Evening star., 1924-05-08
Outrunning Rum-Runners
The Cur Aushn and tho Word She
Row and the Men the Deck-The Mystery Boat tand '
the Ruse That Work-Home Again
In Five Parts-Part IV.

early next morning the seminole be-
Of the rum feet off the entrance to
New York Harbor. They lie off
Jones Inlet. Fire Island Inlet and
on down the coast to the entrance
to the harbor itself. We steam
hours and at no time is = rum ship
out of sight. They can be seen in
three directions as far as the eye
can reach and we count twenty-five
OF them-sixteen British. one Nor
wegian and one French-most Of
erS.
Most Active FIotiIla.
This fleet Is the most active Of any
along the coast They lie offshore
within easy. reach and the rum-run-
ners can either outrun or outmaneu-
YER tho cutters by heading for Jones
Inlet or Fire Island Inlet and Great
South Bay, losing themselves in
waters full Of shoals, but safely nav
igable for small boats They dump
their cargoes at Freeport, Babylon,
Long ISand-villages within easy
automobile distance of New York.
There seems to be no secret about
whore the liquor Is put ashore, yet
The .-OId Man" is sorry to come
into port without scalp at his belt,
for these past days have been fruit
less ones--blame 1t on the rotten
weather-but our hopes rise when
word comes from the bridge that
rummy has been sighted making for
shore Forced draNght again, wheez-
ing boilers, thudding pistons and a
churnfng screw. We take up the
chase Hes setting q course that
lns d0 fo
to beat him to II before he gets there.
This is a speedier boat than any we
saw Off Montauk Point, but luckily
he's within range and tho gun crews
get to work and timber up by placing
a few shells that fall too far from
the target to scare him into stop
ping.
Shet Hat. Rsm-Runne9.
But what's UP? Leaving astern a
long streak of silver foam, another
speedboat puts out from near a ship
in Rum Row and heads for our
quarry. He's taking course that
ought to bring him to the rum-runner
about the point we would intercept
him IL we were fast enough The
Old Man holds his IRE q moment to
see what's going on, but resumes fir
ing at his original target, for the
other boat Is coming nearer our ship
at every turn OF his fast propeller.
One of our gunners Is a long and
lanky North Carolina boy Maybe
he learned his Workmanship shoot
ing squirrels out of chestnut trees
long sight this time and lets her
go. A shot strikes so close to the
rummy that, had it been explosive in
stead OF solid. IL would have blown
him TO kingdom come. It's enough
for him. He stands up and waves.
heaving to. In the meantime the
other speed boat is drawing in. We
signal him to stop. He keeps coming,
then swerves and starts for land. We
let him have couple. They land
right across his bow. He stops. Tho
two boats are half mile or so apart
The captain is about to order Cease
fring, but the gunner is quick on
the trigger and lets the second boat
have another shot for good luck. II
lands near him and he figures that if
that six-pounder he'd better be on his
way, and his boat leaps forward in
another wild spurt-
Disappear. Over Horizon.
We've got one r1lmmy nhw. but we
can't leave him The other fellow is
nearly out of our range and disap-
pears over the horizon with six
FOUNDER shot scattering the water
astern- But he gets away. Where he
came from. why he was trying to in
tercept the other boat, what he was
and what he had are mysteries of the
sea Maybe he was a highjacker and
thought he could snatch some liquor
from the other boat under our nose
Maybe he thought to divert the cut
ter in her chase and make good the
how.
Our last capture is fairly good-3oo
cases Of whisky, champagne and al
cohol are aboard and the Seminole
tows her into port
We are tying up at the Staten
Island dock, now. As the sailors 90
about the work Of getting everything
snug. they might have been singing:
Sixteen men on a dead mans chest
Yo, no, no. and a bottle of rum.
We got four and the weather did the
rest,
Yo. no, ho, and bottle of rum
But they weren't