Evening star., 1922-08-09
coast INFESTED
|. BY LIQUOR PIRATES
Sea Rovers Again on Job in
Waters Around Florida
and Bahamas.
MANY SECRET LANDINGS
Smugglers Chiefly Victims of New
Capt. Kidd Gangs in Stir
ring Activities.
MANY SECRET LANDINGS

BY the Associated Press.
MIAMI, Fla, August When
Bobby hies himself to the hayloft or
crawls under the house, and in wide
eyed wonder peruses a paper-backed
chronicle of Morgan, Capt. Kidd and
other gentry who roamed the seas un-
der the Jolly Roger, he usually ex-
presses regret that he did not live
century or two ago. so he could nave
Joined the adventures.
The boy may not know it, but the
sea rovers are on the job again, and
the escapades of liquor pirates OF the
southeastern coast Of Florida and In
the Bahamas, if recorded in a book.
! might cause Bobby to regard Morgan,
Kidd and company with less awe.
Morgan and Kidd were forced to de-
pend upon sails for motive power, but
the modern pirate has gasoline mo-
, tor and puts to sea in ii boat that Will
+ move faster than any sailing vessel
ever built.
! He overhauls a liquor runner, holds
! it up, steals all or as much of its
! cargo as his vessel will carry, waves
. his hand to the luckless owner and
! disappears. to land his loot at some
q! unfrequented cove on the Florida
! coast Others have landed on small
| keys in the Bahamas, where cargoes
! of liquor for rum runners have been
assembled. and raided the ware
houses.
| Piracy Reports Not Frequent.
! Official reports Of piracy have not
! been frequent. The liquor SmugElerS
! who have been held up at sea charge
! the occurrence to profit and loss and
+; make no complaint, because they are
/ tiawbreakers themselves. The pirates
! naturally do not tell about their op-
| erations, but numerous stories Of
! hold-ups and robberies leak out
! through underground sources, and
! there is every indication that prohibi-
] tion officers are not the only people
! the liquor runners are constantly on
the lookout for.
/ Hanford Mobely. eighteen. held in Jail
at West Palm Beach as one Of the four
! men charged with the robbery of the
/ Bank of Stuart. at Stuart. Fla, several
months ago. also has a piracy charge
! hanging ever him. Just what part he
! is believed to have taken in a sea hold
! up the federal authorities have not
stated. but they have announced that>if
Mobtey was granted his liberty on bail,
J or was acquitted of the robbery charge.
/ he would be arrested Immediately on
| federal warrant charging piracy.
/ The most recent case of alleged piracy
/ to be made public officially resulted in
| the shooting to death of George Edge
comb. negro master Of the British
! schooner William H. Aibury, at Cat
: Key. in the Bahamas. a short distance
/ from here. and the theft of between
/ $4,000 and $4,000 from thevessel. The
| robbery occurred July 90. The Albury
! according to British officials. has been
j engaged in the rum-carrying trade be-
! tween the Bahamas and Jamaica. Dody
Carey cashier aboard the Albury, was
; sent to Miami by the British commits
: sioner at Bimini. to tell the story of
/: the hold-up to the British vice consul
! and state and federal officials here.
; Appearance of Schooner.
! The Aibury was at anchor at Cat Key,
Carey said. when an auxiliary schooner.
, said to be the Falcon. appeared. Three
men were aboard and after anchoring
they boarded the Albury and informed
Capt. Edseconb they wished to pur-
chase a cargo of liquor. They were en-
te,tained by Edgecomb during the fore
noon. while the crew piled $2.1O0 worth
Of liquor on deck to be transferred to
the Falcon. according to the account.
At neon the Albury's crew, except
was working on his books in his state
room when one of the visitors appeared,
pointed Il pistol at him and ordered him
to hand over what cash he had. Carey
/ gave him more than $4,000 The other
/ visitors in the meantime had gone below
and covered the Albury's crew with pis-
! tolls Edgecornb was pacing the deck
within view Of the cabin when one of
! the men saw him. The master was
| ordered to enter, but seeing the pistol
| turned his back. A shot was fired and
| the captain fell dead.
! The crew Of the Albury then was
| locked in the cabin and the visitors de-
parted. The prisoners. Carey said, re-
gained their liberty within few mo-
, ments.
lie Falcon. which had been absent
from Miami several days having been
loaned by its owner, to a man said to
have recently been released from the
Florida ranitentiary, was found at her
nooring i'll the harbor here the next
morning. having entered port some time
during the night.