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About Omaha daily bee. (Omaha [Neb.]) 187?-1922 | View Entire Issue (Oct. 30, 1921)
The Omaha Sunday Bee FEATURES . MAGAZINE VOL. 51 NO. 20. Sun r - r -nv i j 1 W S Poiiee booze squadOefi'fortltfh By JOHN E. KENNEBECK. The bootlegger's' dream is o'er. His day in the paradise of pro hibition is gradually waning just as sure as a government mule will balk in au emergency. Though theillicit traffickers in booze moonshine or otherwise had no union to guarantee protec tion, price and pride, they were numerous enough throughout the country, yea, even in Omaha, to maintain a market that fluctuated, according' to the 1 eternal jaw of supply and demand or to. the grade of whisky hauled in via the "pipe line" route. - Remember the day you were told "Old Taylor" was worth $30 a quart? And the next day it was $i(J, Then, recall when you could get. good tasting embalming fluid for $d a fifth of a gallon or 50 cents a gulp. ' Of course, all that was done under the head of "boot legging," but it wa. a lively mar i ket. ; . Bootlegging is an art. True, it is a crime against morals' good citizenship , and all thai; we are told, but nevertheless the game has to be played with the wit of a chess artist, the salesmanship of a magazine agent and, the disre gard of law of a bandit if played successfully. It's a good ' old lively game with your neighbor and the law, they say. There was a time in the pre .Volshteadian days, when bootleg ging meant the sale of booze after hours while the copper, winked one eye, I ' .When the country was made dry legally bootlegging became a plague. Illiciit traffic in liquor was carried on in gangs. It seemed that every third house had a little still Homebrew became both fas cinating in the making and appeal ing to the pllate. How of tea one hears this: "Booze? Why, man, you can get it anywhere." But hold on, neighbor's long as there is whisky-running from Canada or stills in operation, or formulas for stomach bitters and A Midnight Call Sends Helen on a Reckless Rescue Expedition. ""Well, it's the last night we'll spend gallivantin' around after that cat," grouched Warren, slamming down his hat and stick. "It's been three days now," Helen sighed as she switched on the lights. If we don't find her tomorrow I suppose we'll have to give it up." "Huh, tramping the streets every night and you piping 'Kitty, Kitty, ' Kitty 1' Everybody in the ncighbor- tioodll fhink we're dippy." T'T ilnn't ram what thrT think if iy we get her back," swallowing ast the lumn that had been in her throat for three days. In spite of repeated warnings, the Inaid naa lett open me ooor, ana Pussy Purr-Mew had escaped down the seven nights of stairs to the street .... ' v ' . g: The Married Life of Helen and Warren ...ffei - , . - - - ,Vy;!t ;''--'..'" . The only report they had had was from a colored doorman in the block below, who had seen her dart out of a basement and scurry around the corner. "Got any new laces?" demanded Warren, untying his shoes on the bedroom seat "This plagued thing ' broke." "If I could feel that some one hai her," mourned Helen for the 100th time, as she searched for the laces in aba chiffonier. "If onl she hasn't Sets J "f ; si- throat gargles, there'll be boot legging. There's a demand for every kind and any kind of liquor from tiger tears to Haig & Haig, they say. But the same is waning, according to some exponents of prohibition. Others assert there is as much bootlegging going on today as there was two years ago. These latter say "prohibition" means "proHIPition." U. S. Rohrer, federal prohibition director for Nebraska, . probably one of the foremost leaders against the liquor traffic in the middlewest, has this to say of bootlegging: "I think there is just as much of it going on as ever. It keeps a corps of my men busy after them. The evil is a hard thing to stamp out, but we're getting results. The ' public doesn't know who the offi cers are or how they work that is one reason why the bootlegger is more wary than he was a year ago. "Bob" Anderson, group chief of federal liquor officers in Nebraska, wouldn't state that bootlegging had diminished a "whole lot." "It's hard to tell,' but the moon shine game is keeping my men on their toes," he said. "Everyone knows that the prohibition law is not an entirely popular one, there fore, bootlegging will continue. But those in it are having a tough time of it now." Sheriff Mike Clarke, who directs the meanderings of a squad of deputies in their search for, con traband Jmoze in Douglas county, is emphatic in stating that boot legging has decreased noticeably in the last year. - V . ' "Here's one reason," he ex plained, showing. small , bottle containing a blue racer snake . pickled in alcohol. "See that tail, how it's turned up?" he said. "Well, that's about