Rumrunners

Craig Brandon's newest book is a collection of profiles of the rumrunners who smuggled liquor into the United States during prohibiton. Although there are many books about prohibition, Craig's is the first to concentrate on the stories of the women and men who made rumrunning their profession during those 14 years.

They were criminals, yes, but they also provided a service, often for the same judges, sheriffs and government officials who were sworn to bring them in. Rumrunners did business everywhere from inside the Capitol building in Washington to the streets of every city in America. Everyone from novelist William Faulkner to a British baron took part in the high-profit smuggling operations.

Prohibition was the single largest assault ever on the 12,000-mile American border and a law that was impossible to enforce. It was an unjust law that was designed to be broken and was, thankfully, repealed.

Craig's book doesn't focus on gangsters like Al Capone, Dutch Shultz and Legs Diamond, whose stories have been told before. Instead he focuses on the lesser known men and women who made the most of a bad law to enrich their lives with money and adventure.

Among the characters in the book are:

Bill McCoy
The captain of the Arethusa and two other ships off the Atlantic Coast on Rum Row, McCoy was the founder of the system under which large ships anchored off the coast in international waters and sold liquor to smaller ship-to-shore boats that transferred it to the shore. e. It seemed perfectly legal, but McCoy went to prison and gave up his career.

Hilda Stone
The "Queen of the Border Rumrunners" according to the U.S. Border Patrol, Stone smuggled liquor in cars from Canada into Vermont and Maine. She had a fleet or cars and a crew of employees, but liked to drive the cars herself for the thrill of it.

Manny Zora
A Portugese immigrant who owned a Cape Cod fishing boat, he smuggled liquor throughout Prohibition, serving in the later years of Prohibition as an employee of one of the big Boston syndicates.

Edmund "Butch" Fahey
The owner of a road house just outside Spokane, Washington, he got into rumrunning at first to provide supplies for his tavern. Later he did it because it was so much fun to evade the authorities.

Henri Moraze
A businessman on the French island of St. Pierre, he became a millionaire many times over by importing liquor from France and Canada and selling it to rumrunners who brought it to Rum Row just off the Atlantic Coast.

Roy Olmstead
A lieutenant with the Seattle Police, Olmstead went over to the other side and became the influential king of booze smuggling until he was convicted through the use of a wire tap, a case that went all the way to the Supreme Court.

Charlie and "Spanish Marie" Waits
Charlie was the king of the Florida rumrunners until he was killed in a shootout with the Coast Guard. Then Marie took over and expanded his business with radio stations and a fleet of ships until she was captured.

Albanie Violette aka Joe Walnut
Violette, from the county of Madewaska in New Brunswick, Canada, was a master smuggler who brought alcohol from Quebec into Maine, using deception and guile to fool the authorities.

Eric Sherbooke Walker
The son of an English preacher and an officer in the First World War, Walker needed money to marry his sweetheart and spent an exciting year in America selling liquor from his ship and on shore. He used the profits to finance a famous hotel in Kenya.

Charlie Travers
As the skipper of the Black Duck, he was the fastest rumrunner on the East Coast and evaded the Coast Guard for over a year until his ship was fired on, killing two of his crew in a controversial seizure.

Sir Broderick Hartwell
The "booze baronet," as the newspapers called him, became a millioniare offering shares in his rumrunning business to English investors, but lost it all when his operation was exposed.

Horace Alderman
A small time rumrunner in the Florida-Bahamas area, he became a national figure when he killed a federal agent and two Coast Guard officers on the high seas and becamse the only man ever hanged by the Coast Guard.

Bruce Stanley Bethel
A British officer wounded in World War I, he retired to the island of Bimini, in the Bahamas just off Florida, but with Prohibition he was perfectly placed to go into business and ran a $3 million rumrunning enterprise.

John Wozniak
The admiral of "Peajacket's Navy" in the town of Ecorse just downriver from Detroit, he and his men made daily trips across the Detroit River to Canada.

Gloria de Cesares
A former movie star, she went to Europe and purchased a rum ship and formed the "Glorida Steamship Company" to smuggle liquor until she was caught by British authorities.

Ben Kerr
A sometime plumber, ship builder and piano player, Kerr became one of the most daring rumrunners on Lake Ontario until he lost his life in a winter storm.

"Alastair Moray"
He published his memoirs under an assumed name outlining his year-long voyage that included mechanical breakdowns, attempted piracy, the arrest of his boss and one memorable voyage or mercy.

Johnny Schnarr
Schnarr, who operated all during Prohibition, mostly as an employee of a Victoria, B.C. syndicate, was also an expert boat builder, developing the technique of using airplane engines in his high speed boats.

Jack Randell
A decorated war hero in the Boer War and a Royal Navy officer in World War I, Randell was called out of retirement in a Newfoundland mining operation to be captain of the rum runner I'm Alone. In 1929 the Coast Guard sunk his ship, killing one of Randell's men in a case that raised international concerns about the freedom of the high seas. Eventually the U.S. government paid compensatory damages to him and his crew.

