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HomeMy WebLinkAboutZurich Herald, 1956-10-25, Page 7"Tip -Off" Catches Most Smugglers Foaming breakers and shingle turned red as the gang: of des- perate smugglers fought hand - co -hand with a large force of 'Customs officers who had sur- prised them as they beached their boats. Cutlasses flashed, guns roared, men swore and scream- ed in the struggle which ended with the. Customs force being •nearly eut to pieces. That was the bloody "Battle of Brookland" which took place near Dungeness nearly a century ago, It was the worst Customs defeat of all time, by the tough and notorious band of smugglers known as the Aldington Gang. To -day, most of the violence has gone from smuggling. It is mainly a battle of wits. - Not long ago an enormous cache of smuggled wrist -watches was detected in a secret compart- ment of a car on the Dover car - ferry. The vehicle was allowed to land in the normal manner, and was soon speeding towards London, the driver unaware that a fast car was hard on his tail. At Ashford, in Kent, the chase was taken up by another car which followed the smuggler in- to Russell Square. Here the smugglers car was parked, lock- ed, and left. An hour later the driver returned with another man, who afterwards proved to be an important member of the "ring." They walked straight into the arms of hefty Customs, officers, and not only lost 2,000 valuable watches but a year or two of their liberty as well. An equally successful capture occurred three years ago. A car known to be carrying a large consignment of smuggled watch- es was allowed to land at a Channel port. The driver, how- ever, had been tipped off that the Customs men were after him. He drove the car to London as • hard as he could, locked it in a garage, and vanished. Because of the value of the smuggled • watches the revenue men knew that the smuggler would return. They kept watch on the garage in relays. It was a bitterly cold Febru- ary, and after a week of cat -and -A mouse vigilance the shivering Customs 'nen were rewarded. 'Two men came to the garage and unlocked the doors. About to drive away they suddenly found themselves surrounded by men in plain clothes. Again the principal smuggler was caught and several thousand wrist- watches confiscated. Far more in the tradition of that queen of all smuggling ves- sels, the notorious Good Intent, a schooner which worked the coasts in the nineteenth century, is the story of the auxiliary - yacht Dawn Approach. This vessel had been engaged in smuggling cigarettes and to- bacco along the coasts of Spain, Italy, and France, becoming so well-known at last that her own- ers decided to change their scene of operations. Loaded with contraband watches, liked by smugglers be - SALLY'S SAWES "Why caret you take my word +'4r if 'Everyone else does." cause of their ease of handling, Dawn Approach left Tangier and. appeared early one morning off Anglesey. A dinghy was tower- ed, and a man wearing a life - belt stuffed with 13,000 watches was landed and picked up by •a fast car. A tip-off set a revenue car on their tail. A thrilling chase began. The smugglers, soon aware that they were being pursued, put on speed, eventually losing the Cus- toms men in the twisting streets of Shrewsbury, The Customs mien picked up the speeding car at Luton and followed it to the Strand, London, where it was stopped and a man named Lam- bert was arrested. He was sen- tenced to four years' imprison- ment, but refused to "squeal" on his accomplices. In the meantime, the crew of Dawn Approach, aware that things had gone wrong, sailed full speed from Anglesey to a hide-out in a little bay on the coast of Ireland, where they re- mained for ten days in the hope that things would blow over. They underestimated the tenac- ity of the Customs, however, for when Dawn Approach sailed in- • to Liverpool she was immediate- ly boarded and seized, Possibly t h e most brazen smuggler of all time was an ex- R.N.V.R. officer who, in April, 1947, purchased a fast ' motor ' launch from the Ministry of Sup- ply. Appearing bi5ldly in Cher- bourg with the White Ensign flying, and dressed as a naval lieutenant, he went to a large wine and spirit store and inform- ed the manager nonchalantly that he represented the skipper of H.M.S. Vanguard. He said he had been ordered to purchase brandy and other spirits for the officers of that vessel for the forthcoming voyage of His Maj- esty King George Sixth. That night, with over 100 cases of liquor aboard, the 1VI.L. left Cherbourg and made rendezvous with a landing craft in mid - Channel, where the cargo of liquor was transferred. On April 13th, an unlucky day for bold smugglers, the landing craft put in at the Bay of Arne, in Dorset. Running up on the beach the L.C. let down her ramp, and the cases of spirits were quickly put into a lorry. The lorry with a driver and three smugglers started off in- land, only to run into an ambush of about twenty Customs men, who had been informed about the landing. .A lively struggle followed. One smuggler who tried to run was brought down by a daring flying tackle. Another drew a revolver, fortunately unloaded. Captured smugglers requently ask their captors "How did you know?" The answer is invariab- ly the same, "From information received" - just that and noth- ing mote. MORALE BOOSTER Morale was very low at the Gypem Novelty Company, so Mr. Gypem decided to employ a recreation director for the spe- cific purpose of boosting spirits. One day the director assembled all the workers and told them of a wonderful new plan. "When you are working here five years," he said, "you get a beautiful green certificate which says you've given valuable ser- vice for five years. When you are working here ten years you get a gorgeous blue certificate which says we appreciate very much the valuable services rendered to the firm during the past ten years. And when you are work- ing here fifteen years you get a badge." "What dpes the badge say?" asked one of the men. "Why-er, the badge says, 'this man has a green and a blue certificate- ." CROSSWORD PUZZLE ACROSS .1.. Abstract ' being 4. Meager 9, Snug room 12. clentle plow 12. Fcsn'ecl 14, Artittvtal. language :14. Lack of power 17. Cover 18. Strike And rebound 19. landed Property 21. Sign 24, Make lace 25. Ragged 29. Asiatic palm 92. rinnrler a3. Talks Wildly 35. 