# New Britain Herald, 20 June 1929, page 12: Dry army and navy seek to stem booze invasion

Canonical: https://mobfiles.org/clippings/clip-new-britain-herald-1929-06-20-p12/

A Detroit-datelined feature on federal prohibition enforcement on the Detroit River: seventeen Coast Guard cutters assigned to 'the Detroit rum war', Canadian customs figures on liquor landed in Detroit, and the claim that trucks carrying liquor to other cities were escorted by the 'Purple Gang'.

Page 12 of the New Britain Daily Herald (the Library of Congress title is New Britain Herald) for Thursday, 20 June 1929. Two photographs of Coast Guard craft run under the heading "Dry Army and Navy Seek to Stem Booze Invasion"; the caption says seventeen Coast Guard cutters, like the CG-236 pictured, had been assigned to the Detroit rum war. The article below is datelined Detroit, June 20.

It gives an Assistant Treasury Secretary's estimate that 85 per cent of imported liquor entered through Detroit, cites Canadian customs figures of 1,523,750 gallons landed in Detroit since January 1, describes the river as "made to order for the smugglers," and reports the arrest of thirty customs patrolmen on bribery charges. It says liquor bound for other cities was trucked with Detroit's "Purple Gang" riding ahead and behind with machine guns as an escort.

The escort statement is the feature writer's claim and is not supported by any federal record filed here. The original byline was not read.

## Sources

- Library of Congress, Chronicling America: https://www.loc.gov/resource/sn82014519/1929-06-20/ed-1/?sp=12
- Library of Congress OCR text of this page: https://tile.loc.gov/text-services/word-coordinates-service?segment=/service/ndnp/ct/batch_ct_hendrix_ver01/data/sn82014519/00414219688/1929062001/0950.xml&format=alto_xml&full_text=1