The Washington times. [volume] (Washington [D.C.]) 1902-1939, 1923-11-05

UTItCt6S yUbbSU Ut JTSI fCUHU w "A .
De Wintom WigLey, special i1aVes-
tigutor for the London Daily NeaUs,
on the t0hiskey sntuggIers 10hO do
q fortune e7tsnGring business from
the British West Indies to the
American coast. The Spanish
Main of Captain Kidd's days knew
of no more exciting plots for ILL
gotten gains than characterize the
daily routine of the modern seq
going bootlegger.
By H. DE WINTON WIGLEY,
Special Investigator for London Daily
Copyright, 1928. by Cosmopolitan News
Service.)
1t had been a day of intoler-
able heat m Nassau, and we had
driven down in the cool of the
! moonlit evening, along a road
bordered by cocoanut palms,
banana groves, and almond trees,
to one of the old Spanish forts,
standing on a beach of silver
sands. Sitting on the crumbling
wall of the fort, from which one
looked out along the stretching
coral reef that ran parallel with
O glittering moonpath on the
waters, my bootlegging friend and
smoked and talked of the mys-
terry millionaires behind the new
adventures on the Spanish Main.
Bribery Among Officials.
you remember" he said. ''the
man you had lunch with today?
He made a million by liquor run.
ming, and now he's spending it on
trying to get his brother out of
Jail.
His brother was sent up for
! five years for bootlegging, but the
latest is that he's coming out on
bond. The man you saw today
has arranged to take a certain
high official on a shooting trip, and
ne believes that his brothers re-
lease viii be arranged during the
trip"
'1But,- can that be done?'' I asked.
That's how it's done in the
United States" said my friend.
Later on, in New York, 1 met
with several allegations on the part
of officials of British authorities
who connived at rum-running. But
before America can find fault with
bribery, the graft and the corrup.
ton that is rampant among her
own.
/ was hardly surprised to learn
that my companion at lunch was
O millionaire.
This was an island of million
aires. On Bay street, the main
thoroughfare of Nassau, stand the
rows Of crazy old liquor stores
which have brought rapid fortune
to the liquor runners and bootleg
gers. These queer temples of for
tune, built of wood, implanted and
dilapidated, are the chief feature
of the capital. and have given the
street the nickname Of Booze
Avenue"
Who is at the back of all these
tumbledown liquor stores on Ray
street, Nassau? I persisted with
that question as much as I dared,
but each dealer and his business
associations seems to be a separate
mystery, and it is dangerous to
do too much probing into other
peoples business on New Provi-
dence Island. A lot are in bust
ness for themselves, but others
are undoubtedly acting for firms
In England.
IDENTIFIES a Mystery.
''Say, who does know just who's
In on this business, one way or
another, anyway" asked a big
Yankee bootlegger.
''I don't believe that some o. these
Bahaman guys know themselves
who they're working for and how
many bosses they've got.
Some Of your big distilleries
have their agents over here, and
there are private firms in Eng
land who are working through Mas
sau offices. Sometimes the Lon
don bosses are only middlemen
acting between the agents on the
spot and the real bosses. The
fellows in Nassau don't know
much about each others business
Some time ago." he added,
"there was talk OF forming a big
Anglo-American alliance to run
booze over here and / know of a
theater proprietor in an English
seaport town who owns ships and
is in the game. Britishers are IN.
terested in the Grand Bahama
scheme, too"
The Grand Bahama scheme
Is one Of several proposals that
have been made from time to time
TO establish a drinking resort on
some small British island off the
American coast.
Unlimited capital can be secured