Evening star., 1924-08-12
GIRL RUNS. GIANT
STILL ON RUM ROW
Whisky-Making Plant Rugged
Up on Ship With Red
Haired Captain.
By Consolidated Press.

BY Consolidated Press.
ASBURY PARK, N. j., August IA
floating distillery operated on the
bounding main under the command
of a winsome bobbed-hair lassie in
her early eos Is one of the newest
additions to rum row, that dingy row
OF booze boats that lie off the Jersey
coast
There have been many reports and
as many denials that rum row had
taken up hooch-making as well as
hooch purveying In serious way.
The writer, who has just returned
verify the reports as being all too
true. Hooch-the kind that is sold
ashore as the real stuff"-is being
turned out by the barrel from stills
on at least one of the rum row ships.
Trip In Stolen Boat.
The night of the trip was of the
dark and stormy" variety and the
skipper Of the rum-running craft on
which the writer was passenger
confidently predicted that no Coast
Guard boats would venture. forth
Even IL one did, he boasted, it would
be an easy matter to slip away in
the darkness. His boat, said the
skipper. was the racing craft of a
wealthy Long Islander which had
been stolen last winter.
NOW, mister, We'll show you some
thing in a little while that will make
your eyes pop-one of the most COM
plete whisky distilleries afioat," he
said, as our racer neared the low
lying string of hulks that make up
the row."
AS matter of fact, the correspond
ents eyes popped twice-once when
he saw Queen Siary," as they dubbed
the lady skipper of the floating dis
big stills in the hold of the vessel.
Girl of Mystery.
The queen" who acted every inch
the part, is commanding young
figure in khaki breeches, with reddish
bobbed hair and flashing black eyes.
There Is much of mystery and little
Of romance about her. They say she
is a Long Island girl and that she
is close friend of the distillery
owner. who by this time must be well
on the road toward being a million
aire. But that's all the rum runners
know about her.
Afable. brusque, she treats all her
customers with courtesy, but she can
not be drawn into conversation
Quantity and price are the only sub
Jects that seem to interest her.
The queen" graciousiy consented
to let her visitors view the plant"
down in the bowels of the ship. The
The IL stills, each of 150-gallon ca
pacity, were ranged in two semi
circles of six each, presuI.' oily to
make~easier the firing, whic. is done
with coal The stills we.. of the
modern commercial type. with big
fairly clean
Crevx of Eriff~~u
Only two of them were in opera
tion at the moment. These were
being tended by two members of the
Queens crew Of Is. while other men
went about various other activities
incident to operation of the plant in
the next hold and on deck.
Across the narrow passageway
from the still room were ranged be-
tween 25 and 35 barrels of horrific
smelling mash. Where they came
from nobody would say, But as this
provisioned by small boats from the
Jersey shore it is safe to assume that
the mash or the ingredients for max
ing it are Uttered out to them.
Hold Reeks With Mash.
The hold Of the schooner reeked so
stay long. But as they left the
writer peered into one section, cut
off by partition, where he saw what
appeared to be a modern bottling
plant. This was not in operation,
however, as the Queen had found it
more lucrative to deal in barrel lots.
Statistics as to the quantity of
hooch turned out by this floating dis
tillery were not available. But the
writer was informed that IA runners
had taken off cargo on the particular
night in question. Our boat took
away ten 50-gallon barrels.
Along a wooded stretch Of Jersey
shore, the craft was beached and the
barrels rolled ashore. In a twinkling
they had been moved into a deserted
barn and the work of preparing the
LIQUOR for the market begun.
The barrels were placed on wooden
horses and water barrels placed be-
side them. Galvanized wash boilers
were placed underneath. Rubber
tubes then syphoned water and
whisky simultaneously into the
boilers. The diluted mixture was
poured into a bottling machine and
bottles of all sizes filled.
Labels of Stewart" "Old Durham"
Canadian Club" and Lewis Hunter"
went on the bottles of rye" while
the Scotch" was labeled Lawson"
White Label and Peter Dawson"
darkness and IL men loaded the
liquor aboard. When it rolled off
down the wooded road the first
streak of dawn had not yet appeared
Let the federal men watch the
barn in daytime, as they are reported
to do. Let them watch the shores.
Who cares? Not the successful boot
logger.