DISGUISED LIQUOR.

Taranaki Daily News, 4 June 1921, Page 11

DISGUISED LIQUOR.

SOME QUAINT DEVICES. San Francisco, April 18. Ingenuity never ceases contriving methods to defeat the watchfulness of the Secret Service agents of the American Government entrusted with enforcing the prohibition measure. For instance, in Sacramento, California, Judge Van Fleet ruled in the Federal Court in the case of. Steve Scandalls, a baker, accused of violating t,he Prbhib'tion Act, that liquor is an essential part of mincemeat, and actually admitted that he liked brandy in mincemeat. •Seattle -has developed a penchant for brandied chocolates, now being manufactured in Vancouver, British Columbia, and upon this product Seattle Customs officials were asked to make a ruling as to the application of the Prohibition Act. They considered the ease and ruled that candy flavored with liquor does not come under the provision of the Volstead law. As a consequence, the brandied chocolates have become decidedly popular in Seattle, and Vancouver has been in receipt of “rush” orders from the Washington metropolis following the official decision allowing admission of the sweats to Seattle.

In Akron, Ohio, the Vice Squad raided a -soft drink parlor and discovered one of the most ingenious and most complicated ‘‘blin'd pigs” ever unearthed in that populous State. The unique contraption was uncovered- when presumably a water spigot back of the counter suddenly issued forth lodorous amber fluid when one of the officers turned the valve. The Vice Squad traced the liquor to its source. They found a large can built into a hot-air pipe on the second floor of the building. Connected to it was a rubber hose running down the .pipe and between the walls and connecting with the spigot after taking a circuitous and unchecked course.

Strange vessels have been busily plying a liquor trade from British Columbia t® California and the adjoining State of Washington, and many thousands of dollars’ worth of whiskey and brandy is known to have been safely landed to the consternation of the Government officials, but after redoubled energies the Vice Squad on the Pacific Coast have managed to intercept the agents of this illicit traffic, with the result that four valuable vessels have been seized and their heavy cargoes of liquor confiscated Tn most cases, directly the officers and crew of these contraband craft discover they a£p being tracked, they forsake their boat and manage to escape.