Evening star. [volume], January 30, 1937, Page B-1, Image 15

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--i FEATURES |
Books—Art—Music News of Churches B
- - A J C ,V WITH SUNDAY MOANING EDITION ____ZZZIIZZZZIZIIZZZZZZZZZZZIIZZZZIZI^_
_WASHINGTON, D. C,, SATURDAY, JANUARY 30, 1937.___PAGE B—1
NATIVE GENIUS MAY LEAD NATION TO AIRSHIP SUCCESS
- A .. - - — - - - - - - -- "a
PROJECT BEFORE CONGRESS
Dependence on Foreign Designers Declared to Have Been One
of Serious Mistakes in Commercial and Military
Development—Measures Interest Country.
By Lucy Salamanca.
MERCHANT marine of the air,
its ships designed and built by
American inventors, engineers
and skilled labor, that might
place the United States in the fore
front of commercial nations and estab
lish regular transoceanic passenger
and transport service with far greater
safety and under greater pay loads
than are now possible, may be realised
if Congress passes favorably upon two
bills presented the opening week of the
session by Representative John M.
O'Connell of Rhode Island.
In addition to establishing the
United States as a Nation ably fitted
to take care of its commercial inter
ests and one that recognizes and ap
preciates what is already recognized
in other quarters of the world—that
our engineers and inventors are more
skilled and ingenious than those of
other nationalties—the bills will, in
becoming law, lay the foundation for
a completely new Amercan industry
’ and provide employment for increas
ing numbers of American professional
engineers, scientists and technical
workmen, giving an impetus to pri
vate Industry that will strike a re
freshing note in an era of Govern
ment-subsidized commercial enter
prises.
A loan of 112,000,000 has been asked
under the provisions of the bill, the
United States Government to receive
interest at the rate of per <*nt
a year and be secured by all patents,
patent rights and "present and sub
sequently acquired assets" of the cor
poration receiving the money until
the loan Is paid. This sum of money
would be used to foster the American
airship industry to the extent of con
structing two American-designed dirig
ible airships of not less than 8,000,000
cubic feet helium gas capacity, and
having a speed exceeding 100 miles
per hour. It would likewise provide
for construction of a Southern airship
plant and airship dock and a large
air field and operating terminal for
trans-Atlantic operations.
TJACH of these ships, when com
pieted, would Inaugurate weekly
round-trip service across the Atlantic.
In a fashion similar to the scheduled
trips of the Graf Zeppelin and the
Hindenburg of Germany. By the use
of an entirely new. American-con
ceived design In their structure, they
would strike a new note In lighter
than-alr craft science and it is be
lieved would give the United States
the ranking position among nations
for safety and practicability in opera
* tion.
It is a curious fact that, while
America admittedly leads the world
in the diversity and Ingenuity of its
patent grants, and is recognized
•broad for the inventive genius and
■kill of Its engineers and technicians,
we have never made use of these
talents when it came to their appli
cation in developing our prowess in
lighter-than-alr craft. Considering
that this Held is without question the
future stage for commercial activities
and is of paramount importance in
military defense in times of war. it is
difficult to understand the attitude
of mind that has looked heretofore
to Germany not only for funds for
development of aircraft, but for brains
and skill In designing and construct
ing dirigibles for the United States
of America. Both of the huge dirig
ibles with which we had such un
happy experience In the past—the
Macon and the Akron—were designed
and constructed by German engineers.
Astonishing as this fact must strike
any United States citizen with a
reasonable faith in the brains and
abilities of his own countrymen, it is
one easily verified. Both of these
dirigibles were designed and built
by the Goodyear Zeppelin Co. of
Akron. Ohio, 35 per cent of whose
stock is owned by German Interests,
and a large percentage of whose pat
ents are held by German Inventors
In Germany.
Furthermore, it is the belief of
Representative O’Connell, as well
as of certain authorities in lighter
than-alr craft, that these two ships,
the expense of whose construction and
trial flights was borne by the United
States, could well have served as ex
periments for German engineers even
then interested in building a ship as
large as the Hindenburg, but without
sufficient empirical formulae upon
which to base its construction. In
the words of the Rhode Island Con
gressman, “The construction and de
struction of the Akron and Macon un
doubtedly supplied valuable data to
the German Zeppelin organization for
the construction of the Hindenburg.
