The Washington times., 1923-04-03
ONE CARGO
TRACE
HERE
Dry Officials Plan to Establish
River Service to Cut off
Smugglers.
BY GEORGE FRANKLIN.


With q liquor armada off the
New Jersey coast and rum-run-
ming vessels supplying q mosquito
feet of lighters doing business all
the way between Sandy Hook and
the Florida Keys, prohibition en-
forcement officers declared today
thew had reasons to believe that
washington has been put on the
nan or maritime ports and that
considerable quantities of import
al whiskies, wines and gins are
f;rd;nO their way to local con-
sumers through the waterfront.
Two Boats Escape Patrol.
According to the prohibition
sgants month ago it became
E3own that two liquor smuggling
,,aoforhoats had worked their way
IN Chesapeake Bay after escaping
fi,a vigilance of the patrol In the
vicinity of Hampton Roads.
One Of the boats. it is declared,
was subsequently picked up de-
serted and empty Of everything,
including valuable parts OF its ma
chinery, at q point on the james
river below Richmond.
The other, and what Is described
as the larger of the two. It is
stated, reached Washington, dis
charged its cargo, and succeeded
In making safe run back to the
lower Chesapeake region, where,
according to prohibition officials,
1t was returned to its owners,
after having had certain camow
fiage silperstructure used while
running in the liquor removed.
Unwilling to give the details OF
their discoveries, yet declining to
deny that they had obtained evil
Sience that two or more cruising
motorboats have been actively en-
eaged in rum running during the
past six weeks, prohibition agents
last night, 1t is understood. were
planning to establish Potomac
river service which viii be effec-
tive between Washington and Ches-
apeake Bay. Whether the plan in
cludes the operation of one or
more enforcement patrol boats or
viii depend on informationS fur
nfshed by agents operating at va
rious intermediate points where
shipping news can be picked up,
was not disclosed.
Difficult to Capture.
t'There has been more or. less
smuggling of liquor through the
Chesapeake and Delaware bays ever
since prohibition went into effect"
said one OF the agents who mas
picked up the trail of the boats
supplying local bootIeggers.
Heretofore the difficulty las
been to get a line on them and
locate them while in cargo. 1t
does little good to pick UP an
empty and presumably deserted
motorboat, especially when you find
It stripped Of much OF its equip
ment. You may know from a
hundred indications the character
of the business it has been en-
gagged in. But when you run down
its ownership you get lost in a
maze Of uncertainty. One man. in
his name without his knowledge
Another i'll declare he got it in
trade, never saw it, took it on
friends guarantee it was o. K,
subsequently traded 1t for an auto
which he later sold, and there he
lets himself out. The best you can
DO is to locate the engine manu-
facturer by the engine number and
find out from him where the engine
went from the factory. In that
way you can run down the owner
ship through three or four hands,
but after that they have you
buffa1oed.
When you look over lot Of the
craft picked up smuggling liquor
you find the smaller ones just about
ready to retire to Davy Jones
locker without help. They were
taken over by the shippers at
practically nothing, revamped, put
in cargo, and then everybody took
o gambling chance on getting the
liquor landed, sold and paid for.
If that went through to a finish
they could wreck their boat. It
had paid for itself many times over
and another one could be picked ND
and outfitted for less than It would
cost to get the old tub back"
Among prohibition agents IL was
learned that in many instances re-
Gently the rum runners were made
up Of combinations getting together