Albuquerque morning journal. [volume] (Albuquerque, N.M.) 1903-1926, 1922-10-28
ALICE NEGROES
LOOTED FEDERAL
LIQUOR LOCKER
Two Employees of Postottlce
Building and a Club Por-
ter Are Arrested by Sny-
der and His Men.

Wholesale and systematic steal
ing of confiscated liquor from the
vault in the basement of the AL
buquerque federal building led to
the arrest yesterday by prohibi-
ton enforcement officers under
the direction of Director d. W.
Snyder of Morris Porter, engineer,
and Fl. M. Wilson, janitor, at the
federal building, and John We'd
dington, who is said to have acted
as the agent for the disposal OF
stolen whisky.
All of the men arrested are
colored.
Director Snyder said last night
that marked bottles, containing
whisky stolen from the vault had
been found in the possession OIL
all three of the men. In addition,
the officers have in their possess
sion an affidavit from man VINO
states that he has purchased WINS
XIV from both Porter and wilson,
and that The liquor was delivered
to him on various occasions at
o'clock in the morning, in the en-
cine room of the federal building
The affidavit states that the pur--
chaser paid standard price OF
$40 a quart for whisky and $6 a
quart for tequilla.
All Bonded Whisky.
All of the liquor stolen was
bonded stuff. The amount stoleE
is not known, but officers say the
thefts have been going on for sew
eral months. -
The nrohibition enforcement Of
ficers have a systematic methou u
storing away confiscated liquors III
a metal vault with a barred dool
similar to those used in Jalls. Ihey
began to notice during the sum
mer that while the rows of bottles
an the fronts of the shelves re-
NAMED untouched, a large num-
ber of bottles on the rear rows
we're disappearing. Special agents
and detectives were placed in the
building on numerous nights, put
+he thefts continued. Locks on the
door were changed four times, put
always they were picked. tlhallS,
4 lock that was guaranteed to dely
the efforts of the most sklillui
burglar was placed on the vault
hit the thieves removed it by CUT :
ting the heavy chain by winch II
was attached to the door,
Four Cases Disappear.
A few weeks ago. when par
ticu1arly big haul of bonded WINS
Nv was placed in the vault, the OIL
ficers found a few days later tnat
four cases Of the liquor had d's-
onneared. They then marked a
large number of the bottles ana
renlaced them on the shelves an
"nnder cover man" was employed
and made the acquaintance or For-
ter from whom he succeeded III
buving three bottles of whisky that
bore the tell tale marks.
The next move was 70 get y
search warrant for the resluenees
Of Porter. 40 East Lead avenue,
and of Wilson, 1901 south Arno
street. Stolen whisky. the officeFs
said. was found at both PAGES.
Maintained a "Fence."
Positive evidence was found tne
officers said, that John Wedding
ton had been selling the stolen
liauor in the marked bottles from
his residence. 221 North Thiro
street. 81,
Reports also reached the off,
Gers that Andrew Phillips, colored..
nioht porter at the Elks club. mad
been selling whiskey to q chosen
number of his friends at various
places in the city. Phillips mas
been summoned as witness at the
hearing of Porter, Wilson and
Weddington, which will be held
Monday before United States Com
missioner Lawrence Bliss. Inc
three men have been locked up IN
Jail awaiting the hearing.
Director Snyder said last night
that the thieves could have been
frightened away from the vault
but the officers preferred to lay a
tran and catch them. In view of
the extraordinary efforts made TO
protect the liquor from molesta-
ton, he said, it was surprising now
adroitly the thieves managed TO
get into the vault.
All liquor stored Is catalogued
and put away in a methodical man
ner, so that not so much as one
bottle or jug can be taken or even
tempered with without the Officers
knowing of it.
An Appetizing Odor.
Because of the large amount OF
liquor stored in the vault, in jugs,
bottles and other containers that
are not enti""ly air tight. the odor
of spurious and maltous bever-
ages is apparent near the elevator
shaft and in parts of the lobby al
most continuously. The officers
believe that this temptation was
too great for the colored employees
and that they were Drawn to the
contraband stock like flies to mo-
lasses.
Hundreds of dollars worth of
whisky and gin, at the prices at
which those beverages now sell,
are believed to have been taken by
the negros. A careful check is be-
ing made to determine the extent
of the robberies. The officers have
evidence that makes them believe
that all of the stolen liquor was
sold here in the city. and that a
considerable part of it was drunk
by those who stole 1t.