The Pleasantville press. (Pleasantville, N.J.) 1912-1929, 1926-02-05
Booze Cob" Name
Hurts Coast Guard
Public's ScOrn Blamed for 'Fall''
of Guardsman Who Plays
a Lone Hand.
Taunts Ashore For Doing Duty

launtS Ashore FOR Dong Duty
The Coast Guardsman plays lone
hand in frail craft on the storm
tossed night sea, perhaps without food
and without sleep for many hours, ev-
.er trailing the rum smuggler. When
he comes back to shore, the girls in
the dance hall won't dance with him,
and call him Booze Cob
This popular contempt on the part
of the girls and others up and down
the social scale is heading toward the
breakdown and corruption of the en-
tire service, according to Lieutenant
Commander Yeandle.
IN Atlantic City eight members of
the Coast Guard were court-martialed
and sentenced TO a year in the naval
prison at Portsmouth, N. H. They
were charged, among other things,
with scandalous conduct and SNUG
Cling liquor.
Taunts Worse Than Sea periIs.
1t was upon hearing of these con-
victions that Commander Yeandle
gave his ideas on where responsibility
for Coast Guard corruption lay. Eas-
perils of the sea than to face the con-
temptuous taunts and jibes of friends
ashore.
Apparently of the same opinion as
Commander Yeandle were the mem
bers of the Dwyer rum ring, now in
dicted, whose business it was to cor
rupt these same peril-facing sentries
of the ocean boundary. Their tech
nique, as revealed by Assistant United
States Attorney Stichman, in charge
of the case, was much in keeping.
Parties given by the Dwyer bench
men as hosts, both in New York and
New London, are said to have been
lavish and exotic in the extreme. The
Coast Guardsmen were invited, per-
haps just after they had left dance
hall, discouraged by the role of out
casts which the contempt of their COM
panions out OF the service forced upon
them.
Tables Changed for Corruption.
They were dined, and they were
wined, and they were taken to the
theatre BY this time, it might be sus-
pected, the poor Coast Guardsmen,
with maybe none too prosperous
brood of children at home, were al
ready dazzled by the unaccustomed
surroundings.
But their willy hosts insisted that
the party had barely begun. Back at
hotel for more food and more wine
they were joined by visitors, the peers,
at least, of the disdainful dance hall
sirens. These entertainers never said
Booze Cob" or anything else to hurt
the feelings of their escorts. The
hosts of the evening saw to that.
Quite to the contrary, they were as
nice as they could be to the outcast
and dazzled Coast Guardsmen At the
New London party it is revealed, the
visitors organized beauty pageant,
In which they fashioned themselves
quaint costumes.
Lack of Support Harms Morale.
After such occasions as these 1t was
that the members of the service forgot
their duty and gave aid and comfort
II, The enemy- And the success OF such
tactics, according to Commander
Yeandle, was directly dependent on
the preceding contempt of the dance
hall misses.
ut is the lack of public support that
Is doing most harm to the morale OF
the Coast Guard" he said, "and espe-
cially in the so-called wet communities
along the coast.
Coast Guardsmen stationed at the
picket boathouse at Sandy Hook COM
plain that their wives are frequently
insulted on their way to the grocery
stores at Atlantic High nds, N. j.
Other Coast Guardsmen from Base 2,
on Staten Island, have been deliber-
don, Conn.,, Coast Guard sailor was
murdered in cold blood. His slayer
has never been apprehended.
Feel They Alone Enforce Dry Law.
"The Coast Guard considers the war
against Rum Row won. 1t points with
pride to the two solitary ships, where
a year ago there were many, and calls
attention to the absence of the legion
of speed boats which was present a
few months ago. But it also feels that
it's job is permanent, and officers eX-
press the fear that unless more public
support is forthcoming, many of the
guardsmen will continue to feel, that
they are enforcing prohibition all by
themselves"
The sentences of the eight convicted
men in Atlantic City were read before
the entire command at the Inlet Base,
while Captain Ridgeley, the command
ing officer, STOOD before the men.
Boatswain Oscar Pearson, Chief
Boatswain's Mate Jan Butler, Chief
Machinists' Mate Marvin A. Turner,
Machinists' Mate Louis G.. Knewstep,
and Machinists' Mate Robert S. Adam,
all were charged with scandalous con-
duct tending to the destruction of good
morals, disobedience to orders of SUI
perior officers, and smuggling liquor on
board of a Coast Guard vessel.
BOatswains Frank J. Cassidy and
Henry D. Sterling were convicted on
the first two of the three charges.
HeAnNE nA-Ec ulMc