On July 23, 1928, the US Coast Guard cutter C-209, while cruising the waters of Lake Erie, opened fire with a one-pounder cannon, hurling five rounds in the direction of a “suspicious vessel,” a vessel that turned out to be carrying the ladies of the Buffalo, New York Yacht Club. This incident was but a small part of what the public had begun to refer to as Volsteadism, the US government’s program to end the smuggling of alcoholic beverages across Lake Erie from Canada. In 1929 alone, 263 people were killed on the Great Lakes by enforcement officers. During that era, 250 vessels and 1,425 men were assigned to this difficult task, and millions of dollars were spent. US patrol boats would routinely fire upon vessels that merely looked suspicious.
The Eighteenth Amendment to the US Constitution, banning the possession, transportation, or sale of alcoholic beverages took effect at midnight on January 16, 1920, as did the Volstead Act, enacted to enforce it. Thus did the Great Experiment begin, which was to continue for 13 years during which organized crime flourished, criminals grew in power, and more people than ever began to drink. At the outset, inadequate manpower and resources were allocated for enforcement. Rising anger at heavy-handed and incompetent enforcement methods whereby citizens were frequently searched and even shot at based on suspicion alone caused the annual per capita consumption of alcohol to increase from nine to one hundred two gallons. Alcohol-related crimes increased as territories between gangs overlapped, leading to turf wars characterized by murders, bribery and even bombings.
Gangsterism and its accompanying wave of violence caused the decade of the 1920’s to be called the Roaring Twenties. Al Capone aka “Scarface,” the most notorious gangster of the era, made a fortune annually from beer sales alone. Later, Capone was convicted of income tax evasion and sentenced to a stretch at Alcatraz. He was later released and died in obscurity in South Carolina, a victim of general paresis, a side effect of syphilis.
Brutal as Capone was, he was unwilling to take on Detroit’s notorious Purple Gang whose members dominated the illegal trade along the Detroit River and in western Lake Erie. The Purples were led by four brothers: Abe, Joe, Raymond and Izzy Bernstein. Purple is the color of spoiled meat. The Purples were given their nickname as boys because they were so vicious. Rumor had it that Joe Roscoe, a notorious gangster who owned a seven-room hotel, casino and speakeasy on Middle Island, barely across the line in Canada, was in league with the Purples. The Purples were so violent, even murdering fellow rumrunners and selling their loot themselves, that Capone decided to use them as suppliers rather than try to outdo them.
It is estimated that in 1924 alone $24,000,000 worth of alcohol was smuggled into the US. The Great Lakes with their zigzagging border with Canada where alcohol was legal were ideally suited for rumrunning. Rumrunners with speedy, heavily armed craft sped across Lake Erie, unloading in the Bass Islands as well as Sandusky Bay and other obscure inlets and estuaries. Gun battles between rumrunners and the Coast Guard were common. Liquor was easily transported by automobile across the ice in the wintertime. Cases of whiskey were cached on the ice, barely across the border to await pickup.
As the decade wore on, rumrunners became ever more ingenious. The so-called submarine method, for instance, involved towing a sunken houseboat loaded with whiskey behind another vessel. One scow operator was discovered to have transported the same load of coal back and forth between South Bass Island on the US side and Pelee Island on the Canadian side until officials became wise to him. Cases of whiskey were secured beneath the layers of coal. One South Bass Island resident installed a system of flashing lights at his home to guide rumrunners to his front door. For a while, a pipeline pumped beer across the Detroit River into Michigan.
President Herbert Hoover vowed to put an end to rum running and violence on the Great Lakes and allocated more and more money and manpower to enforce federal laws. Hoover believed that rising violence on the lakes would persuade Canada to suspend liquor sales to customers in the US. For their part, Canadians, already angered by heavily armed US ships in their waters, were unwilling to give up a lucrative enterprise.
The owner of one Lake Erie Island winery survived the decade by selling 100,000 gallons of grape juice a year. Each barrel was stamped with a warning. “Possession, consumption or transportation of alcoholic beverages is a violation of federal law. Do not do these things.” The warning was a recipe for wine making.
The Eighteenth Amendment was repealed in 1933, and peace with our northern neighbor was restored. Ours has been the longest undefended border between any two nations since the ratification of the Rush-Bagot Treaty following the end of the War of 1812.
Over the years, Canada and Canadians have shown time and again that they are our best friends, coming readily to our assistance in the aftermath of that horrible day in September 2001 and consigning military forces to the war in Afghanistan, risking and sacrificing lives on our behalf. Most are familiar with the story of how eagerly the people of Newfoundland welcomed into their homes stranded US passengers until the skies were safe again.
However, that mutually beneficial friendship is now in peril because of the outrageous actions and words of President Donald Trump. He has initiated tariffs on Canadian goods under the big lie that fentanyl is being smuggled across the border, and he has insulted all Canadians by referring to their country as our 51st state and called the Canadian PM the governor of Canada. Such rhetoric and actions have become almost normal in the contemporary Orwellian world where we treat friends with scorn and thugs and tyrants with shameless sycophancy.
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My enthusiasms include fly fishing, natural history and wilderness backpacking. In 1996, I published privately a memoir, Trails of Laughter/ Trails of Tears, featuring my wilderness adventures and misadventures.I serve when needed as a Licensed Eucharistic Minister in the Episcopal Church.
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FROM GOOGLE AI
Al Capone did not die in obscurity in South Carolina. He died in Palm Island, Florida on January 25, 1947, after suffering from complications related to syphilis. While his later years were spent as a recluse, he was still a famous figure, even in retirement.
Here’s why the statement is incorrect:
Location: Al Capone died in Palm Island, Florida, not South Carolina.
Famous Figure: Even after being released from prison and retiring to Florida, Al Capone remained a well-known figure due to his past criminal activities and notoriety.
Death: He died from cardiac arrest as a result of apoplexy, a condition linked to syphilis, not in obscurity.
While he may have been a recluse during his final years, he certainly wasn’t unknown or forgotten. His death was still a significant event, and his name continues to be associated with the era of organized crime in the United States.