Show THE STORY OFA BOOTLEGGERS BOOTLEGGER'S WIFE As Told Told to Mary Margaret McBride r. r s 's Copyright 1926 by Current News Features Inc I C I- I U. U VI TALE VI-TALE TALE OF CURIOUS HENS I afforded my nw husband and his I friends at least one hearty laugh I This was when I inquired Ingenuously Ingenuously ingenuously if they t scared all the time they the would be caught After they hey quit laughing they bean began began be be- gan an to discuss the point and I got gota a complete surprise out of their attitude at at- I used to be scared Ben re recalled recalled recalled re- re called a little shame Times rimes was when I hardly ever went out without expecting the hand liand of the law to clamp Itself suddenly suddenly suddenly sud sud- denly upon my shoulder I would I Imagine magine people were following r me and when I got to my flat at night I half expected somebody to tobe be waiting in iii ambush J f I 1 was the same way cay Y agreed Joe Seemed to t me I could Al Always P l ways hear footsteps behind me andI and nd I vas fas tot forever ever thinking what a a a- ater terrible tel tar thing I was doing But Bu t you get over that when you ou begin to realize that those that arent aren't selling selling selling sell sell- ing bootleg liquor are buying it And what's the difference Id I'd like to know My Iy jobs job's down to a mattel mat mat- tel tei of dollars and cents nowadays I dont don't steal anything and I try to keep folks folies from stealing from me Ill I'll tell you this though there isn't a profession in the world that's got cleaner ethics than bootlegging In the face lace of my open amazement amazement amaze amaze- ment there was excised assent to this HONOR AMONG THIEVES Why vl Vh do you linow know continued Joe addressing me mc that in all his experience in bootlegging bootlegging- the boss has lost money on only one big credit account Men that wont won't pay any other debts pay their bootleg bootleg bootleg boot boot- leg reckonings I cant can't explain why wh maybe its it's a proof of the old axiom about honor among thieves Certainly there Is s no chance at all of collecting such a bill b by the usual methods right put In Ben I have extended credit for liquor to men that I wouldn't give credit for or anything anything any any- thing else on earth carth and they've paid up too Although there was so much v valiant val vil- f talk I had the feeling just the same that death never never lay lay far from the path of oj those eng eng- engaged ged in hi rum- rum running If it isn't the revenue officers officers of of- It may be some member of the profession who will shoot to kill because he suspects treachery Once when hen he Joe was waR in a communicative frame of mind due clue to too much champagne lu hI admitted that dead bodies were frequently picked up out of of- the river r when somebody had been talking too much MASTER MIND WAS SAFE As I have said the master mind played safest of all Bens Ben's task seemed to be he most hazardous but perhaps that was because he was mif rn husband When hen he left his hison on foi Rum Row he was custodian custodian cus cus- I of the bag bootleg vernacular vernacular ver ver- for tor bankroll The rum wireless was always alway in good g working working work work- ing order so that everybody knew exactly when a bg ship came came into the row and what she was can carryIng carrying carry carry- Ing for sale The cost of whisky there ran from flom 15 to tn 20 a case casp The master mind resold the stuff to small dealers dealers- cafes speak and roadhouses with with an aver average ge profit of 6 to 12 a cas ca ca according to quantity While Ben was getting a cargo cargon in n 11 Rum Row floss Joe was vas keeping a strict lookout on shore His most Important dut duty was to stave off offshore offshore offshore shore revenue men He lie had therefore therefore therefore there there- fore to w watch every cove Inlet and creek He also dug up the warehouse warehouse warehouse ware ware- house angle That is he found Cound an 11 cottage otta e oi or a deep pit In Inthe Inthe inthe the sand carefully camouflaged where the liquor could be stored until it was safe for Steve to start It toward the rity Ity Sometimes SometimE's Steve could take hold as soon as asnen's Ren's Rens boat bORt returned but usually it was wa better to wait HOUSED STRANGE BUNDLES One of the most startling discoveries dis dis- I made was that the es estates estates estates es- es tates of millionaires in OUI our S section were often used to store bootleg supplies For all allI I know lenow th the millionaire millionaires mil mil- ma may have been in on the deals deall OK oi some of or them But more likely they were Wele ignorant 19 of or whit wh-tt 0 I went on during their prolonged I absences Meantime the model stables and kennels they had built for prize animals o often en housed strange bundles for a brief time The owner of such a place coming home unexpectedly found on one of his bathrooms turned into a warehouse and calmly appropriated the liquor a very vel fine quality too Ben and the boys were much tickled over this sine since the liquor did not belong to them The mil millionaire millionaire put up a sign immediately afterward which read No zoo trespassing tres tres- passing passing except In unusual eases cases Needless to sa say his estate was never used for again There was also a table of a rich old maid in the neighborhood who upon pon going out one day to inspect her ber jer prize chickens found a num nurn- berof them flapping and floundering flounder flounder- flounder I ing ng bewilderedly upon their expensive expensive s sive sive ve grass The old maid and her poultry expert examined them dis distractedly I t expecting that some some ter ter- epidemic had seized upon th them em 7 The poor birds were dosed with remedies for pip gapes and croup croup They finally got back to normal but the community round about whispered that they had really been drunk ru The rhe poultry expert It w was s said was interested in various contraband projects and the chickens chickens chickens chick chick- ens had merely pecked out the cork of a a. cert certain fn bottle which really never ought to have a chicken at all And perhaps it never would have had not a hen more adventurous than her sisters exercised exercised exer exer- her prerogative of feminine curiosity I had my share of that dangerous quality to too and one day it got rie sie into consid rable trouble as you shall hear heal Tomorrow Tomorrow A Gue Guest t in the House Copyright 1926 by b Current News Features Inc |