The Birmingham age-herald., 1924-09-29
.HI-.JACKERS.
 PLY TRADE.
 ON ALIENS
Days Of Spanish Main Recalled On Canada
 Border
SUDDEN DEATH
 STALKS ALONG LINE
United States Protest Is
 Needed To Stop . Practice

OTTAWA, Sept. 28.-Not since the days when bearded, tattooed pirates fought, footed and died in their rakish craft on the Spanish main has there been such an era of lawless- ness as now pervades certain sections of the Canadian bor- der.
 Murder, loot, extortion and sudden death-all these ele- ments that made life interest ing for the merry rover under the Jolly Roger are there.
 Hi-jacking of rum runners has become common all around the corners of the United States for a long time, but the super ,hi-jackers on the northern frontier have evolved a new means of revenue-hi- lacking the alien.
 Alien smuggling. given greatly in- creased impetus by the recent enact ment of the United States quota immi- grafton law, is providing the modern pirate with harvest equal to that which he gleans from the rum runners. Canadian officials have been told that as many as 300 aliens are entering the United States weekly by the "un- dergronftfz q ,rolEte. s.ss .. ss
 Re-doubEe xEfforts
 Liquor, the original goldbriek of the hijacker, is still a gusher of wealth. Canadian beer and whisky runners, not to be outdone by their rivals dealing in aliens, have redoubled their efforts and the flow of their illegal traffic across the border now is unprecedented. Hi-packers immediately became more active than ever, and have played havoc with the rum and alien smugglers. They robbed the liquor carriers of their money and then took their goods, in hauls amounting to many thousands of dollars.
 Four murders during the past week have been ascribed to hi-jackers. Those refusing to stand and deliver" are be- ing summarily shot down, according to reports here.
 The procedure of the hi-jacker is sim pie. In many cases, according to gov ernment officials, he is member of vast organization with tentacles stretching through the underworld of border cities in both countries. He hears that a shipment of liquor or alienists is about to be made and he summons his gang.
 A spot on the United States side of the line generally is selected for the holdup. Little open resistance can be made by the victims there because of the fear of arrest. Canadian laws do not forbid either traffic. In many quarters it is believed a protest by the United States would cause Canadian authorities to remedy the situation cas- fly and with little delay.
 Various sums per person are charged by the hi-jacker for each person he per mits the' alien smuggler to take past his ambush. The price depends on the aliens chance of getting by after he crosses the border. Passage is worth between $20 and $200 per man. Orien- tals pay the latter sum.
 Refuse To Pay
 But sometimes aliens and their es- corts refuse, to "come across" Evi- dence of this was indicated last week when after gunfight had been re- ported on the Detroit river, authorities found the bodies of two foreigners float ing in the steam. Their pockets had been footed of everything except few papers.
 In the St. Lawrence river, two French Canadians were drowned in a fight between alien smuggIers and hi jackers. When guns flashed, the men had leaped from their boats in an at- tempt to escape, but the current swept them down.
 The latter episode now is being in- vestigated, but under a great handicap because it first must be determined whether the men died in Canadian or United States water. After the ques- tion of juricdiction is established, the work of searching for criminals can pro- ceed. .
 At least a score of aliens have mys- teriously lost their lives in illegally attempting to enter tbe United States from the north, it is reliably repored. Those engaged in the trade" are not the only ones to suffer. Recently the body of a member of the royal north west mounted police who had been working against international dope and alien smugglers, was found floating in the Ottawa river.
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