Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1929-02-12

| ron ana BROOKLYN pteTS at yZUU q neQd,
and hop 10000 foreign Seamen become
| Americans" By DESERVING ships is told IN
article No. OF series OF IL, following
national surpey.
BY NORMAN KLEIN.
After an uneventful night Polio,
Patrol Launch No. returned to Pie
10, East River. Patrolmen Edward J
O'Neill, Thomas P. Walsh and viii
liam Krause dragged a tarpaulin hooe
over the engine.
We'll go over to Porkchop Mike.
for supper" said Patrolman O'Neill.
I'm surely ready for it," said Patrol
man Walsh
peared a large launch. painted black
1t had muff1er It's powerful engines
made only low humming.
The policemen paused to listen.
The black launch slipped up to the
pier. 1t showed no lights. AS it drew
alongside sand barge somebody spoke
crisply. A dozen or more men scram.
bled oversize and on the pier.
Patrolman O'Neill led his two com.
panionS in a pursuit of the men, bu
they lodged away in the darkness.
i O'Neill turned to see the black launch
showing away from the dock and head
| ing back to midstream.
/ Let those others go. Well get thai
launch" he yelled. Walsh and Krause
came back and jumped in the patro
boat, which roared in pursuit.
The black launch speeded north
! dashed beneath Brooklyn Bridge. II
was gaining. ONeill. Krause and Walsh
drew their revolvers.
Shoot over their heads" ONeill or
dered.
Five Caught i'm Chase.
They fired 10 shots and O'Neii
yelled to the launch to halt. But the
smugglers' boat kept on, and quarter
/ of a mile above the bridge it suddenly
doubled back and headed south.
The police patrol came abreast ths
| launch directly under BROOKLYN Bridge
O'Neil revolver in hand, waved thu
| skipper to make shore at Pier 1, on the
Brooklyn side.
Five men were aboard. They stooe
with hands appraised in surrender
They were penniless and dirty. The.
said they had come from Portugal b,
way of Colombia, South America. A
syndicate of smugglerS had put then
(, aboard a vessel and kept them below
decks until the ship was safely In New
York Harbor.
When the ship locked in Brooklyn
! the syndicate agent waited until night
then led the five on deck. The black
launch was waiting. They slid dowr
ropes to the launch. The police never
caught the dozen or more who got
away at Pier 2.
This happened on the night of Apri
!, S, last year. 1t is typical Of the wa,
smugglers land their human contra
band in New York Harbor; typical Of &
traffic in aliens that mounts to thou.
! sands yearly since the immigration re
| Striction law closed this port to thu
| hordeS from Europe.
| In addition to the many struggled
| in aboard transatlantic liners, steam.
| ships from Cuba, Central and South
America, tankers and freighters, thou.
sands of aliens enter New York ille-
gally in other ways.
Ten thousand alien Seamen desert
their ships at New York piers every
year, according to Benjamin Day, COM
missioner at Ellis Islanl There is nc
way to stop this invaa1dA Of the coun-
try by seamen from fc..- :gn ships.
It is estimated that 100000 seamen
each year enter Am1r.ccn ports. The
La Toilette Seamen's act permits them
| to take 60-day shore leave, in the event
| that they wish to seek jobs on other
ships. AS soon as the 1924 quota law
| went into effect there was an increase
| in the number Of foreign seamen who
| jumped ship at New York.
From 1921 to 1927 total of LAT, 200
| deserving seamen went their merry way
| into American cities. In 1928 there
| were 23,194 of these ship-to-shore
! jumpers; in 1924, 34,679, and the num-
Der this year is estimated at $4,000.
Many Of them desert on reaching
| New York, the foreign Seamen's para
disc. In one year there were between
1000 and 5000 undeported assertions
according to j. Hurley Of the Bureau
| of immigration. One hundred mer
T, deserted a single Greek vessel. They
disappear of French, German ane
| italian ships by the dozens every voy.
| age to New York.
! In fact, syndicates now prey or
European peasants yearning to get tt
America. through the quota barrier
| The syndicates collect fees of $3.50 Il
$3.50 and sign the aliens on as mem
bers of 1.-THE crews of transatlantic
+, steamships.
| There's a fat traffic these days il
4
double the price of first-class cabir
for the privilege Of riding across II
| the fo'c'Sle with the crew.
They never may have seen an ocear
steamship before, but they're ''Seamen'
now and "seamen" they are-until thu
ships tie up at piers in Brooklyn, Man
haitian and Hoboken.
Then the first night in port they're
off the boat, guided by agents of thu
smugglers' syndicates through devious
passages to the street and foreign
| quarters.
Fifteen Men Paid $3.50 for Trip.
/ There was the case of is Italian
who were seized here. They said the!
had paid $3.50 each for their passage
TO one of the officers of ship just il
from Bremen
They had been recruited in Rome b,
smugglers' syndicate. shipped Il
Bremen and then put aboard a. boa
IS members of the crew."
Often the ships ofncers-the chic