“I do not wish to say anything detri
mental," Mr. O’Connell went on to
explain, "to our now-valued Ameri
can citlaens of German birth who may
formerly have been Zeppelin-trained
engineers and came to this country
to aid in the design and construction
of the Akron. The fact remains, how
ever, that these engineers perhaps had
not acquired the full technical knowl
edge then possessed by the Zeppelin
organization, or, If they had such
knowledge, they did not Insist that
either the Akron or the Macon be
constructed with certain important re
inforcements which I am Informed
were employed In the construction of
previous Zeppelin airships.
"I understand that during the
Lighter-Than-Air Forum at Akron,
Ohio, the Navy Department was
charged with responsibility for the
loss of the Akron and Macon because
the builders were not allowed to in
clude certain reinforcements which
had been considered necessary and
were included in previous Zeppelin
constructed airships. I do not know
If an investigation has been made
concerning these charges or the re
sult of such investigation, if made.
The loss of the Akron and Macon Is
thought to be directly the result of
structural failure at a place such as
In other Zeppelin airships were rein
forced, and the operating personnel
of these airships were no more to
blame than a driver of a new auto
mobile should be blamed when a IgQpt
axle breaks and the automobile Is
wrecked."
jyjR. O'CONNELL believes that “we
should at least learn from the
loss of $10,000,000 worth of airships,
with the lives of scores of men, that
we should now question the advice of
those who may be responsible for the
structure failure of the Akron and
Macon, and of those who now recom
mend the continued construction of
such airships, when the United States
has the most competent structural
engineers in the world who have been
ignored when American airship con
struction has heretofore been con
sidered.”
The Rhode Island Congressman Is
not alone in his firm conviction that
a new design, the product of Amer
ican inventiveness, should be em
ployed in the future construction of
airships for this Nation. Naval and
aeronautic authorities, engineers of
international reputation, scientists
whose names stand aut in our impor
tant institutions, American engineer
ing societies and American inventors
all have expressed themselves with
vigor and candor on the subject.
Rear Admiral H. I. Cone, when
chairman of the Advisory Committee
of the United States Shipping Board
Bureau, told the Federal Aviation
Commission, “The Government should
build a series of airships suitable for
transoceanic passenger and express
service.” In that way, he declared
“the United States would assume
world leadership in the aircraft in
dustry', enabling us at the same time
to recapture our lost position in the
field of world shipping. The United
States will be left hopelessly behind
unless we take steps for building air
ships to fill out our merchant marine.”
The House Committee on Com
merce in 1932 supported the need for
sale American overseas airship serv
ice #hen it reported on the merchant
airship bill, recommending its pas
sage “as so amended.”
“There is ample evidence," said
that committee on that occasion,
“that the time has now come to use
the air as the medium for rapid
transport of the urgent portion of our
business representatives, samples and
mails to overseas markets.”
^FTER a very thorough investiga
tion of the situation with regard
to our merchant marine, the .com
mittee stated:
"The speed of steamships has about
reached its economical limit. To
maintain a speed of more than 24
knots requires vessels of enormous
siie and cost. Freight and passen
gers cannot be found to fill such
superships except on the North At
lantic, and even there international
rivalry supported by governments has
only pushed the speed up to 28 knots.
Naval architects propose the ultimate
ship of 30-knot speed to cost twice
as much as a 24-knot vessel, saving
one day in the Atlantic crossing.
Such ships, flying our- flag, would cost
approximately $30,000,000 each, of
which amount three-fourths is re
quired, under existing laws, to be
loaned by our Government at low
rates of Interest.”
“In the Pacific,” continued the
committee, “there is slight possibility
of supporting from commercial rev
enues steamships of much greater
speed than are now available. And
yet in the Pacific our national and
commercial Interests may have the
greater need for Increased speed of
transportation. To increase the speed
of water transportation materially is
usually prohibitive in cost, because
the portion of passengers, mails and
goods that require high speed is too
small to fill at increased charges the
great vessels needed to provide such
speed.
“The other side of the picture re
A " ■ i ll lii —i
-4
(1) The model of an airship under test, with 2£00
pounds of water in the bags and other ballast to keep it
balanced in weight. (2) Preliminary design for passen
ger accommodation in a commercial airship. (3) The
giant Hindenburf, of German manufacture.—Wide World
Photo,
veals the air over the sea as an avail
able medium for the very high-speed
transport by aircraft this relatively
small portion of the traffic now mov
ing that Is able to pay for the time
saved. Instead of a possible speed in
crease of 10 or 15 per cent offered by
steamships at a very great cost, air
craft offer the possibility of a speed
increase of several hundred per cent
over existing means, and at moderate
cost.”
