "Bimini would be . great placs-tf prohibition ever were en- forced in tho United States"
 Bimini has an embargo on the ex- portation of whisky to the United States, and so far ss one can judge | that embargo is lived up to religious ly. Bimini also prohibits importa- ton of liquor from the United States. | This seems a silly regulation, but | nevertheless. . very grave English | resident commission meets every | boat putting in from America and de- | mands to know if there is any liquor | aboard. The commissioner admits 1t | Is sort of silly question, and all | that sort of thing. but the regulations l of his majesty demand that he ask | 1t and he does--without a smile.
 The secret of the evil fame that | has come to Bimini as a rum run | ming port, lies couple of leagues | southward, where another coral | strip, Gun Key, juts up from the | ocean bed Gun Key has a light house on 1t. and inasmuch as the key | shelters sort of open sea harbor. | where bootlegging thrives in all its 1 sodden glory 1t Is rather appropriate ! that the light from the lighthouse | flashes red at times
 Pirate Days Recalled
 Approaching Gun Key from the | north or east one beholds a verita- ble forest of masts behind the pro- tecting bit of coral rock. Rounding | the headland beyond the lighthouse | you turn into the open harbor and be- | hold a scene suggestive of the old | pirate days The waters are fairly clogged with weather-bsaten two- masted schooners-all heavily laden | with whisky, rum and gin. On the | decks of tho schooners are black | men in dirty white sailor clothes and | broad, picturesque straw hats. They | are British negroes of the West India | Isles.
 About each schooner there cluster | a swarm of little motor boats-long, | low -rakish craft. one might say-and | each one painted battleship gray. The | motor boats load by day and set sail | by night. They run to the Florida | coast without lights and with en- zines so successfully muffled that they slide through the water with little more than a swish" of the parting waves to mark their pas sage. Often the motor boat crews bury their alcoholic treasures off the American coast at a specially sur veyed spot and leave 1t there for | week or more. after they return from their mysterious mission. Then. when | revenue officers are not looking. they | fish up the whisky and gin in sacks | and bear it to the mainland.
 There apparently is no way of breaking up the bargaining and | transfers at Gun Key. The place Is not a port and there are no off cials of the government there except 1 the lighthouse keeper and his daugh- ter. The harbor is in the open sea and the traffic waxes great at this Beason of the year when the thirsty tourists are in Florida.
 Bimtni wants to attract. these tour lsts and if 1t could, would put every Florida bootlegger out of business. But Bimini asks 75 cents for cock tail lover the bar
 York" declared an overseas adven- :Sn why nick