what this bootleg stuff that's be ing sold nowadays does to its vic tims. ' ; " t "The drinkers are through with the stuff. Of course, there is still -some traffic in the better grade of liquors, I hear, but a fellow has to be a young millionaire to get it." crawled in somewhere to starve too frightened to come out. "Huh, Pussy Purr-Mew isn't over burdened with brains but she'd have sense enough to get out and hustle for food. Plenty of garbage cans around." Helen had passed the stage where she shuddered at the thought ot gar bage cans. Anything to keep her alive. "But water 1" tensely. "Where can she get water? She's so helpless." "Cats aren't helpless by a darn sight Where's that shoe Iace?" "In just a minute, dear,"resuming her search. "She's never been out she can't climb around like a street cat" ." "No wonder. You've pampered every normal instinct out of her. Do her good to be on her own for a few days." "If it's only for a few days I Here's a pair. Do you want them both?" . ' "Yes, you put 'em in. Jove, Fin tired," as he strode to the bathroom. By the time Helen had put in the fresh laces and taken her own bath, Warren was in bed and asleep. Wearily she crept in beside him, but only to brood wakefully over every conceivable fate that might have fallen Pussy Purr-Mew. They had advertised in all the papers, offering a $15 reward. But what if she were shut up in some. 1 R JJ MAGAZINE OnBootleg, V. 'x Sitre there's boofle&gittg gotnsr Qtt.'concefxeff- Chief of Police. Jtitchaoipempsetf hat rher'ire nor so ttiatiif there xcm tioo years agio . y ' ' Mrs. George W. Covell, mem ber of the Frances Willard branch of the Women's Christian Temper ance union in Omaha, thinks that, bootlegging has decreased consid erably in this city. "Conditions are better, it ap- . pears," she said, "than they were under the legalized saloon. And today, I think bootlegging has de creased very much, as men won't drink the stuff that sets them, crazy, makes them blind and ruins I them physically. Persons who took just a little drink two years ago well, there's nothing but poison . now to induce them to drink. It seems the people are getting tired -of this bootleg stuff.". '. ' Mrs. C J. Roberts, another member of the W. C. T. U., says that the manufacture and sale of -intoxicants are going on . today though ,"not as freely as two years ago." "Results of the prohibition law show that the lack of saloons is' a great benefit to the public," she said. "It seems that the officials ' unused basement, where he rt faint cries could not be heard? ; Here the telephone shrilled through the darkness. With the leaping hope that ft might bring news of Pussy Purr-Mew, Helen stumbled into the library. "Hello 1 Yes. . . .Has she a col lar with her name and a red rib bon?" excitedly . . . "It may have come off. . .Is she a Persian long gray fur?. . .Where are you? . . .Oh, then we'll be right over." Darting back to the bedroom, she found Warren still asleep. She started to rouse him then stopped. He would only grumble and call it a wild goose chase. Why couldn't she go alone?. It was so near just three blocks. With eager haste she slipped into a negligee and a long coat Taking some bills from Warren's wallet on the dresser, she thrust them into her handbag and stole softly out guilty conscious that it was after midnight "Some one telephoned they've found Pussy Purr-Mew. It's right near here so : I didn't wake Mr. Curtis," she explained to the elevator boy. - "Yes, ma'am," was his only com ment but he looked surprised. Out into the sultry night, Helen flew down the avenue. At the third, corner she turned into a dark nar row street a neighborhood of cheap apArme.nt OMAHA, SUNDAY MORNING, OCTOBER 30, 1921. QuWhwiIsSiinPknfy rO) "Moonshine 11 teti-iA t. f-yf ' , V liV'. f 5hes& v)Ui .Catna fist ha -rarn'iiGrotocx n-C Z pssf &tt, Sc?5? prdhtbiitoti ofpottettfe. Bootleggtngts decreasing (v becausepeoftie are getting tired o&is'boptleg stuff asserts prs. Geotge Covell, Omaha 1 I Sftants te$tfterets itili softto traffic in. raS-fie i the better gradesof ctqttor just can't put a complete stop to the liquor traffic, though. Boot- Anxiously she scanned the obscure numbers over the unlighted door ways. "You the lady that's come for the cat?" A rough, shirt-sleeved man emerged from a shadowy basement "Oh, yes yes. Have you got her?" breathlessly. "Is she all right?" "Sure, she's all right Down this way. Mind your step!" Through the black areaway into a blacker passage,. Helen's heart beat ing faster. Should she have come here alone? Where was this man leading her? She cpuld barely sec his light shirt as he strode ahead. The damp, evil smell of the base ment added to her fears. Not a sound from the street Even if she should cry out no one could hear. Another step mind that ihere s nothing to be afraid of," as she