Commenting upon trade develop
ments in the United States, the Con
gressional Committee went on to say:
“Today our trade and manufacture Is
not simply a matter of domestic in
dustry and exchange. We have de
veloped the principles and practices
of quantity production to such an ex
tent that we have become an exporting
Nation. This export field is new to
our generation, but we are In compe
tition with the old experienced export
nations of the world. If our future
in this export field Is to be a success,
we must proceed with a definite pro
gram of agresslveness.”
TT IS the aim, under the O’Connell
A bill, to recapture the lost glories
of our merchant marine, as well as
to establish a lucrative passenger
service and also to make available the
dirigible fleet to the Government in
time of war for military defense. By
the Introduction of few changes com
mercial airships could easily be eon
verted to military purposes. In the
opinion of American engineers, in
ventors and other experts who have
made a study of the question.
Or. William Hovgaard, member of
the committee appointed by the
Science Advisory Board to review and
analyze the past and present situation
as to the design and construction of
airships, stated in the Naval Institute
Proceedings last March: ‘Rear
Admiral W. A. Moffett has stated
that during the World War, as far as
we know, no convoy was ever attacked
by a submarine when guarded by an
airship. It seems safe to say that for
a country like the United States, with
extensive coast lines, outlying pos
sessions and a great Navy, there will
be ip time of war a need for airships
of all types from the smallest non
rlglda to the largest rigid airships.”
/~kNE American Inventor, associated
^ with various thriving enterprises
existing upon the proceeds of his own
(Continued on Page B-3.)
MOONSHINING PERSISTS IN DIXIE
Federal Dry Forces, Although Nearly Rid of the Bootlegger, Find
That Prohibition Laws in Southern States Encourage
Thriving "Cawn” Industry. _
By William A. Bell, Jr.
DEAR old Dixie, renowned in
song and story, remains for
enforcement officers of the
Treasury Department's alco
hol tax unit, the land of com that
comes in bottles, out of stills.
Repeal of the eighteenth amend
ment notwithstanding, moonshining
in the ‘ woods and templed hills” of
States below what Irvin S. Cobb
called the Smith & Wesson line is
still going at a great rate—so great,
in fact, that it contributes the chief
enforcement problem of Federal liquor
control.
The big-time bootlegger and his
criminal brother, the rum runner,
have just about disappeared, accord
ing to alcohol tax unit officials, but
the moonshiner is going strong, oper
ating on a scale only slightly less
large than during prohibition. Offi
cials attribute the persistence of this
class of liquor law violators to State
prohibition laws in the South.
Georgia, Alabama, Mississippi, Ten
nessee, Oklahoma and North Caro
lina are ‘‘dry" States. Even if they
were “wet” (legally), the moonshiner
would survive, officials said, because
of the demand of ‘‘po‘ whites” and
Negroes for cheap mash whisky. The
Jeeter Lesters of the South's multiple
Tobacco Roads and their counter
parts in the remote mountain regions
of the Smokies and Blue Ridge want
their ‘‘cawn,” and, b’glory, they’re
a-gotn’ to ‘‘git hit.”
The extent to which moonshining
continues is shown by the fact that
Federal seizures of illicit stills an
nually total more than half the num
ber of yearly seizures during prohlbl
»
tion. By far the most seizures are
made In Southern States.
Here's the picture: During the
fiscal year ended last June 30. 15,629
stills were seized. As they say down
in the “white mule" country, them's
a pow'ful lot of stills. Seizures dur
ing the previous fiscal year were only
slightly more. Now in pre-repeal
years total seizures amounted to
28,000 one year, 27,000 the next,
24,000, 26,000, and so on. The yearly
totals, it can be readily seen, aren't
twice as much as those since the end
of prohibition.
Who's doing all that distilling?
New Yorkers? Well, not so much in
proportion to the State's population.
Pennsylvanians? Very little. Califor
nians? Practically none. Midwest
erners? No answer there, either. But
in Alabama during the 1936 fiscal year
Federal agents seized 1,300 stills, 300
more—more, mind you—than in one
of the prohibition years. Eleven hun
dred seizures were made in Georgia.
The moonshlning industry must be
falling off there, for in 1928 seizures
of Georgia stills totaled 3.900. There
were 1,100 still seizures in Virginia
during the last fiscal year compared
to 1,300 in a representative pre
repeal period. In North Carolina, too,
of course, there’s considerable moon
shining going on, as shown by seizure
of 1,300 stills.
Much of this moonshining activity
can be reduced, according to officials
of the alcohol tax unit, if the dry
States will repeal their prohibition
laws. In wet States there has been a
substantial reduction of seizures and i
arrests and in the size of seizures.
