The Birmingham age-herald., 1923-07-17
S35O,OOO BRIBE OFFER MADE TO
 DRY OFFICERS
(Continued from Page one)

wealth, prominent In politics, of un- usual influence. and never under suspicion"
 The agent insisted on meeting the distillers, the representative of the department of justice (whom the bootlegger represented as being all powerfuID and whatever other fel- low operators there might be, so that he could be wholly satisfied that the men with whom he was to deal were fully qualified to carry out their part of the agreement. He refused tC take any chances with men who were careless. given to heavy drinking or of small means.
 service for twenty years" he told the bootlegger, and every day ol those twenty years I have beer straight as string. l did not think 1 would ever be susceptible to an offer of this sort; but l realize now that I have only a few more years of, earning ability left and that must provide for my old age.
 If you will see to 1t that l re- ceive enough money to hire a real lawyer and still have a good bit left, in case I get caught, I will be very much Inclined to accept your propo- eitior. See the men who are with you III the uedi, tdih IL oNef "llh ,tem. and then come back to me ano let me know if you are willing tc meet my requirements"
 The bootlegger and the former em- ploye left. Two or three days later the agent and his superior reported progress of the negotiations to the prohibition commissioner, and were instructed to follow the proposition through as far as necessary to se- cure evidence against the bribers. Playing With the Briber.
 Thereafter meetings were frequent but negotiations struck an unex- pected snag when it came to decid- ing when the bribe should be paid The bargaining bootleggers, still ap- prehensive. were unwilling to pay the money in advance of delivery of the intercepted papers. The supervisor on the other hand, insisted that he could not be expected to perform the work before payment. This difficulty was adjusted by the bootlegger's sug- gestion that the money be turned over to certain banking institution which would hold 1t in escrow until details of the agreement had been compiled with.
 After several days had passed the agent protested that while they had held numerous conferences he had no evidence that the bootlegger was either in the business" or able to perform his contract.
 This thing is getting on my nerves" the agent said. "rhe time has you mean business. I don't know who you are-don't even know yet that you are In the business and if you can't come across with something to convince me why we'll just call it off"
 That fiat had the desired effect. The bootlegger immediately became conciliatory and invited the agent to meet him that night for the purpose of visiting one of their establish ments and meeting the other men in the "organization.'n The appointment was kept and the bootlegger showed the way to an office building along the deserted river front.
 Here was stored a fortune in con- traband The bootlegger pointed out thousands of half-pint pint and quart bottles; great sheafs of imitation labels for innumerable brands; coun- terfeit bottled-in- bond strip stamps and the usual caution notices for all the well known brands of gh-grade imported and domestic whiskies wines liquors gins, etc.
 In addition, there were a great number of cases of what appeared to be genuine imported whiskies of high grade. These, the bootlegger claimed. had been smuggled into the country. There were also about 20 large drums of alcohol. from 75 to loo gallon cans of alcohol packed in corrugated paper cartons and from 30 to 40 five gallon carboys, each filled, so the bootlegger claimed, with synthetic gin.
 "How did you get that?" the agent asked.
 We make it." he replied" from all cohol got under permit by industrial users" And he winked. "Only they