The New York herald., 1922-03-10
Men Held in Westchester
Seizure Said to Be Leaders
of Bootleg Ring.
AIMING AT FLOATING BAR
Dry Officers Contend Plan OF
Capt. Martin Can Be Halted
by Old Customs Law.

What customs men regard as the
most barefaced attempt to smuggle a
cargo of liquor into New York har-
bor since prohibition ended yesterday
when the two masted fishing smack
Victor was tied up at the Battery and
seals were placed on her matches. Un-
derneath them. sewed in burlap bags,
SIX bottles to the bag, and SO tightly
packed that there was no room for an
extra pint. the customs men found
Scotch and rye whisky with bootleg
value not far from 100000.
Inspector Hokensen's men, cruising
the harbor in a launch soon after
noon. noticed the Victor heading up
the lower bay. She might have been
one OF the smacks that bring their
catches into Fulton Markets. a mat
ter Of fact. the inspectors say she was
formerly a fishing boat-'but there
was an elusive something about the
Victor that prompted the customs men
TO go alongside and ask questions. 1t
certainly wasn't the smell of fresh fish.
Lets see your manifest they shout
cd to the skipper of the smack.
Fisk Aboard, Says skipper.
Haven't got any," he called ba tx.
I'VE just got load of fish"
The inspectors were not satisfied, and
climbed aboard They found three
smoked herrings and a can of sardines
Then they opened the matches and
found the liquor.
William r. Sanders, Deputy Sur
veyor, questioned Charles Brown, the
captain. and his brother. Thomas, wh5
had shipped as engineer. The captain
said his home was in Forty third street,
Brooklyn. According to Mr.. Sanders
Capt. Brown told how he had been en-
ployed several weeks ago by man
named Charles Kelly, of whom he knew
nothing more than his name, to take
the Victor down to the Bahamas.
He lay off an inlet of the islands sew
cral days. and one night while he was
asleep in his cabin cargo was put
aboard. When the captain awoke the
next morning and saw the burlap bags
he thought they contained cocoanuts.
He was then ordered to sail north inn
mediately TO point off the Nantucket
lightship.
Sails Badly Torn in Gales.
The captain said that they ran into
some nasty weather coming UP the
coast and that his sails were almost
torn away. Two days before they
reached New York, he added, they
started to use their auxiliary power,
and were putting into port here to get
more gasoline.
On the deck OF the smack was a
motor launch with a New York license.
probably intended to take the liquor
ashore on the way up to Nantucket
THE Victor originally hailed from
Gloucester and later from New York.
Capt. Brown, his brother and three
members of the crew are being held. An
investigation was begun by J. Holley
rIark and Frank A. McGurk, Assistant
United States Attorneys. Prohibition
headouarters was notified, and Agents
Van Tassel, Mead and Carson took
Ner the cargo 1t viii be removed TO a
Government warehouse in Brooklyn to-
day.
whisky Made In Baltimore.
A large part OF the liquor. according
to the inspectors, was stuff of domestic
manufacture which had been shipped
from Baltimore TO the Bahamas in 1920.
1aDt. AEtOn Aitutlcoiif NhaNA - r'P'NtF'
Matt Harris, Clyde Melville, Christ Rich
ardson. George Hanson and Arthur
Baker caught a few days ago when un-
loading 1900 burlap bags OF whisky
from two barges in Westchester Creek,
we're arraigned yesterday before United
States Commissioner Hitchcock. who
held Anderson and Spiros In $4,000 ball
each. and the others in $1,000 bail each.
Assistant United States Attorney Nc
Gurk said Anderson and Spiros are ring
leaders in the rum running game. He
asserted Anderson is wanted in Brook
lvn for Illegal operations last fall con-
Quoted with the schooner John Suily OF
Sheepshcad Bay.
dispatch from Washington yester-
day stated that Prohibition Commits
sioner Haynes is giving attention to the
means OF preventing Capt. James v.
Martin from establishing his proposed
floating bar somewhere beyond the three
mile limit out from New York. Prohibi-
tion authorities say an old customs law
would enable them to put such a bar
out or commission Immediately.