RAIDED BY POLICE

Gisborne Herald, Volume LXVI, Issue 20060, 5 October 1939, Page 2

RAIDED BY POLICE

U.S. GAMBLING SHIP POLICE BOARDING PARTY SANTA MONICA, Aug. 2. Five hundred gamblers spent last night marooned on board a gambling ship named Rex, anchored outside the three-mile''limit off the Californian coast. Government agents who tried to board the vessel were rethe owner, a former convict l named 1 Cornero, who trained hoses on a boatload or officeiis.' fhe evening’s gambling was in proi‘r^s‘,' ! "Vl®r^ e '''“'tilt>r® 1 crbwded with patrons, all in evening dress, when a. look-out on deck, spied police boats approaching. As the craft .drew alongside, Cornero shouted to the officers to keep off, and ordered his crew to drop huge nets over the vessel's sides as a barrier against the boarding party. A firehose was reeled out, and the ship generally placed in a state of defence. Tumbled Into Sea As the police officers grasped for a hold to pull themselves up on deck, streams of water struck them and tumbled them'.back into the sea, from which, they were rescued, halfdfbwned, by their comrades. ...< Other officers engaged in-fisticuffs with the sailors. 'This morning Cornero decided to giye in, .and ordered his . lawyer to negotiate a surrender. As the ship's customers reached shore in boatloads, 40 policemen hustled them off to the police-station, whbre'.their names were taken. They were then released. The scandal .VbL California's illegal gambling ships has such a pitch that Congress isAiow debating a‘ bill to prohibit .the .transportation ap'd operation of such craft, as well as the transportation by water taxis of customers from the shore.