Evening star., 1924-10-05
BANKER RUM RING
DECLARED BROKEN
S10,0O0,000 AngIo-AmeriCan
Outfit Ended by Capture of
Ship, Officials Say.
s- ths Associated Press.

tl~ 2SsoffaffS Press
NEW YORK October s-u-i,L 49,
capture OF rakish British steamer
with 1000 cases Of whtsl:y aboard
prohibition officials today claimed 70
have caused the collapse Of an Anzlo-
American banker bootlegger alliance
which in the past six months has
hooded this part of the country with
Illicit liquor.
AS result of a three month in
vestigation coast guardsmen seized
the 576-ton steamer Frederick B and
her crew of 20 men Is miles off Mon
mouth Beach, Nj. in which the Fed
eral officers call the first real test
of the liquor treaty with Great
Britain.
Bankers in Montreal and New York.
ard distillers and shipping men ~
London ard Halifax are Said to be
members % the inte--2ttoHa! boot
ieEg=s ring. which. ths o. raiders
SID, has $,0,000,00o behind :ts ore.a-
t:oS ot :oC--SA:p sett
Eoc< s=:S.. 2oota -z..ea.
!. addition - tie p-:=e capture os
the E-itishes. four smaller craft
feet motor boat that briaa.the liouo-
from the rum fleet to the Tong Island
n.
The captures. which included so cases
of whisky ana Is prisoners, were
made by the marine police
One lone police boat, with lights
out, got three of the little craft off
the Rockaways singlehanded. The
fourth was taken at Staten Island
while her crew were unloading
whisky on a dock.
novel ruse was employed by the
Federal agents to involve the crew
Of the Frederick B. in a test Of the
new treaty, which extends the an
cient three mile seizure limit to the
distance of an hours sailing
After handing the vessels master
100000 cash and checks to make fat
liquor purchase agreement binding.
agents asked for 25 sample cases"
TO take ashore at once. They put the
stuff" aboard the fastest speed boat
they could get and raced ashore in
AZ minutes. This. asser the agents
Involves the bootleg ring in d viola
tion Of the Anslo-American treaty
Their race against time completed
the agents pressed the coast guard
cutter Manhattan into the work
That formidably armed little vessel
steamed alongside the whisky-lader
Frederick B.. placed under arrest the
crew and two women found aboard
and preceded the ship to an under
guard anchorage off the Statue Of
Liberty.
Girl Found Aboard
John Holley Clark, assistant United
States district attorney, later said the
capture was the most important since
the United States entered into the
new seizure-limit treaty with Great
Britain. Although the captors We're
inclined to be reticent about the af-
fair, a few facts were CLEANED con-
cerninG the Frederick B. and her
operators. 1t was learned, for in
stance. that one of the women
aboard-she is about 2G and rather
strikingly dressed-was the daughter
OF one of the English "higher-ups''
in the rum-runnins conspiracy. Her
companion, said to be a woman of
about 40. was described as the
younger ones chaperone.
Two of the crew, who said they
were Harry Klein and l.. Fletcher
both of Newark, y. J., We're arrafgned
before a United States commissioner
and held in $4,000 bail. The Is others
of the crew were held for appearance
before Federal commissioned next
Monday.
Merrick Gets Credit.
K. .. Merrick. divisional prohibi-
ton chief, was credited with having
directed the setting of the trap The
actual investigation. in which six
actively participated, was under the
leadership of William a. Walker of
Washington general field Supe rim
tendent of Federal agents. and Saul
Grill, local dry sleuth with a long
record of successfully tricked boot
leg cabals to his credit.
grill and Walker posed as Pennsyl-
vania bootle ggers who scorned all
deals involving less than 1O0O-case
lots. A series of champagne dinners
ashore and wild parties aboard the
vessel followed their introduction as
big time bootleggers'' to me m bers of
the syndicate backing the Frederick
r. and her sister rum ships In the
past SIX months, Grill learned the
heet had landed at least 100 600 cases
of whisky on this coast.
s55O,OOO Deal Planned.
Grill and Walker negotiated for
the purchase of $4,000 cases of whis-
ky at s22 a case-a $4,000 transac-
ton. Two weeks ago the Frede rick
b. put into port with the first con-
signment of this order but the willy
agents considered the seas too rough
to permit their speed test trip from
ship to shore. So they persuaded the
Frederick's crew to dispose of the
stuff" through other channels.
The Frederick B returned from St
Pierre. Miquelon. last Sunday with
1900 cases aboard. She anchored off
Monmouth Beach and there the deal
was completed, the money passed and
the 20 sample" cases were taken
from the deck load. 1t was planned
to get the remaining $4,000 cases
here within the next week aboard
one or more of three remaining boats
which the dry raiders claim consti-
tute the syndicaie's fleet
Ships Name Changed
A customs official tonight. said the
Frederick 3 formerly was the Ber-
nard NJ, steam trawler. Her name,
he said. was changed last June 81 at
Halifax. The vessels former port of
registry was Kingston, Jamaica. A
part owner, the official said, was
Charles Stewart. aid to be the super
cargo. He was one of the men made
prisoner. The captains name was
given as Edward Wells.
Several high-powered rifles were
taken from the ship after she had