Evening star., 1929-07-03
By LEMUEL F. PARTON.

epecial Correspondent Of The Star.
DETROIT, July Sit is not SO much
o gun battle as publicity battle which
the Government and the rum runners
are waging here.
Both sides are showing out their
stories of the doings Of the last few
years, and the town is boiling with in
spired rlimors. There are mysterious
whispers and bits of "low down." fan
tastic and incredible most of them, but
which outline an exceedingly complex
situation, reaching into Chicago and
New York gangland, into Washington
and into innumerab1e ramifications Of
local politics.
With all this smoke and confusion
there are few tangible facts which
show what has actually been happen
ing in prohibition enforcement here.
and which possibly indicate the drift Of
border enforcement in the future.
The main outlines are:
President Hoover's move toward de-
tached enforcement authority is sup
ported by the history Of the rum tight
here. It has been the contention be-
tween forces bf the Prohibition Bu-
reau and the customs service which
has opened in this district some of the
biggest liquor leaks on the border.
Drive Gets Results.
The Governments drive is getting re-
suits. There is blockade on the river
and the records of Canadian imports
show that a great deal less liquor Is
coming through.
There is a new crowd Of runners,
brought in after Mr.. Hoover's shake
up had built up line Of bribe-proof
patrol officers. The old liquor barons,
who used to buy their way through,
are now in exile in Canada.
In 1922 the new patrol along the
river had Just few boats and a few.
men. There was one State trooper on
each boat, one patrol officer and one
immigration inspector. Later the patrol
was taken over by the Bureau of Pro-
hibition. This patrol had about 20
men and few boats, with rarely more
than two of them In shape for an
emergency at any one time. Rum run
ming by this time had become o big,
highly organized business. When q
boat was Knocked over" 1t meant
nothing to this powerful gang. En-
forcement was more or less perfunctory.
Until June, 1927, the border patrol
was In the hands of the collector of
customs. Then Sumner G. Sleeper, q
customs off1cer from Maine, was brought
In. Sleeper and Carey d. Ferguson,
collector of customs, took over enforce
ment. There was q rapid recruiting Of
without benefit Of civil service exam
nations The patrol continued to grow
until at one time 1t had $50 men.
Starting with three boats, 1t acquired
IS speed boats and about 80 automo-
biles. This force patrolled 100 miles
of the river.
Liquor continued to come in.
Twenty Indicted.
In October an undercover man was
brought here from Washington. He
was instructed to join up with the en-
forcement officers and accept bribes
from the rum runners. As result 90
men were indicted, pleaded not
guilty and on conviction were sent
to Leavenworth for terms of two wears
with fines Of 5000. Seven pleaded
guilty and received more lenient SEN
tences. The remainder viii be tried this
month.
Almost all Of the old officers were
Tired" and new ones recruited. They
are green men, but bribeproof. This
put a bad crinp in the down-river
liquor barons, such as Joe. Rausen,
French Trench, George McNdanus,
Claire de Wallet and Leo Chenavier. They
jumped to Canada, where four of their
leaders maintain an investment COM
pany"
The story of liquor loading at Wind
sor Is the same as that of Bridgeburg,
across from Buffalo. They are still
loading and clearing, but there is no
more daylight running. The most re-
liable opinion here is that the Detroit
leak can be plugged, but that the
lake, In general will continue to be
an inlet, unless the Government forces
are vastly augmented. The invariable
conclusion Of close-in students Of the
rum war here Is that the Government
VIII succeed to the extent that It win
end pickering between the customs and
prohibition forces and in some manner
nobody knows how-clear the entire
operation from politics.
Copyright, Is2e)