Baron Leads Smugglers

Sun (Auckland), Volume II, Issue 365, 28 May 1928, Page 11

Baron Leads Smugglers

SPIRITS SHIPPED TO AMERICA £IO,OOO FOR CAPTAIN An astounding story of how a powerful organisation, composed chiefly of English skippers owning their own craft, with an Irishman posing as a German baron as one of their leaders, smuggled 500,000 casks of illicit whisky and other spirits from Ireland to America, has been revealed to a Dublin newspaper correspondent. High charge % are to be paid for the services of the men engaged in this traffic, it is said, and in some cases as much as £IO,OOO was received by a captain, with a bonus of £SOO for the crew each voyage. In one instance it is stated that two steamers “by arrangement” were reported to have sunk, and were posted as missing. They were repainted and registered in fictitious ownership, and continued to ply their illicit trade until recently. A party of th*»se “bootleggers,” who for some years have been tapping the spirituous resources of Europe, has just passed through Dublin on their way to America. They were very candid in their revelations regarding their activities on this side of the Atlantic. Finding it necessary on their arrival in Ireland to give an impetus to the languishing industry of poteenmaking, they made a liberal distribution of subsidies. “Mountain Dew” Cargoes Illicit stills and appliances for producing native whisky sprang up in many parts of the country, and even Dublin took a hand in the manufacture. One of the leaders of the gang, although he was said to be the son of a poor artisan of Southern Ireland, posed as a German baron. He was a chemist by profession, and a good linguist, speaking German, French and Italian, as well as being able to converse with the natives in Gaelic. Improved methods which he suggested for the production of the whisky were readily adopted, so that the bootlegging brigade got all the “stuff” they required. Inquisitive persons were hoodwinked by the story that members of the gang were exploring the minerals and bog wealth of the country. The “Baron” carried specimens of ore in his pockets as proof of these assertions. Vehicles were employed in the haulage of the casks and cases of “Mountain dew,” which were labelled as Irishgrown produce. A regular cargo and passenger service of steamers was maintained by the gang between Ireland and America, skippers and crews of various nationalities being engaged. .