White Bluffs spokesman. [volume] (White Bluffs, Wash.) 1907-1938, 1927-11-25
LIFE ADVENTUROUS
FOR COAST GUARD
Experiences Rival Those of
Pirate Days.

Fort Lauderdale, .Fla.-One thrill
ing adventure after another, rivaling
those of days when pirate ships sailed
the high seas and buccaneers COM
PEELED their prisoners to walk the
plank, makes up the life of coast
guardsmen battling rum runners In
Florida waters.
Prices have been put upon the heads
of several guardsmen, officers declare,
as the struggle to halt the smuggling
of liuuor becomes more acute. Win
ter's icy winds in the North are turn
ing the bows of many runners south
ward, resulting in Increased activity
along the Florida coast.
When a slim, speedy government
chaser, armed with one-pounders,
closes in on the boat filled with illegal
cargo, the officers seldom know
whether the crew will surrender,
abandon the vessel or choose to flight
it out"
Three Killed In Battle.
There was, for example, the recent
battle about thirty miles off Fort
Lauderdale in which three officers
were killed and q fourth wounded
when coast guard boat No. 240 cap
tured rum runner.
The 249 was on its way to Nassau,
in the Bahamas, carrying Robert Il.
Webster, secret service operative, to
trace counterfeit $50 bills used in
rum transactions, when it spotted and
closed in on the rumboat and cap
tured Horace Alderman and Robert
e. Weech.
| While officers transferred the car
go, Sidney Sanderlin, boatswain,
sought to get in touch by radio with
the Fort Lauderdale base. Suddenly,
the account goes, Alderman fired
down the hatch and killed Sanderlin.
Victor A. Lamby, motor machinist,
rushed to aid the fallen man and
was mortally wounded by a bullet
through his spine.
Alderman grabbed Lamby's gun,
gave it to Weech and ordered the
other six government men to cline
up"
"Move the whisky back to our boat,"
he instructed Weech, "and then go
below and set this government boat
on fire."
AS Weech went into the hold Web
ster jumped for Alderman. He was
killed instantly with bullet through
his head. Jodie L. Hollingsworth, fol-
lowing the secret service man, was
wounded through the eye and nose.
But it was the "break," and the rest
of the small crew rushed upon Alder
man and Weech and overpowered
them and brought them to port. They
now await trial at Jacksonville fol
first-degree murder.
Other Smuggling Part Of Job.
Closely allied with rum running Il
the smuggling of aliens and narcotics
An affidavit in government possession
tells how a rumboat took twenty
seven aliens from Cuba to an islan'
off Florida, only to return in few
days to rob them of all they had
Other stories tell of aliens paying thu
smuggling fees, being taken aboard
and being set adrift at sea OF
drowned.
Strategy is used oftener than force
to land liquor. Submersble stee
tanks, carrying about 600 cases Of
liquor, were used with success fol
while, towed behind boats and Gu
adrift If guardsmen pressed tot
closely.
Attempts to smuggle by airplane ar
no longer novel. Planes can easil.
/ fly between the British Bahamas ant
! Florida, but federal operatives nov
, know how to deal with them. The,
, are sighted in the air and kept iron
landing.
Even when rum runners deser
their boats, danger turks often fl
bombs with time fuses or explosive
attached to the ignition. More thai
5000 miles of coast line around Flor
4 ida offer innumerable bayous and in
! lets where rum runners try to lam
cargoes. To meet the situation rein
forcements are being added and
section base is to be set up at 81
Petersburg with an offshore patro
of six vessels. The coast guard ais
uses planes