NEGRO DOPE KING.

Thames Star, Volume LVII, Issue 15119, 4 January 1922, Page 6

NEGRO DOPE KING.

A CLUT3K ROGUE.

Nearly twelve months ago, in an exposure of the “dope” traffic in the West End of London, which was published in Lloyd’s Sunday News, reference was made to a fashion-■ably-dressed negro, who was known by the police to be one of the “dope”, kings of London.

“Darkie” Stewart was the name of this man, and recently Mr Mead, at Marlborough Street, sentenced him to six months’ hard labour for trafficking in cocaine. Stewart was possibly th e cleverest rogue who has ever been connected with the “dopo” trade. An American by . birth, he made a rich living for years around Piccadilly and Leicester Square touting for women.

For some considerable time past Stewart had been dealing in cocaine. Almost every night he was to be found around the West End, immaculately got up in evening dross, walking up and down the streets as though waiting for someone.

But Stewart was not one of the idle rich. . He was strolling up and down because he had in his pockets some hundreds of tiny packets of “dope,” which he was waiting to pass off to the pedlers.

He did his trade down the back streets, keeping, by means of confederates, a keen watch for the police. If; only needed the figure of a well-known detective to loom into sight for “Darkie” and his agent to go flying in opposite carectdons. When the detective came up “Darkie” would be standing on the pavement blandly surveying the passing crowd from behind a big cigar.

How much money this negro “dope” king has made in the past -three years is a mystery. The amount must i'un in thousands, for the profits are truly marvellous. Sophia Marlow, a woman who confessed in the. police- court that Stewart gave her packets of cocaine to sell, stated that the price was s' ; for two or three grains, of which she kept half. .■..;■■■ Allowing that the pure cocafne would bo adulterated either with boric acid or aspirin, Stewa *t'would be making a profit of any-thing-up to £SOO a pound.' SfceWaH kept half a dozen women employed selling “dope” for him, and the probabilities are that he made quite £19.00,0 since cocaine doping became -so fashionable.