1 ,ub rieant 96. Orderly' 38, watchman 40. Touch 42. 1'e7•11Ae 43.11reat desert 46. One or the Apostles 30 fiib110ra character lt1. impetuous 6 4. '!large 66. 'Rodent S6. Stamping 1'urni S7, eaten. 59. ilotnpoun4 ether ear. House wing ' 31OWN !. Narrative poets 9. Fxpa.n$ibn 24, rastcner 10, Prepare to 37. '1,ine�e print • pagoda 11. knot a9, Roma', ,rale 1 6. 1?oot covering 41. Felony 20. Sunburn 46, err'u .12. Ages 41. Legion 2, Nursery word 23. At no aisle 45. Anay's 8. Planet.21. 'Half score side -i: i. Ir 4. thi'''nner 24. F,xist 47. Motion rel ti - 5. Mountain 27. Ot less "a pass account 48. S n 6.''roplral bird 29. Sand hill 4 nubbin. 7. Missive 110, ('rusted dish 52. Place 9. Meeting place 31 1lntire amount 53. 1,t11ire NE rro' NEM t:10:..klit Answer elsewhere on this page. HE'S JUST "CRAMP" 70 THEM -Fiery -tempered, gruff -looking United Mine Workers' chief John L Lewis assumes the off -stager role of dignified family patriech, posing with his grandchil- dren at thee: United Mine Workers convention. With him in the "tintype" group are granddaughter Jennifer, 10, and grand- son Thomas, 8, children of Dr. and Mrs. Jahn L. Lewis, Jr. £PARN FRONT John ► John Gould is a farmer down in Maine. Just how big his farm may be, and whether or not he makes a good living from it, is more than I can tell you. But •'t do know that his "Fall Clean- up" experiences, as reported 1" The Christian Science Monitor, will have a strong appeal to many of my readers, both male and female. tl• t * The cold, wet, drenching fall storm of recent date' seemed a good excuse to clean up the shop - a once -yearly job that takes much more time the way I do it. I suppose anybody could light right into it and finish it up in an hour or so and go play, but I am able to ap- proach the task in such fashion that it lasts all winter. I touch - off a few sticks in the stove and promoted a congenial interior which made the lashing of the rain on the window a real pleas- ure. I don't use the shop much dur- ing the summer, although I use time things that are in it. If I have to fix the mower, a job I never avoid, I grab up a handful of tools and do the work under a tree. When I'm finished I put the tools in my pocket, or in the toolbox on the tractor, on a barn window ledge, or possibly back in the shop. During the summer the last place to look for the hammer is on the two little pegs in the shop wall for holding the ham- mer. The wrench drawer, made a -purpose to hold all my wrenches neatly, come fall, is usually as empty as a dust -bowl rain barrel. 1 don't recommend this method of conducting a farm shop, but I am not one to fight with the conditions that prevail. * Of course, my family helps me, They help all summer. and do a good job. The shop is abaft the summer kitchen, reached by opening, a door, and you take strawberry baskets, for instance . . I buy straw- berry baskets by the M, and they come in corrugated cartons which I open and lay cm their slides in the barn, When I go to pick berries, I take as many baskets as I expect to need, put back any empties, and deliver the full baskets to the house. Then I say, "Ladies and gentlemen •-- if you will . stack the empty baskets on the end of the sink shelf when you are through with them, I shall take them bade to the barn and place them in their proper niche. I thank you." "Yes," they say, But what they do is open the door to the shop and put the empty baskets out there. In a good berry year my baskets move from the barn to the patch to the kitchen to the shop in an unerring round, and when I come to clean up the shop some rainy day in the felt I spend the first two hours and a half herding strawberry bas- kets, an item which I do not like to have in my shop in the first place. I do not know of anything I can do at this late date to break long-standing habits. I provide several large tin barrels for debris bound for the dump, which ought to be in the ga- rage, handy for loading in the truck. These cans always turn up in:the shop about 'mid-sum- n1er, and are there for me to move when I clean. One of `.them, this year, was strangely full of cucumbers. This has been a bad yea r for cucumbers and they have been runty, tough, bitter, dry and crooked. It has been necessary to cut and taste a dozen before finding one fit for supper. So, I'd bring up a peck or so every day, one of which we would eat, sometimes. I didn't know what was being done with the rejects, but they were being put in my shop in a can. I found them under some strawberry baskets. After I had swamped a road through the place, I began put- ting tools back where they be- long. I arranged the drills in the index. I sorted the wrenches and screwdrivers. I wound up the cord on the sander and set it away on the shelf. This takes quite a while, of course, and