A LIQUOR RAID.

Shannon News, 23 March 1926, Page 3

A LIQUOR RAID.

REVELLERS STILL GAY BEHIND IRON POOiRIS. HARD TASK "FOR POLICE. NEW YORK,. Jan, 23. While U policemen and. a Federal prohibition agent armed with sledges, axes and crowbars, hammered, chopjped and pried for more than an hour ■early to-day at the triple-barred entrance to the Bronx Theatrical Club, 50 or more entertainers and revellers within danced, sang and" laughed at the laborious efforts of the raiders. Even after the raiders had crashed through a heavy, wooden door and were gazing at the revellers through . a steel-barred gate, the dance went on, the jazz music cresceridoed to a volume of sound heard a block away and the dancers shouted invitations to the officers to work harder. After 30 mnutes of hammering and ipryiing, the steel gate yielded to the attackers. Then arose a shout of derision as, to the accompaniment of whirring motors, a great steel shutter decended a few feet in front of the raiders' faces and presented a third and formidable harrier to be surmounted. As the policemen went into action against the steel shutter, a new note was added to the chaos of sounds within—the crash of breaking glass. Convinced at last that the raiders would sooner or later gain entrance, . the .revellers rolled two big barrels to the centre of the room and (began smashing bottles and pouring their, contents into these leaky receptacles. The police said later many bottles of champagne were smashed against the barrels, which, however, were unable to hold .the "evidence" poured into them. REVELLERS STILL GAY.

The police finally lifted the shutter about one foot from the floor. The smallest policeman in the party was ordered to crawl through. Expecting trouble, the officer was astonished at the applause which greeted him. The floor was soggy with alleged champagne and other liquors that had leaked from the barrels, but the revellers still were, gay, and as the first policeman to enter got to his feet, .the orchestra played "Hail, the Conquering Hero Comes." Prohibition Agent William Boston, who accompanied the policemen, and who carried the search warrant, said he found one bottle of champagne hidden under a table cover in a corner of the room, i The police said that the premises formerly had. been occupied .by a gambling establishment and that the proprietor had installed the barricades that caused them such trouble to-day. Steel shutters, they added, had been placed on all windows and there was also a secret stairway which, however, the revellers scorned to use today.