Smyrna times., 1930-01-08
COAST GUARDS GET SO MEN
AND S250,OO0 WORTH RUM
1850 CASES OF LIQUOR CON
FISCATED AT OCEAN CITY, MD.
Officers Capture Men As They
Work; SO Residents of Ocean
City, and Leaders of Rum Ring

T
Md, by United States coast guards
on Monday of last week. The cap
ture of the rum runners marks the
first instance of this kind in the
sixth coast guard district. The
liquor is described as the finest
uncut Canadian liquor" There was
an assortment of it which included
every good drink. 1t was estimat-
ed that bootleggers, in the process
of cutting could stretch the p 900
cases into about 5000 cases of
saleable liquor. A tip had come
from Halifax, N. F., recently that
the rum-laden ship was bound for
the Eastern Shore and a lookout
had been set Early on Monday,
December Both, the word came
that the ship had arrived and was
being unloaded. The first strike
made at the rum runners occurred
when a group of the guardsmen
stopped a Camden-bound truck
loaded with 400 cases of the liquor
L
and they submitted to arrest with
out a struggle. The men were
locked up, and their truck held
In the meantime, the other guards
men, heavily armed, boarded mo-
tor boats and speeded towards the
landing place Of the liquor, down
Sinepuzent Bay. When the gov
ernment raiders landed on the bay
side of the strip of coastal land,
they crept slowly through the
sand dunes towards the beach
Dodging behind beach grass and
in sand holes, much as did Indians
meeting early settlers, they were
upon the other 19 men, huddled
about the wet cargo, before the al
legged rum runners knew there was
a government man within a mile
of them. Captain William L.Pur-
nell, keeper of the Ocean City
coast guard station, in charge Of
So coast guardsmen from F'enwick
Island. Ocean, City, North Beach
and Isle of Wight stations. who
surprised the rum runners at work
All surrendered without any show
of resistance. For the past two
weeks the rum runners have been
active in Ocean City vicinity. The
liquor seized was landed from
ship off the Maryland coast dur
ing Sunday night and those cap
tured were engaged in ferrying it
across the Sinepuxent Bay to the
Worcester county mainland, from
where it was taken to northern
cities by trucks A Federal blank
ct complaint against Sc persons
alleging conspiracy to smuggIe in
toXicating liquors into the United
States was issued Tuesday by u
S. Commissioner Louder T. Hearn,
at Salisbury, upon instructions of
U. S. Customs officials. Four of
the persons named in the warrants
are alleged ring leaders of the rum
smuggling ring. Commissioner
Hearn fixed bail for each at $50
600. The other thirty-two persons
are all residents Of Ocean City and
immediate vicinity Meanwhile
customs officials impounded six
motor trucks and four boats
which had been seized by coast
guard and other authorities assist
ing them. The four alleged lead
ers are Samuel Hill, George Boil
ton, and Edward S. Murtha, of
Philadelphia, and Edward F. Mill
er, Trenton, n. J. They have been
held at the Snow Hill jail, though
it was intimated they would pre-
pare to furnish the aggregate cash
bail of 100000 to procure their
release. Ocean City residents
named in the complaint were:
James Bradford, Dorsey L. Crop
per, Elwod Parsons, Norman
Lynch, Orline Powell, Denard
Quillen, Walter Redden, Levi Cath
ell, Harry Gibans, Charles Quillen,
Clifford Harmon, Richard Harmon
Harris Powell, Harry Lynch, Her
man Wooten, Richard Hayward,
John II. Elliott, Charles Johnson,
George Jones, John E.Quilien, Ebe
Elliott, Spencer Elliott, Crawford
Savage, Charles Hastings, Joe
Bunting, Joshua Bunting, Ralph
Richardson, Sim Harmon, Alfred
Quillen, Will Mumford, Ned Lynch
If the latter are ordered to appear
in Federal Court by Commission
er Hearn, who will hear the testi-
mony, they will either be released
on bail, the amount of which is at
yet undetermined or held in jail
until the case is docketed and call
ed. In addition to the blanket
complaint, warrants were issued
against the alleged leaders charg
ing actual smuggling and fraud
against the u. S. Government for
non-payment of import customs
duty. Inclusion of 13 other names
to those given out Monday came
as surprise move by the Customs
Officials. The four leaders and 19
Ocean City residents were caught
in the coast guard net Monday and
placed in the Ocean City jail. The
local men, after being questioned