Evening star., 1924-10-26
CANADA TO FIGHT
!. rum SMUGClERS
u !
Outbreak of LaWIessness
Afouses Officials to Action
OF: West Coast.
Special Dispatch to ~ Star.

Special Dispatch to ~ Star.
VICTORIA, e. u. October 20
Spurred on by sudden and un-
precedented outbreak of lawlessness,
gun fighting and murder among the
liquor smugglers operating out of
Canadian ports on the Pacific, Can
adam customs authorities. in coop
GRAFTON with British Columbia police,
are about to follow the United States
inta desperate war on the rum traffic.
Plans for the immediate construction
of two speed boats capable of over
hauling the fastest liquor runners
operating in British Columbia waters
have been forwarded by customs Off
cials here to ottawa for approval. and
meanwhile the police are harrassing
the smugglers day and night.
This new campaign follows the
murder of two smugglers by hi
jackers in the Gulf of Georgia: the
desperate effort of smugglers to re-
cover a cargo of liquor seized by the
police, Il pistol duel between the
officers and their assailants and the
hold exploit of American rum-run-
norS in coming into the anchorage of
the fashionable Royal Victoria Yacht
club, on the outskirts of the city, to
load Illicit CarGoes. These incidents,
all. indicating the growing disregard
of the rum trade for Canadian as
we'll as American law, have followed
one another in quick succession in
the space of two weeks.
> Runners Attack AgentA
The rum trade received a serious
scare this week when Canadian Gus
toms officers swooped down on the
Eva B., an American smuggling craft,
captured her and prepared TO turn
over her 81 900 cargo of mixed liquors
to the Government Scarcely had the
officers boarded the captured craft.
however, when a speed boat suddenly
raced toward them, heralded by a
voley of revolver shots, many of
which buried themgelves in the hull
of.the Eva &. and the customs vessel
\ fierce battle between the customs
officers and the crew of the speed
boat followed.
The Americans, anxious to recover
the lost cargo, fought desperately,
hut were finally driven off after one
of them apparently had been seriously
wounded The Eva B. was then
turned over to the immigration au-
thorities. 1t is expected they will be
deported shortly.
Canadian police have been unable to
throw any light on the mystery of the
Vancouver rum ship Beryl G., which
left Vancouver a few days ago and was
picked up in the Gulf of Georgia later
without a soul aboard. Blood stains and
bullet marks on her decks and broken
furniture strewn about in her cabin told
n tale of a terrible battle. The police
have no doubt her crew of two men were
hrutally murdered by hijackers and their
bodies thrown overheard. The Beryl G. s
valuable liquor cargo, of course, had
been taken from her hold and probably
carried to Seattle or some other Wash
ington city. The police have abandoned
hope of uncovering the mystery which
surrounds the murder of the Beryl G.'s
crew.
Boidne4s Causes Action.
In the past it has been the custom of
the Canadian liquor men to meet Amer
lean smugglers at some quiet rendezvous
in the shelter of one of the little islands
that dot tbs Gulf of Georgia Lately the
Americans, becoming more bold, have
ventured into harborS in British Colum-
bia. WheL provincial police tried to
board one of these boats, anchored
among a fleet Of private yachts off the
Royal Victoria Yacht Club recently,
Aswever, their quarry quickly lifted
anchor and sped away into the darkness.
A rain OF bullets, fired point-blank
range into the side of the boat, failed
to deter the smugglerS
While the mosquito feet is daily
growing more reckless the carefully or
ganized export" business-the shipment
of liquor on large ships to California
points-is developing continually. A
large fleet of former passenger ships has
made Victoria it's headquarters for this
traffic on account of high harbor dues in
Vancouver Thousands of cases of
7hisfT are stored here, always ready
for these vessels.