Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1929-03-26
BRITISH DIPLOMATS
AWAIT REPORTS ON
RUM SHIP SINKING
Doubt Expressed Whether
England Will Agree Dexter
Action Was Justified.
BY the Associated Press.

NEW ORLEANS, La, March 26.
Capt. John Thomas Randall, Ca
madam skipper of the British rum
laden schooner I'm Alone, sunk in
the Gulf by the Coast Guard, was
released from custody here today by
the United States commissioner on a
$500 bond and his crew of seven
were released on their own recog-
nizance.
Vincent Massey, the Canadian
Minister, called at the State
Department today in connection
with the sinking of the I'm Alone
and conferred for some time with
Assistant Secretary Castle. It was
understood that the Minister sought
such information on the sinking of
the vessel, which was of Canadian
registry, as the State Department
could give him.
The Treasury Department is stand
ing squarely back of its Coast Guard
Service in defense of the sinking of the
British schooner I'm Alone in the Gull
of Mexico Friday by the patrol boat
Dexter.
Forwarding the first Official report
of the incident to the State Depart
ment, Secretary Mellon has taken the
position that the Dexter was within its
rights in firing upon the alleged rum
runner, when its master refused to
heave to after continuous pursuit
about 200 miles into the Gulf from a
point within four leagues of our coast.
Meanwhile, 1t is becoming increas-
ingly doubtful that the same view will
be taken by the British and Canadian
governments. Their diplomatic repre-
sentativeS here are awaiting an oppor-
tunity to examine the official reports
from the Coast Guard and the British
consulate at New Orleans, where the
crew of the Sunken vessel was landed
II these confirm current newspaper ac-
counts of the sinking, in which one
British seaman was drowned, they are
expected to take a serious view of the
incident and vigorous protests are not
at all unlikely.
Secretary Mellon cited evidence indi-
eating rum running by the ship out OF
Belize, British Honduras, in February
and March, and asserted that "or
March 20 the Coast Guard patrol boa,
Wolcott picked up the I'm Alone within
IL miles Of the Louisiana coast" and
called upon the smuggler to heave te
for boarding and examination, as au.
thorized by the United States tariff
act"
The I'm Alone "defied" the Wolcott
he said, and fed, being continuously
pursued by the Wolcott and by the
Coast Guard patrol boat Dexter, which
joined in the chase" When overhaulec
by the Dexter on the morning of March
%, "the, Wolcott also being close up,'
he related, the master persisted in hi:
refusal to stop, despite warning that HI
would be sunk, and finally the Dexter
was compelled to fire number of shot.
into the smuggler's hull, and the vesse
sank"
From the time when this notoriou.
rum smuggler defied vessel of the
United States within leagues Gap.
proximately 13 niles of our coast,
The memorandum continued, "there wa.
continuous pursuit, precisely in &C.
cord with this well known doctrine o.
international law, until the vessel wa.
overtaken and again defied the author.
ity of the United States. Under thi.
doctrine the American ship North wa.
condemned by the British Columbia ad.
miralty court in 1925. the decision be.
Continued on Page S, Column 81