shrank back against the wait "My wife's got the cat" His wife! She caught at that hope fully. But he might be only luring her on. She thought of Warren at home asleep. .The realizatipn of her recklessness surged over her. The papers were filled with ghastly stories of women lured into dark by ways and never seen again. If only she had told the elevator boy I Then suddenly the man threw open a door just ahead. The light flooded ont reassuredly. A stout slovenly ifejmauBfeAeatd J?ya redclothed din 1 7 V 4 t ' ry, i Wrs.7(.a Claggetf, ll)n f If inarioty Oniric that -if Here is less open bootlegging legging is just as common as was two years ago." it ing table was, bending qyer some thing in ner lap. "Milly, here's the lady for the cat" Her fear now dispelled, Helen dart ed eagerly forward. On' the woman's soiled checked apron lay an ordinary gray cat bask ing in the luxury of unaccustomed attention. "Oh oh that's not Pussy Purr Mewl" with sick disappointment "I's afraid it wasn't but Ben here was so sure. WeM, the poor crea ture's had a good feed anyway," glancing at the empty saucer. Then to her husband, "Why didn't you listen to me? It's a shame to bring the lady out this late." "Oh, that's all right," murmured Helen. "I'm just sorry it isn't Pus sy Purr-Mew. She's been gone now three days--and I'm almost sick." "Maybe youll find her yet," sym pathized the woman. "Mrs. Brown upstairs, her cat was gone a whole week. And my sister had a dog " Though anxious to get back, Hel en had to listen to a lengthy recital. Back through the musty hall and she gave 50 cents to the disappoint edManitor, begging him to still keep on the lookout for Pussy Purr-Mew. Hurrying homeward, at the cor ner church, she paused. She had searched every nook of that yard, but she would try once more. ."3tS& Kitty. Kitty.' fhe called. 1 M v IJk. f 1i mm J. . mi : r - .i r b. ? 7 A lu' I federalprohtbt-fton inspector, declares . Jhere is Just as much bootlegging gotngon , as ever - - But listen to this here's meat for an argument: ,- v;- Mrs. H.' N. Craig, president of .. the Frances Willard branch of the W. C. T.'U. in Omaha, is author ity that "bootlegging is decreas ing." I - "The bootleggers are being driv en out of the public eye," she said. "The time is coming when stills will be put out of commission just as the breweries were made to quit. -' Bootlegging has ' diminish ed considerably in the last two years. The citizens are getting to gether in closer harmony in a gen eral campaign against the illicit traffic in liquor as there's an ap parent lack of law enforcement against the bootlegger. Officials are not enforcing the prohibition law like they should, but boot legging is dying of its own curse." Mrs. Horace Claggett, a leader in the West Side branch of the W. C. T. U., believes there is less open bootlegging . than there was when prohibition first went into effect .. crossing the grass to the court at the side. Emboldened by her recent groundless fears, she -stole down the steps to a dungeonlike - passage. "Kitty, Kitty 1" A faint but unmis takable mew. 'Her heart stood still. Another mew from a grated win dow further on. ' The next second Helen was at the grating, calling hysterically. Again that faint cryi Then the feel of warm fur against her hand thrust through the iron bars. She was half sobbing with joy and relief. But her thrilled exultancy was fleeting.- It was not Pussy Purr Mew's long, silky fur. It was only a kitten. She drew it out a pa thetic, tiny, half-starved kitten. "You poor little thing," her com passion surmounting her disappoint ment What could she do with it? She could not" leave it hereto starve. It was rubbing against her, piteously." Picking it up, she hurried back up the stone steps across the church yard, and out the heavy iron gate. How long had she been gone? It must be after 1. What if Warren had awakened? He would be furious. Footsteps behind her! Sinister pursuing footsteps I She started to run they followed faster. "Hold on there r came a thick, throaty voice. , . She flew; on with desperate speed II VoHce morals squad(loffo tlgh):3pn Vattbautn,) sergeant Jitn WacQonaicl ancTred Pcilmfsgl r 7tiese three detective sergeants ksVedattgbr as' a daily diet along the trails of bootleggers, ancL tnooushingpffi ' op - "The drinkers wont boy the liquor that's peddled for whisky these days," she said. "However, whether bootlegging has de creased a whole lot, I can't say." Mrs. T. R. Ward, 2121 Wirt street, an ardent, supporter of pro hibition, declares that "the public has had enough of bootleg whisky." "The illicit traffic is fast dying," she said. "Though there are yet . some who buy the dope that is be ing sold Us liquor, the game has decreased very much. Persons can't get it at every street corner like a few years ago." Mrs. W. C. King, a W. C. T. U. worker, says