Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1930-01-03

NNO1L1IUCO CTOIu C1ISG EdRS.)
killing of three rum runners of New
port, r. l., last Sunday by Coast
Guardsmen, similar posters were de-
Stroyed.
Members of the Coast Guard resumed
recruiting duty on the Common today,
under instructions to indulge in no vio-
lence. but to protect Government prop
erty so far as possible.
Investigation Is Urged.
A resolution adopted by an audience
which filed the hall called upon Presi-
dent Hoover for an impartial investi-
cation. It follows. in part:
I'VE believe that we have a right to
respectfully demand that you. sir, as
President of the United States, order
thorough and searching investigation
into the facts surrounding this de-
plorable incident by somebody not con-
nected with the Coast Guard or the
Treasury Department.
by the continuance Of such govern
mental practices as the incident above
described we can see nothing but the
destruction of the liberties for which
our fathers fought, for which free men
have bled from the time Of the Great
Charter.
I'VE are not asserting the guilt OF
the Coast Guard, but we believe the
attitude Of the Government as at
present taken will justly give the i'm
preston that an attempt Is being made
to suppress the facts and wtitewash q
criminal act Of the worst kind, and
all this for the enforcement Of an un-
popular, unnecessary and stupid law
which has no proper place in the Con-
stitution of our Nation and which all
Intelligent people know can never be
enforced"
Denies Attempt to Escape.
Conrad w. Croker, general counsel
for the Liberal Civic League, which has
conducted an investigation into the
shooting, denied that the rum runners
mad attempted to escape or that they
were given warning by the Coast Guard
patrol boat 900 before 1t opened fire
with a machine gun.
Croker said his investigation showed
the men were shot down from q point
blank range Of Is feet as their craft,
the Black Duck, was proceeding at
miles an hour in a dense fog directly
toward the 900. The 900, he said, in
stead OF being In pursuit, was tied by
the stern to the Dumping Rock buoy
at the time,
He said Boatswain Cornell. skipper of
the 290, was afraid to board the Black
Duck after Charles Travers, the wound
ed and sole survivor of her crew.
brought her alongside the Coast Guard
craft.
Those men were left to welter and
Ole IN their own blood" he said.
Help Given by Cook.
1t was the cook aboard the 900, he
said, who finally, inreSponse to Travers'
pleas. went aboard the Black Duck to
help him with the three dead or dying
men. Croker claimed that when Cor
nell finally took his craft the half mile
through the fog to Fort Adams, two
hours after the shooting, a naval
surgeon there said Jake Weisman, one
OF the three killed, was still alive, and
that he was not pronounced dead until
half an hour after his arrival.
Croker asserted that If the Guards
men bad taken the men to shore quick
er, Weisman's life might have been
saved.
Representative John w. Douglas said
the rum runners were "outrageouSly,
feloniously murdered" and promised to
forward an investigation at Washington.
John F. Fitzgerald, former mayor of
Boston, after attacking the Newport
Sayings, announced his intention Of be-
ing Democratic candidate for governor
next year, with repeal of the States
enforcement act as a platform plank
He made Of his announcement a chaI-
lenge to Gov. Frank @. Allen, who yes
terday defended the State law.
William n. Mitchell, chairman Of the
meeting, said 1,100 men, women and
children had been killed In the enforce
~
stalks abroad in the guise of law, in
Gods name repeal that law" he said.
Official murder is still murder"