Evening star., 1925-08-11
DRUG AGENT CHIEF
JAILED AS HEAD OF
NATIONWIDE RING
Col. w. G. Beach and Three
Aides Taken After Chi
Cago Exposure.
SOURCE OF u. S. SUPPLY
Is BELIEVED REVEALED
Trey Leads Raids-0ficials Are
Charged With Trading Dope
for Stolen Goods.
By the Associated Press

By the Associated Press.
CHICAGO, August 1I.-Col. VIII
Cray Beach. chief of the narcotic
division of the Internal Revenue De
partment for the Chicago district,
and three of his trusted assistants
have been arrested on the charge of
bartering drugs for the loot of robbers.
Coincident with the arrests, agents
OF the special intelligence unit of the
Internal Revenue Bureau, reinforced
by more than 100 detectives, raided
a score of opium joints in Chinatown
and on the South Side.
Arrested with Beach were Dennis
j. O'Brien, Alfonso Baxter and Harry
Dietrich. Other arrests will be made,
said federal agents, as part of a ma
tion-wide inquiry and cleanup of al
legged grating conditions in the Fed
eral narcotic service.
After three hours questioning,
Beach led Federal agents to North
Side warehouse in which he confessed
he had stored a quantity of narcotics.
lie confessed ownership to a quantity
of jewelry and salable merchandise
identified as the loot of numerous
robberies, but denied he had given
narcotics for the valuables.
He told examiners he had bought
the goods Ito help the poor devils
along" He valued his cache at
S250,000
Leads Raiders TO Cache.
Elmer L. Trey, chief of the special
Intelligence unit. who came from
Washington to work with Patrick
Roche. special agent here. disclosed
the raids, and arrests were ordered
by David H. Blair, commissioner of
itnernal revenue, and Lincoln c. An
dreWs who recently was given a free
hand in enforcement matters by Sec
retary Mellon.
Search ofthe apartments of Beach and
OBrien Trey said, uncovered readily
Salable goods identified as stolen and
worth more than 100000. Included
were wearing apparel, jewelry, curios,
radio sets, guns and cameras, search
lights, fans, arc lamps and a violet
ray machine uesd in beauty parlors.
Beach came here four years ago
from Philadelphia and had acquired
a reputation as lecturer on drugs
and their evils. He brought Baxter
and Dietrich with him. They became,
with O'Brien, an ace of long service
here, the most feared of narcotic
raiding squads.
Five weeks ago a corps of special
investigators, some of them Chinese,
reported TO Roche. They found that
Col. Beach possessed a beautiful Chi
nese green jade vase, worth $1,000,
and a green jade opium smoking out
fit which was considered one of the
finest in the world.
A fortnight ago raiders made their
largest seizure in years when they
confiscated opium and drugs valued
at nearly a quarter of a million dol
10 hn n,-ff nYot nf
hooley, called Queen of the Dope
Peddlers." In addition, they found
lists of names and telephone numbers
that indicated ring of Nationwide
extent existed with headquarters
here.
The Chinatown raids were timed to
take place simultaneously. Opium
Chinese addicts found in several
places were arrested. Raids planned
today were expected to net 200 or
more arrests.
Giant Ring Seen Broken.
Chief Trey, in detailing the investi-
cation leading to the arrests and
raids, said that 20 special agents from
other cities came here yesterday and
within a few hours had been able to
make purchases of narcotics in Chi
nese places.
It's the biggest exposure of dope
ring ever made in the United States"
he declared. Chicago has been the
source of supply for the entire coun-
Try. All the big men in the dope in
dustry make their headquarters here.
The stuff is brought into the States
from Canada and Mexico
He said there was no question that
the investigators had sufficient infor-
nation to convict Beach and his al
legged cOnfederateS. Warrants for
their arrest were issued by Federal
Judge Adam c. Cliffe hours before
the raids were started.
Police inquiry to determine whether
South Side policemen were acting as
protectors for the Chinese drug ped
diers will be started at once, officials
said.
Successor Is Named.
L. J. Timer, in charge of narcotic
squads in Indianapolis. has been
named temporarily to take Beach's
place.
\ trivial circumstance furnished the
first clue in the investigation of Beach
and his conferes Roche said. After
narcotic agents had arrested a drug
peddler whose bonds were set at
o,OU0, Baxter interviewed and obtain
ed reduction in the bonds to 81 900.
Before the vender's trial the arrest
ing agents We're sent out of Chicago.
Baxter appealed for the prisoner, who
was given 6O-day sentence as an ad-
dict and not as a peddler.
Roche said his investigators had
marked certain stolen articles which
were used in the bartering deals and
which later were found in the homes
Cf TIE arrested agents.
Capt. John Siege of the detective
bureau estimated the value of mar
cotic drugs seized in the raids last
night and early today with smoking
layouts at $4,000.
The police squads were held in read
mess for further raids upon request
by Government agents.
ARREST SHOCKS 0EEICIAIS