The New York herald., 1922-05-16
Farmer Near CrotOn Sees Fin
ish of First Known
Smuggler to City.
AVIATOR FLEEs, LIMPING
State Troopers Find That
Wrecked Craft Carried 200
Bottles Of Scotch.

In a tangled and Nodorous mass Of
airplane wreckage and broken whisky
bottles on a little hill top beside the
Albany Post road two miles north of
Hudson State troopers found
last night the first tangible evidence
that airplanes are being used by boot
leggers to bring liquor from Canada
to New York.
George J. Mccall. who has a farm
on the Albany road the other side of
overhead at about $50 o'clock last
night. He went out on his porch
and saw an airplane-it afterward
proved to be a Curtiss scout plane
circling about over his farm. There
are several open spaces near there
that can be used for landing il nec-
essary. but Mccall was surprised to
see this plane circle again and again
over the roadway. The night was
clear enough that the aviator could
command view of the roadway for
several hundred yards In both direc-
tions.
! After passing over the road several
times, apparently looking for an auto
mobile or expecting a signal Of some
sort. the plane made an attempt to rise.
! 1t had come down to within less than
J 100 feet of the ground 1t rose little
way, halted and then tumbled to the
ground in a nose dive. Mccall ran
I TO-. a-1 x>Io
there he saw a short, heavily built man
in a dark sweater pull himself out of
the wreckage and run As fast as he
could in the general direction of New
York
Man slightly Hurt.
The man lmped slightly and was hat
less. but he did not stop to decide what
to do with hts plane. When Mccall
reached the hilltop where the plane lay,
about a quarter OF mile south of the
road. he smelied whisky. He examined
the wreckage only moment. so ne said
later, and then ran to his house and
telephone the State Constabulary in
White Plains.
Capt J. A. Warner and Lieut. Rob-
erts. in command OF the State troopers
In White Plains. brought a squad of
men In automobiles to McCalrs farm.
Some of them searched for the man who
was seen running away from the plane.
but they were unable to pick up his
trail In the dark.
Lieut.. Roberts and Capt. Warner be-
gan a search of the wreckage. They
found that there were 200 quarts of
high grade Scotch whisky in the plane.
but about half of II was broken. The
spf ad Ul fQl n a fpd hA err
for several feet
Cargo Worth $4,000.
Lieut. Roberts said the whisky of this
particular grade, which was above sus-
picion, was easily worth $4,000. With
the cargo were several copies of MN
treal newspapers, and the wrappings of
the liquor bore Montreal and Quebec
labels. Other papers found In the plane
were enough to convince the troopers the
plane was at the end of a booze running
flight from Canada.
The Constabulary stood guard over
the wreckage last night.
The troopers as well as Federal pro-
hibition agents said they often had
thought of the possibilities of bring
ing liquor to New York by airplane.
hut a number of practical difficulties.
such as the scarcity of landing fields.
had prevented them from taking such
possibility seriously. Lieut.. Roberts
said he believed. from the actions Of
the aviator. just before the crash. that
he was expecting TO meet an automo-
bile or a truck near McCalrs farm to
take the liquor to one or more road
houses on the Albany road. Several
roadhouses. he said, have been raidcd
in the last few months.