then I found my •hatchet. I have a little boy's axe which is for picnics, and it fits into a pack - basket with a little scabbard on it for safety. I couldn't find the scabbard, so I had to make ail new one. After that I found my nails. d, * Secondhand nails accumulate on a farm, and always come in handy. I have, or had, a wooden box made specially to hold re- claimed nails. When I have to' fix a hen -house door, or some- thing like that, I go to my nail box and pick out just what I'll need. I can find anything from a small copper carpet tack to a 20d spike, staples, cut nails, long screws, and anything else, the accumulation of a lifetime. Somebody had wanted the box, so they dumped my collec- tion of nails into a cocoa tin. This was not a good idea, on account of inadequate volume, so I had to stop and make a new nail box and then pick up all my nails off the floor, ex- cept those in the cocoa tin. Then I found Grandfather's old knife and fork box, which is an antique. It has flaring sides, and the handle separates the thing into two compart- ments, one for -knives and one for forks. Spoons, of course, were in a glass or china jar in the center of the table in the old days. I found the box on a beam in the barn long ago, and thought it would make an interesting flower container for the front room. Now I ran across it again, and decided to solder up two tin liners for it, which I did. I am always amazed when anything I solder holds water, and I was amazed. I carried the box, with the new liners, into the house and it was received with appreciation and outfitted with some fall asters. "How are you coming on cleaning up the shop?" she asked. I sharpened the chisels after that, and oiled the bearings on the bench saw, and finally call- ed it a day and took out the last armful of strawberry bas- kets. At least it was a begin- ning. But with winter corning on, and the outdoors less demand- ing, I expect to keep on clean- ing up the shop all along, now, until spring. I'll make a few things, and fix some others, and' finally get all the tools back in shape and position, and have a good time right up until the vernal equinox calls me forth with dulcet promises, and the family can start in again on strawberry baskets. I've got wood for the stove, and plenty of lumber. and several fine ideas for shelves and whatnots. and with good luck I should have everything in place and ready for summer. When the children come home from school with their new shoes scuffed, it is time to get out the household cement. A little of this cement rubbed beneath the broken piece of leather keeps the scuffed part in place and ban- ishes that "has-been" look. Upsidedown to Prevent Peeking ;:1319 3s now s'indW 1 3d `d21 OV321 0 11N3S S3AV2I CJ 3 kI V1 334 i H b v 1 S 3 a 0 N 1 V y1 1 S' N s v 3 v H J. JIDAY Stll&i LESSON BY . REV Ft. BARCI.AY WARREN. B.A... B.D. God's Command to Teach Deuteronomy 6:1-9, 24-26 Memory Selection: These Wordl4 which 1 command thee this day,. shall be in thine heart: and thea shalt teach them diligently renin thy children. Deuteronomy 6:15-E„ When we think of the law given by God through Moses www think first of the Ten Command- ments. Sometimes we contrast this with the great command- ment Jesus gave. (Matthew 22: 36-40.) However, notice that in today's lesson from the Old Tes- tament we read, "Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thine heart, and with. all thy soul, and with all thy might." The second part, "Thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself," is found in Leviticus 19:18. Jesua took these two passages from the Old Testament and declared that "On these two commandments hang all the law and the pre - Moses in his last address to the Children of Israel emphasized the need of teaching God's com- mandments and statutes to the children. Childhood is the most important time for receiving re ligious instruction. A person re- members best what he learns in childhood. When he is old the events of the previous week may be forgotten while the memories of childhood are vivid. It is also important to receive this in• struction in childhood because God's Word is a lamp to the feet and a light to the path. (Psalm 119:105.) We need it to live by, Without it our childhood and youth will prove an unsuitable foundation for the making of a successful life. Parents are urged to talk--ot God's Word, "When thou site test in thine house. and when thou walkest by the way, and when thou liest down, and when thou risest up." We fear thai many are failing to do this. Ho' few families take even ten min- utes a day to read God's Word together and pray. We spend fax r..'lore time before the television than we do in meditation and discussion of God's Word. Tuve condemned murderers who died in Utah, May 11. said in a final statement, "Religious training would have pointed us in the right direction, but we were not taken to Sunday School or church services." They came from broken horses. Who bears the greater blame for their final end? MiSUSE OF FLAMMABLE LIQUIDS KILLED 946 PERSONS IN 1955. u,a, :.tl1t'tti ;]ilii f 01 '1 Id 0 N 0 i se H J.. v D d 3 CI ..L N DSSN a .40 111444 111444 THEY ROLLED THEIR OWN -Residents of Halsey Ave. in Sedamsville put their dedicate:10 aching backs into spreading the last of fivetons of self -purchased 'black -top on their un- dedicated portion of the street. Although ma intained by the city for years, a recent rulinv put Halsey Ave. out-of-bounds for city repair crews. So the street deteriorated. So the resf- dents formed their do-li-yourself road gang a nd paved it.