Evening star., 1922-04-23

The others all got away. but the
| cargo of whisky was confiscated.
| No sooner had communication been
| established with headquarters than
| word came that another shipment
was being unloaded in the East river.
| Sending the wounded prisoners 10 a
hospital, in charge Of police officers.
| the agents rushed across lower New
York.
HERE another battle took place.
IL One thousand cases of whisky
| were being unloaded from freighter
belonging to one of the well known
| American steamship companies en-
gagged in the South American and
West Indian trade.
The bootleggers. after putting up
a stiff battle, during which more
than 200 shots were fired. took refug"
in a sailors boarding house. They
barricaded the door. 1t was prompt
" battered down. Three were cap
tured out of fifteen, but only after
tsthey had been knocked unconscious
with billies.
Another avenue of approach to New
York which bothered us greatly was
that of the state highways leading
south from the Canadian border. Here
high-powered automobiles piled their
traffic at night. loading their ma
chimes to capacity with Canadian
| liquor.
| A wealthy upstate New Yorker
who owned a large farm complained
! to Washington that the bootleg traf-
| fc over his estate was getting SO
large as to become a nuisance. The
| thoroughfare through his grounds
was lightly travelled and the bootleg
gers had chosen it as means to cir
cumvent customs officials and agents
who watched the main highways.
I received instructions from Wash
ington to proceed north. l took -FOUR
men with me and was soon in the
field 1 met with opposition from
many minor officials of the state ana
government and was led to believe
that my presence up there was un-
necessary and superfluous.
was hindered in more ways than
one. A sheriff, after learning 1 was
| there following the arrest and con-
fscation of a large quantity of whis-
ky. became very peeved and wanted
to know why / hadn't informed him
of my intended operations.
livery night we stationed our
IL selves in an advantageous spot
along the highway. One could hear
| the heavy putting Of the automobils4
| far in the distance. This always sils
nified they were loaded to- the hubs
| with bottles. Also the clink OF the
glass as the bottles ratified was an
other sign of liquor as they came
along. While we stopped one to con-
fscate his load. another would come
tearing by as fast as he could make
the automobile go. Two out OF every
twelve would be filled with good and
bad Canadian whisky, champagne.
gin or some other alcoholic beverage.
| Once we heard the putting of a car
as it came along, and prepared TO nag
Lit. Coming to a stop about twenty
feet away, the driver suddenly step
ned on. the accelerator and shot by W
| a
and could hear the bottles clinking
as he hit bumps. Our speedometer
registered sixty eight miles an hour.
Our driver miscalculated turn in
the road, it being very dark, and
ditched us. Fortunately none was
hurt. The bootlegger got away.
The following night we captured
big touring car containing $50 quarts
of Scotch. The rear seat had been re-
moved, making room for the liquor.
But we had a fight.
| We signaled the driver to stop. He
stepped on the gas and shot by us
shooting at us as he did SO. We fol-
lowed, firing at his rear tires. A lucky
shot punctured one and he slowed
down. Two men were seen to leave
the car and run into the timber at
the side of the highway. They dis
appeared, firing as they went. We
took the big car into a town close by
and confiscated the liquor.
X y r --
WHEN the matter came up in tho
w local court man appeared to
claim the automobile. stating that 1t
mad been stolen from him some days
before. He was a former saloonkeep-
er in the community and was SUE
pected of whisky running. His story
| was SO flinsy that the judge refused
his plea and ordered the car con-
fiscated. There is little doubt that he
was one of the occupants of the car
a few nights before whom we had
seen running into the wood. but. OF
course, we were unable to prove it.
Right alongside Of the highway
, where weirwere operating was Lake
champlain. Here motor boats were
Lalso carrying on wholesale business.
! but as we already had more than We
could do we let them go unmoiested.
1 And yet it goes ON. We have net
begun to stop the bootlegging trah.i'