Evening star., 1932-06-12

desperate hand-to-hand fight ensued,
now on the deck Of the smuggler and
now on the Coast Guard cutter For
half an hour the crews of the two
vessels fought as the ships rolled in a
heavy sea 100 miles of Montauk Point,
and with the first streaks Of dawn on
Saturday, February Z. 1925, the smug-
glers surrendered. The marvel was that
no one was slain.
Slain by Rum Runners.
But there were fatalities in the fight
off the Bahamas when the Coast Guard
patrol 249 and an American vessel met
on August 8, 1927. Sidney Sanderlin
boatswain's mate of the Coast Guard
snip. and Robert K. Webster, a Govern
ment Secret Service agent, were slain
by the rum runners. -Four Of the SNUG
glerS were wounded.
Things have been improved since
then-rum smuggling has become highly
organized and rough tactics by the
crews is forbidden by the directors OF
the international syndicates.
There is also an ignoble side OF the
Coast Guard. for some Of the men have
betrayed their trust. No one was more
relentless on the dishonest Coast
Guardsmen than the late Rear Admiral
Billiard. their commander, who told
Congress that the smuggling could not
be stopped until We had matched the
we'll equipped fleets of the smugglers
ship for ship.
Smuggling is now carried on almost
exclusively by large, highly organized
international .avndicates." Billiard III
formed Congress in February, 1882
THE ships Of the smuggling syndicates
are navigated in violation of the inter-
national rules Of the road, run without
lights, use smoke screens which some
times contain poison gas, and so on.
The operations are controlled entirely
by radio in secret code.
Our information indicates that there
are at the present time 81 foreign YES
sells engaged in the business of attempt
ing to smuggle liquor on the Atlantic
Coast. The vessels, hailing principally
from Nova Scotia and Newfoundland,
have as bases of operations the islands
Of st. Pierre, Miquelon, the Bahamas
and other Islands of the West Indies.
Conversation Cited.
I'm the Gulf there are Al foreign YES
sells engaged in smuggling, operating
along the entire Gulf Coast from Flor
ida to Texas. and basing their opera
tions principally on Belize. British
Honduras
'On the Pacific Coast there are 80
vessels engaged in smuggling. basing
their operations on mother ships an
chored off the Mexican Coast"
Most of the smuggling is on the At
lantic Coast, from Maine to Virginia,
and the heaviest traffic is along the
shores of Long Island and New JERSEY.
In the vicinity of New York City sew
eral syndicates operate. Each Is inde-
pendent of the other. but all are one
IN times OF stress. Elsewhere through
out the country rum runners are bitter
rivals, ever at swords points. Their
friendly relationship In New York is re-
vealed in the following conversation,
heard by Government agent who tap
ped wire:
"The Coast Guard has copped three
OF our boats. Another has a cylinder
head blown out. There's a ship watt
ing. She wants to hurry back to Can
ada for another load How many boats
can you lend us?"
I'll call you back In half an hour. "
At the appointed time the one of few
words says:
We're sending you two right away.
One holds 900 cases. Another's good
for 400"
On another occasion this was heard ::
Say. the special agents knocked off
our radio. Have you one to spare?"
Sure. I'll shoot 1t over right away"
While the rum running is but a small
part Of the bootlegging industry, the
Smugglers lend the only colorful note
to this sordid, murderous business.
Continued on Third Page.)