The Birmingham age-herald., 1923-12-24
26,8O0 QUARTS IF. LIQUOR DESTROYED
MobiIians Sigh As Agents Pour S3O0,0OO Worth Im-
 ported Variety In Gutter


 NOBLE, Ala, Dec. 2S.-Lady mercy. This was the exclamation of one of the 15 negroes employed today in the destruction of nearly SS00,00o worth of good red liquor" in the narrow aneyway stretching along the south side of the federal building.
 Startled by the sight of such quantity of sure enough liquor and dazed by the fumes of the stuff, the negroes hired for the day to assist i'll the destruction could not quite under stand all the fine points of the work.
 But to some 2G0 Mobilians who elung from the windows of nearby buildings and who peered through the heavy iron gates along Royal street, it was all very easy to under stand.
 \ Dry Christmas.
 Federal agents. upon instructions of Judge Robert T. Erwin were de stroying s suthing like 26,S00 quarts of imported Iiquorse which were seized during recent federal raids in Mobile.
 It's going to be dry Christmas, was the statement of coincidence passed from person to person among the eager spectators.
 After receiving their instructions early in the morning, Federal Prohi- bition Agents k. w. Buckner, F. l.. Britton G. N. Robertson, P. T. Graves. ]. w. Adkins and $. o. Me Pherson, aided by 15 negroes, started their work of destruction at o'clock Sunday morning. By 2 o'clock in the afternoon th. destruction was com plete.
 All through the day crowds gath l cred at the point of destruction ana .ar1.xr IrtJl lf ir rG choice positions for the onlookers, l The work was carried on with reGu- larity and only the "wise remarks of someof the spectators broke the montony Of the thud of the bottles against the concrete alleyway. great deal of free advice" was hurled at the officers, but this was given little attention by the govern ment men who were carrying on the work as though it was an every day l occurrence.
 2,4OO Cases Destroyed. | Three sewer openings in the gov ernment alleyway served as carriers l from the point of destruction to the under surface outleet at waterfront.
 Only a small amount of the whisky was ordered held for reference. Practically all of the 2,400 cases was destroyed.
 The action yesterday eliminates any possibility of former owners to have the liquor returned on techni- calities. During the past few days efforts have been made by one of the l original owners to have the whisky returned to him on an alleged techni- cality in the service of search war rants.
 The liquor destroyed yesterday represents four or five of the largest seizures made during the whisky cleanup staged by federal officers several weeks ago.
 1. MATCH CAUSES EXPLOSION
 The careless dropping of a lighted | match into an abandoned tank of the Standard oil company under the stone sidewalk at the northwest cor ner of Conception and Madison streets Sunday morning at 11:15 o'clock caused big explosion and much excitement. A crowd of young people and Miss Mamie B. Gihli, who was standing near the scene of the explosion engaged in conversation, had a narrow escape from being in- jured.
 The explosion burst the big tank under the sidewalk and caused the cement sidewalk to be shattered to pieces and large pieces of rock thrown from across the street and an iron gallery post to be blown down. Several fire trucks were sum i mOned by the eXplOSlOn, but the only l service they were needed for was to clear the street of debris. The boy 1 who dropped the match was reported to have suffered so much from fright that it was several minutes before 1 he found himself.
 BIG CITRUS SALES With the shipping season practi- cally completed, w. H. Reynalds. vice president and general manager of the l Gulf Coast Citrus Exchange today reiterated his prediction made some time ago that the gross sales from the 1923 Satsuma crop in the gulf coast belt will reach in the neigh 1 borhood of $1250, 900. The total num-. ! Der of carloads of the fruit shipped was 750, with approximately 600 boxes in each car.
 DELAY DOCK SALES
 Property along the river or bay 1 fronts. valued by the owners at more | than s10.000, will not be purchased | by the state docks commission until | there has been a thorough investi- Eation regarding values and an ap- praisal by a competent and disinter- ested board, according to information received in Mobile. Condemnation proceedings will be resorted to by lsthe commission and the governor should fix a 'sum in excess of said appraisal" to be insisted upon. ac- cording to the terms of the act.
  Cottages with the customary inn nro1-Nrsnpfc Nprthern Na1oc