Evening star., 1928-03-18
for Bringing in LIQUOR Flourish at New Peace Bridge

were full of--full Of Well, Bill. I
have his pajamas here now. What
shall do with them?"
X
COME careful student Of hydraulics
- recently made a survey OF the Nj
agara River and its currents. BY means
of corks and floats he determined ap-
/ proximately the chances any boz Ead .!
| reaching the American side IL placed In
, Canadian waters near Lake Erie and
also the points where 1t should draw
near snore. AS the current has a speed
OF about IL miles an hour It Is passes
under the Peace Bridge and almost 80
miles an hour as 1t nears the Falls. he
brought In couple of conspirators and
decided TO let the river work for him.
His plan worked most successfully for
weeks. Each morning just about dawn
| 5everal cases Of spirits would be placed
| in buoyant boxes on the Canadian side
and an hour or two later be fished from
the river between Tonawanda and Nj
| agara Falls. On rare occasions the con-
! traband would beach on Grand Island,
| but as rule losses were small and
! risks we're few, for no one could be pun
ished for fishing out Of American waters
whatever he might find there.
| With the coming Of the Winter and
| ice. however. all this changed. Gases
would frequently be diverted and never
be heard from again-presumably i1av-
ing passed over Niagara Falls and into
oblivion. This was not entirely true.
/ however. On either side of the river
| Just before 1t comes TO the rapids above
| the falls, are the plants Of the Niagara
Falls Power Co. and the Canadian Nj
agara Power Co. And both of these
hydro-electric undertakings draw water
| from the river. having weirs reaching
out to divert some Of the current. The
result was that those employees who are
charged with keeping foreign objects
from going down into the turbine pen
stocks found themselves. day after day.
the favored children OF the great spir-
its, receiving regular blessings in the
form Of Scotch. rye and brandy.
II was at the customs Office at the
Peace Bridge that I propounded my
questions. How many try it?" and
How many get away with it?" The
up in the single word, Plenty"
We catch many" one guard said,
but We don't get every one the first
keep 1t up long enough. How easily We
can be fooled by some Of the amateurs
came to light here not long ago.
There are a lot of people living on
the United States side of the Niagara
frontier who. as you know, have Sum.
mer homes on the Canadian side. And
a lot more belong to these country
clubs
There was one happer who used t.
take frequent runs over to the Cana
dian side in a big blue roadster. The
car was one of those expensive looking
Jobs. where the hood Is about two.
thirds Of the entire length. She made
the round trip almost every fair day
carried her golf clubs with her, and, IN
time, became known to the guards on
both the Canadian and American sides
She used to carry the golf bag sticking
out of the backdeck of the roadster. 50
that 1t was plain to every one she had
nothing concealed there
She would have been making het
trips yet. guess. If she had not pulled
up to the customs office right in back
of big truck one day. We we're sus>
picious of that truck and told the driver
to pull over to one side. Instead Of
starting forward he backed up. crash
ing into the roadster and buckling its
radiator back into the hood, which
crumpled up
And it revealed something of real
interest to us. The huge hood con-
tanned a tiny engine with just enough.
power to give the bus headway. But
packed around the engine, in asbestos
containers, were 20 cases Of whisky. We
seized the car and arrested the little
lady. It developed later that her daddy
had wanted to stock his cellar on this
side with what he had In Canada. and
she had agreed to perform the task at
so much case. Daddy. dear, probably
had to buy her new car.
Yes, lot Of them try II. We usu-
allv fine them s5 a hottie for sr,iritS
and So for wine and ale Well. excuse
me. I've got 70 go out and play Hora-
thus TO another onslaught Of the Demon
Rum "