that homebrew is the bootlegger's means of liveli hood nowadays. "There's more homebrew now than there ever was," she said. "It seems bootlegging always will be, in some form or another. The people are getting their liquor somewhere and what we see and hear is enough evidence that boot legging is still going on full blast" Now really,, bootlegging In Omaha is not as open as all that, is it? Isn't it all talk and jokes and kidding? Hasn't the bootlegger, who nailed victims for $30 a quart for stuff that Anti-Saloon league members could drink with all;loy--alty to the tenets of the associa tion, had his day? Isn't he fad ing? He's certainly having a hard time of it. His pipe dreams of wealth are o'er. Here's what Chief of Police "Mike" Dempsey, the grand old man of the Omaha police depart-: ment, has to say on the matter: "Sure there's bootlegging going on, and there will be just as long as there is a demand for it. Noth ing under- the sun could ' stop it' but the steps were gaining on her. A heavy hand gripped her arm. She was whirled around to confront an irate policeman. "What were you doing in that churchyard Whatcha got there?" Indignation replacing fear, she showed him the clinging kitten and told him of her mission. "Better let me walk home with you. Where do you live?" "In the next block. Oh, there's my husband nowl" recognizing Warren in the tall figure striding toward them. She ran ahead to meet him, but the officer interrupted her breathless explanation with a gruff "It's all right to look for a cat but you'd better not let your wife go picking around dark churchyards at this time o' night" "I quite agree with you, officer. It'll not happen again." There was a steely note in Warren's voice. Grimly he took Helen by the arm, dismissing he escort with a fat agar. " - "Dear, I didn't think I'd be so long! But a man called up it was so near and I .thought he had Pussy Purr-Mew. I didn't want to wake" "Now we won't discuss this in the elevator," sternly, as they entered the car where the boy waited, all curios ity. I fa their own hall, switching en TEN CENTS .ft But there's not as much illicit traf fie in liquor as there was two year ago, that is, there are not as many places in Omaha selling it as there were at that time. The police it- . partment has two squads after the ; evil constantly, and they have closed up many places. Here are some records of ar rests of bootleggers by police to show . that the illicit liquor traffic is not increasing, anyway: me . it. Arrest now. Arrest. Jon ....56 . S1.53T.SO 61 Jul? ....55 022.B0 9S ti Anion 62 1,050.00 76 - l.MO.OO From observation of the work , of both police morals squads un-' der Sergeant Frank Murphy and ' Sergeant Jim McDonald, boot leggers in Omaha are not as open,, as they were several years ago. The ways of the !wary traffick ers are moretricky and more se cret than they practiced in the days the game was so common. . ' It takes clever boys to catch the .clever "leggers." That is why Sergeants McDonald and Murphy have some intrepid understudies working with them. It requires., the detective work of a Scotland Yard sleuth and the daring grit of a doughtboy to catch the under- handed trafficker in liquor, these , officers say. . -i Instances are known where gun play occurred between the Officers and bootleggers. . Captures of stills afford many a harrowing tale of death risks, but ! it's just the ordinary routine of work for the boys on the morals squads. ' - - ; Not lonjr ago, a certain concoc- , tion of moonshine that had the taste of fish worm oil, the smell' ' of asafttida and the potency of potassium cyanide was going the " rounds of drinkers in Omaha. ,A . (Ton to hi. Four.) the light, Helen , darted out to the kitchen to feed the .starving kitten. Warren's scolding could wait ; V ' . Filling Pussy Purr-MewV saucer for three days unused, she watched the wretched little animal ' lap the milk with famished eagerness. . "Now just what does this mean?" Warren had swung through the pan try door. : ,,. ' "Dear, I told you! I thought he had Pussy Purr-Mew and I knew you'd only grumble if I woke you up." "So you went out after midnight on a call like that? Where are your brains? Haven't you a grain of sense? Do I have to be told by a policeman how to take care of my wife?" "Dear, don't scold I'm so tired. And look at this poor little thing! Perhaps if I care for it seme one will take care of Pussy Purr-Mew," sen timentally. "Maybe thatVwby I was sent ont just to rescue this kitten." "You're honeles!" with a .nnr "Well, get through stuffing that little ucasi ana come to oca. cut 1 11 ten you right now I'm pretty well fed un with this rat-htinhnir hiKinrc. If she's gone she's gone. And you're not going to Keep on making a tool of us bothl" Next Week-They Sail for Italy. Coprrlfht. lilt, kr Itobel HeriMrt Bamc.