Robin Douglas
Writing under the pen name "Dean Frith" the son English man of letters Norman Douglas, ran booze in his special Chevy car from a safe house in Quebec overland to "Lost Tribe Road" in Upstate New York and then to speakeasies and other cusromers in New York City.

The book is scheduled to be published in 2006. It contains stories about the above characters and many others. If you or someone you know has pictures or memoirs from the rumrunning era, please contact Craig. There's still time to add some more rumrunners to the list.

Bill McCoy	The captain of the Arethusa and two other ships off the Atlantic Coast on Rum Row, McCoy was the founder of the system under which large ships anchored off the coast in international waters and sold liquor to smaller ship-to-shore boats that transferred it to the shore. e. It seemed perfectly legal, but McCoy went to prison and gave up his career.
Hilda Stone	The "Queen of the Border Rumrunners" according to the U.S. Border Patrol, Stone smuggled liquor in cars from Canada into Vermont and Maine. She had a fleet or cars and a crew of employees, but liked to drive the cars herself for the thrill of it.
Manny Zora	A Portugese immigrant who owned a Cape Cod fishing boat, he smuggled liquor throughout Prohibition, serving in the later years of Prohibition as an employee of one of the big Boston syndicates.
Edmund "Butch" Fahey	The owner of a road house just outside Spokane, Washington, he got into rumrunning at first to provide supplies for his tavern. Later he did it because it was so much fun to evade the authorities.
Henri Moraze	A businessman on the French island of St. Pierre, he became a millionaire many times over by importing liquor from France and Canada and selling it to rumrunners who brought it to Rum Row just off the Atlantic Coast.
Roy Olmstead	A lieutenant with the Seattle Police, Olmstead went over to the other side and became the influential king of booze smuggling until he was convicted through the use of a wire tap, a case that went all the way to the Supreme Court.
Charlie and "Spanish Marie" Waits	Charlie was the king of the Florida rumrunners until he was killed in a shootout with the Coast Guard. Then Marie took over and expanded his business with radio stations and a fleet of ships until she was captured.
Albanie Violette aka Joe Walnut	Violette, from the county of Madewaska in New Brunswick, Canada, was a master smuggler who brought alcohol from Quebec into Maine, using deception and guile to fool the authorities.
Eric Sherbooke Walker	The son of an English preacher and an officer in the First World War, Walker needed money to marry his sweetheart and spent an exciting year in America selling liquor from his ship and on shore. He used the profits to finance a famous hotel in Kenya.
Charlie Travers	As the skipper of the Black Duck, he was the fastest rumrunner on the East Coast and evaded the Coast Guard for over a year until his ship was fired on, killing two of his crew in a controversial seizure.
Sir Broderick Hartwell	The "booze baronet," as the newspapers called him, became a millioniare offering shares in his rumrunning business to English investors, but lost it all when his operation was exposed.
Horace Alderman	A small time rumrunner in the Florida-Bahamas area, he became a national figure when he killed a federal agent and two Coast Guard officers on the high seas and becamse the only man ever hanged by the Coast Guard.
Bruce Stanley Bethel	A British officer wounded in World War I, he retired to the island of Bimini, in the Bahamas just off Florida, but with Prohibition he was perfectly placed to go into business and ran a $3 million rumrunning enterprise.
John Wozniak	The admiral of "Peajacket's Navy" in the town of Ecorse just downriver from Detroit, he and his men made daily trips across the Detroit River to Canada.
Gloria de Cesares	A former movie star, she went to Europe and purchased a rum ship and formed the "Glorida Steamship Company" to smuggle liquor until she was caught by British authorities.
Ben Kerr	A sometime plumber, ship builder and piano player, Kerr became one of the most daring rumrunners on Lake Ontario until he lost his life in a winter storm.
"Alastair Moray"	He published his memoirs under an assumed name outlining his year-long voyage that included mechanical breakdowns, attempted piracy, the arrest of his boss and one memorable voyage or mercy.
Johnny Schnarr	Schnarr, who operated all during Prohibition, mostly as an employee of a Victoria, B.C. syndicate, was also an expert boat builder, developing the technique of using airplane engines in his high speed boats.
Jack Randell	A decorated war hero in the Boer War and a Royal Navy officer in World War I, Randell was called out of retirement in a Newfoundland mining operation to be captain of the rum runner I'm Alone. In 1929 the Coast Guard sunk his ship, killing one of Randell's men in a case that raised international concerns about the freedom of the high seas. Eventually the U.S. government paid compensatory damages to him and his crew.
Robin Douglas	Writing under the pen name "Dean Frith" the son English man of letters Norman Douglas, ran booze in his special Chevy car from a safe house in Quebec overland to "Lost Tribe Road" in Upstate New York and then to speakeasies and other cusromers in New York City.