DESPERATE COAL RAIDERS.

Auckland Star, Volume LIV, Issue 89, 14 April 1923, Page 15

DESPERATE COAL RAIDERS.

m - —* — . ' POLICE HELP THE LOOTERS. i l)riven to desperation by empty coalbins ib zero weather, the residents of upState communities in New York last Bwnth raided the railway yards and Seized carloads of coal en route for Canada and Northern cities. At Sara- ' toga Springs the raids were conducted Under the supervision of Dr. Leonard, Commissioner of Public Safety, who declared that an emergency existed threatening the lives of citizens, and he •■lied upon the police (force and the FirDepartment to support him in the seizure tnd distribution. Attempts of the railway employees -to protect the coal resulted in a fight with policemen, who IBrew the train crew* into the enow and fuarded the firemen and private citizens ts they emptied the trucks of their precious load* and carted the fuel to then ■omes. At Ballston Spa a coal train woke down on the outskirts of tlie village, and residents in motors and sleighs •warmed to the railway track and helped themselves to twenty tons almost -before tte train men knew what was happening. When the train crew demonstrated, they l*ceived volleys of hardened snowballs •Imed with such vim and accuracy that they were forced to retreat and leave the raiders unmolested. The railway •fficia's appealed to the Fuel Administrator, who replied that, while he had ■ot authorised tho seizures, he was powerless to prevent them when the town administration sanctioned them. J*. Leonard, of Saratoga Springs, threatened to continue the seizures until the .tsilvray company relieves the emergency, •Oi says he is justified under the State ■••Ith lawe as a means of averting sickJess and death. For weeks the resident* ■aye -been forced to "break up thejr fur•Hure or pay £30 for a cord of wood •nile tons of coal were on the railway • ■Mings awaiting shipment to other points. The railway officials declare they •SVe been prevented from delivering coal to outlying districts' because of the •Ountry-wide shortage due -to last eum-■"ei-s strike of coal miners and the •evere weather condition- which have delayed deliveries, but they promise that Wai shall be forthcoming in a few more wys.