RUM CREW DROWNED.

Putaruru Press, Volume VIII, Issue 331, 27 March 1930, Page 2

RUM CREW DROWNED.

PURSUED BY PATROLMEN. Four members of three rum-run-ning boats were drowned in the Detroit River, into which they plunged to escape arrest by Customs border patrolmen. Two other members of the crew were rescued from the riv- ! er by the inspectors, who also seiz- } the smugglers’ boat, with a cargo of J liquor valued at more than £6OOO. The seizure was made about 150 ft. I off Wyandotte. The officers had stop- ! ped the three boats coming from the j Canadian shore. As they drew i alongside, the four men jumped inte ( the river and struck out for a fourth J boat. This craft, according to the c ffieers, was capsized by the combined efforts of the four men to climb . aboard. I The two original occupants of the fourth boat were taken aboard the j Customs patrol boat, i Rival Detroit and Buffalo liquor | running gangs were declared by Fed- ! eral agents to be engaged in a war ; to the death for the control of the | Ontario liquor output. ! C. M. Camer, special investigator l of the Treasury Department, has been i assigned to look into the situation, I which already has resulted in the l murder of one Detroit liquor smug- ; gler and the disappearance of three | others. I The war started with the descent | upen the Ontario ports of Bridgei burg, Port Colborr.e and Forte Erie j of a gang of Detroit smugglers, who ; proceeded, with offers of higher ' wages, to lure away some of the Buff- ! alo gang’s best liquor traffickers, j One result of the war between the 1 two gangs has been a decrease in j the amount of smuggled liquor, as I crossing the Niagara River has been made more hazardous, with sraugi glers forced to evade their rivals in | addition to the coastguard and the J ice floes. I Rum-running operations have been somewhat curbed also by the fatal shooting of Eugene F. Downey, Jnr., by coastguards.