The Dawson news. (Dawson, Ga.) 1889-current, 1923-05-22
MODERN PIRATES ROAM
| SEAS FOR LIQUOR TROVE
WHISKY SHIPS OvERH Ed
AND LOOTED BY BUS1fA
NEERS. NO VESSEL SAFE.
|OFATH WINS In BOOZE WAR

piracv Sayings and Fights at Sea
Mark Escapades in Rum Traffic.
Tbirty-Three DRY" Agents Slain
Enforcing the Law.
Piracy and murder are writing
|O.ges picturesque and violent in the
lbooze history of America. No COM
D,ete statistics are available of this
Growing crime phase, yet thrills sur
Tossing fiction are found even in a
br;ef and casual survey.
Thirty-Three Agents Slain.
Smugglers, pirates, "hi-jackers, "
|cunmen, bootleggers and bandits to-
Fav supply more battle, blood and
|roIor than were ever found between
The covers of yesterdays dime novels.
srbirtv-three federal "dry" agents
have been slain since enforcement be-
pan not to mention police and other
Fity. county and state officers.
MANY bootleggers and rum-runners,
However have lost their lives in con-
Acts with the officers OF the law, but,
h course, the total death rate is I'M
Known. Unlisted numbers have died
n poisoned liquor. Whenever and
khereyer an unidentified body is
bund the specter of booze hangs
PROMINENTLY over the mystery of the
Filling.
Disaster in Wake.
Disaster has overtaken schooners,
hotor boats, airplanes and automo-
lilies smuggling liquor. The rum-run-
sers are battling with a corps of the
keenest and bravest men in the fed
bal service, and the government US
sallv comes out victorious. The long
.bast line is the salvation of the snug
her. for the federal forces are yet too
hall to keep a watchful eye on all
i the border lines.
Explosions of stills and barrels and
sottles OF booze have caused some
baths, much damage by fire, and
benaced many lives. Several serious
sres in some of the larger cities were
Ielieved either the result of explod-
Ag stills or the deliberate attempt
i bootleggers to cover their tracks.
Hundreds of automobiles have been
solen, wrecked and deserted in the
BotleggerS' attempts to evade the
E
&There is no chivalry nor "honor
hong thieves" spirit among the rum
rates. A few weeks ago battle at
Z between a rum ship and rum
#ate was reported from Vineyard
sven, Mass. The conflict was noisy
Bough to be heard on shore. The
! xt day eight bodies washed ashore.
4 THE pirates vessel got away in the
G, but the steamer, John Dwight,
kded with bottled ale, sank after
b boilers had blown up.
Prey of Pirates.
River pirates, aAoat in motor boats
inning in and out among the piers
every port along the Atlantic, have
ben responsible for even more kill
4 rs and battles than rum pirates who
HI the 12-mile limit. Ocean liners
I'd at piers and cargo ships anchored
harbors are the pirates prey.
A fatal duel in the Hudson river
es the latest of many scrimmages.
OBVIOUSLY there was a killing in
: ew York harbor smuggling plot, an
Rher when detectives descended up
j pirates looting a ship at Hoboken,
battle in Florida port when one
Rng betrayed another to government
gents, a pistol fight in which 20 men
4 Ere seized as they boarded schoon-
i in New York Bay, and a gun fight
fhen pirates attacked rum runner
a New Jersey port.
Rum Ships Armed.
Rum ships are heavily armed, ready
repel any invader, but sometimes
kmodern Capt. Kidd comes along with
Zen more powerful armament. Death
arkS not only at sea, where the first
Rnsfer of booze is made, but even
6ter the small boats reach shore. 1t
not unusual for one smuggler to
Nrn on another with deadly aim. And
h roughout it all the small band of
Pvernment agents, daring and re-
@urceiul are making heavy inroads
2 the ranks of the older and more
%perlenCed rum-runners, with the
@ttle between the opposing forces
APPARENTLY about breaking even for
9th sides.