THE BOOTLEGGER.

Press, Volume LXIV, Issue 19357, 9 July 1928, Page 14

THE BOOTLEGGER.

! HOW HE PLIES HIS TRADE. ! . With a desire to protect ita patrons from fraud, the International Mercan- ! tile Marine Company, agents in U.S.A. for the "White Star, Red Star, Atlantic Transport, and Panama Pacific lines, is making public the methods used by | a ring of local bootleggers to sell their I wares to relatives and friends of pas- ! sengers who embark on the company s steamships. Detectives in the employ 9f the company, who have been working on the case for several months, have succeeded in keeping bootleg runners from' its piers and steamships on sailing days, but they have found it difficult to cope with substitutes who are sent to the steamships ostensibly as visitors desirous of saying good-bye to friends who aro sailing. The practice of the bootleggers is to ascertain the names of outbound passengers, and after the steamship is at sea, to call up the homes and inform the household that the passenger has. left several packages on the pier which must bo delivered at once. Frequently the bootlegger represents himself on the telephone as the "Baggage master of the White Star Line" and informs tho relatives that the "packages" will cost a certain price on delivery. He intimates that it is a special brand of high-class liquor procured aboard ship on sailing night by the outbound passenger, and that it is likely to be confiscated if not delivered at once. Thoughtful persons thus approached | have sent radio messages to sea for confirmation and invariably the relative has replied: "Have ordered nothing. Accept no packages." One method is to send a t-elegram to the passenger himself after his_ return to the "United States advising him_ that there are several packages consigned to him on the pier, and that they will he sent to the public stores unless der livered at once and charges paid. Another subterfuge of the bootleggers is to call the passenger on the telephone a day or two after liis return to New York and represent himself as a steward who crossed with !iim on the journey just ended. The bootlegger then explains that ho has on hand ready for delivery a few cases of the brand of whisky the passenger liked so mucli during the voyage westward. Investigation has shown that the bootlegger brings to the house a few bottles of fairly good whisky, explaining that the steward himself was unable to leave the shipOn behalf of the mythical steward he solicits further orders, which upon delivery prove to be a poor quality of synthetic liquor. The International Mercantile Mantle Company advises all its patrons that no one connected with the company on its. piers or its steamships is in a position to offer or deliver liquor.