GOLD BOOTLEGGING

Greymouth Evening Star, 12 January 1928, Page 6

GOLD BOOTLEGGING

3 BIG THEFTS IN CANADA. TORONTO, November 14. Bootlegging in gold is the newest t crime operated on .an extensive scale s in the Northern Ontario mining ) camps. The other day a sqspected - couple were observed to leave the • gold town of Timmins hurriedly in a i motor-car. They were captured and - the car and their belongings searched, ■ but nothing incriminating was found. But the lady’s secret, like the secret > of the “Black Cat” in Poe’s story, was i too ingenious to keep. She said they . were carrying “high grade.” But i where? asked the police. In a spe-cially-constructed canvas brassiere ■ laced tight under her corset she had i nearly £2OOO worth of gold. The ■ husband assumed all responsibility and the woman was not charged. This capture led to the arrest of an operator who had £5BOO in gold secreted in his premises and his credited with disposing of £25,600 worth in the last few months. He pleaded guilty and was given the option of a £3OO fine. The incident with its evidence of wide ramifications in the traffic has led to a drive against suspects on the part of the police. A dozen cases are awaiting trial. The gold is stolen by employees in the mines. No others have access to them, for all the works are surrounded by wired barricades, the only indication of possible romance in this prosaic'looking treasure house. In some of the richer stopes, gold is sometimes blasted out in flakes as large as a pigeon’s egg—£B or £lO worth in a single lump. One thief, in such a stope, can make away with the native metal at an amazing rate. The thief requires an accomplice on the outside to get his stuff to market. The accomplice generally assumes the role of a harmless farmer who has ample opportunity to secrete the loot. A second accomplice is necessary to carry the hoardings hundreds of miles away where a market for such unusual merchandise can be found. This i whole criminal business is difficult, ( but its profits are great and detection ( is difficult. , In many high-grade mining camps, , the custom is to have all miners strip , and go under a shower bath before ( they change into street clothes and J check out of the works. Ontario min- , es have hesitated to put this prac- J t.ice in force because of the high char- 5 acter of their labour. “Ninety-five per cent, of our men are honest,” said ’ one manager. “We do not want to ; make them suffer the indignity of a ’ search every day, if we can catch the dishonest ones any other way.” ‘ But in practice the thieves within

the mine are rarely caught. The “high grade” operator outside does not identify tile men from whom he buys his nuggets. He probably could not if

he wanted to. " He knows him as “Mike” and nothing else. Where did he meet him? Probably in a pool room. Another difficulty in stamping out the erime is the reluctance of juries to be harsh on the accused. Mining communities find it hard to realise that treasure that is picked out of the earth is not public property. Moreover, they regard the law against “high-grading” as unnecessarily harsh and “un-British.” Hence juries often hesitate to convict even where the evidence is convincing. When "high-grade” is once stolen it is loi’j forever as far as the real owner is concerned. Even if seized it cannot be identified as belonging to this or that mine. So there is never any restitution. As a consequence all “high-grade” seizures are turned over by agreement to the Ontario Mining Association, where it is placed in a fund to be used in fighting the traffic.