A LTHOUOH enforcement officials
now concentrate upon sources of
supply rather than upon speakeasies
and other retail outlets of Illegal
hootch, 31.504 Federal liquor law vio
lators were arrested during the 1936
fiscal year, more than half the number
arrested In a comparable year during
prohibition. Most of the arrests were
of persons engaged in moonshining.
Because of the continuance of
moonshining on a large scale the busi
ness of being a Federal "dry” agent
Is still a dangerous one. Not as many
agents are murdered as during pro
hibition. of course, but there are still
tragedies. Two agents were killed in
1935 and the same number in 1936.
Scores were wounded. Brutal, half
savage mountaineers, guarding their
copper coils and mash vats in the
backwoods, are still out gunning for
the despised "revenooers.” Before re
peal, however, as many as 14 agent*
have been slain in one year.
Among the faculties of a well-trained
investigator for the alcohol tax uni#
is a knowledge of the terrain in which
he is working. He should know that
stills are to be found near streams,
for they must have a water supply.
It's well that he know, too, where a
moonshiner is likely to be lurking,
squinting along the barrel of a ahot
gun or squirrel rifle. An agent recent
ly approached his quarry too rapidly
and had his left arm shot away.
Except In the realm of moonshiner*,
the illicit liquor business has under
gone a change that would bring tears
to the eyes of A1 Capone in his cell
at Alcatraz. The "big shot” among
bootleggers, if he managed to escape
a prison sentence, has sought other
pastures—gambling principally. The
black sheep of prohibition times is
gambling on the lea. He may have his
limousine and his daimond rings, but
they are the products of the numbers
game, bookmaking or other forms of
betting other people's money.
The liquor law violator of 1937, ac
cording to Federal enforcement offi
cers, Is the same individual or type
of individual as the liquor law violator
of 1930, but he Just hasn't the organ
ization that he used to have. The
large illicit liquor syndicate is almost
a memory. The bootlegger's business
has been taken away and with his
business went his “color." Today
groups engaged in illegal whisky traf
fic are only shadows of their former
selves.
Also in the limbo are the elaborate
speakeasy and the speakeasy on busi
ness property: The ••blind tiger” of
today is in shoddy industrial or slum
sireas, in a private home or upstairs
flat. Patrons are poor men who drop
in for a cheap "shot.” Government
alcohol control administrators have
found that, generally, people who
have the money to buy tax-paid
liquor buy it. They know what they’re
getting.
Illicit alcohol wholesales currently
for about $2.25 a gallon and in some
sections the "finished” product can be
obtained for as little as $1.75 or $2 a
gallon. Tax-paid alcohol costs, whole
sale, about $5 or $6 a gallon. Moon
shine, "white mule,” can be obtained
in some places, the still, for $1 a
gallon. In other sections bootleg alco
hol will be sold for $15 for r- five
gallon can. Prices were higher during
prohibition because demand was great
er. The law of supply '.nd demand
governs illicit trade, officials pointed
out, just as it governs i?gal trade.
Home brewing, according to one of
ficial source, is virtually non-existent.
So is wine making at home. Beer
and wine are so cheap that personal
manufacture 1s no longer profitable,
for the homemade stuff can't compete
with the legally manufactured prod
uct, either as to quality or price.
BEST TARPON SEASON IN DECADE IS UNDER WAY IN FLORIDA,
A - ■ ■
Sport Begins Early, Giving
Fishers Reason for Great
Enthusiasm.
By W. R. McCallutn.
6 L ¥ ¥ OLD on, boy, it's a tarp.
I I And don’t give him an Inch
I 1 of slack line.” Alton
x A Boggess, famed fishing
guide out of Everglades, Fla., was a
little bit excited. Any good guide is
entitled to a little pulse-quickening
when he’s come 100-odd miles with a
tyro fisheman who dreamed of hooking
and landing one of the silver-sided
jumping jacks of the oceans and rivers
which masquerade under the simple
name of tarpon.
"Here he comes up. Hold him tight
and loosen your drag. One good jerk
and he’ll snap your line. Quick, I’ll
do it. And now don’t give him any
slack.” Boggess stood a foot behind
the perspiring novice, who was at
tempting to keep a tight line on a
fish that was out of the water as much
as in it. "H-h-how long does this
keep on?” quavered the tyro. "I’ve
had him on an hour already.”
"You’ve had him on 8 minutes,”
laughed Boggess. "What, you aren't
tired so soon? He looks like a good
one. With careful hauling you may
land him in an hour and a half or so.”
Only a groan answered him, followed
by a quick grunt as the tarp reached
up toward the heavens with another
towering leap that thrust the rod-butt
against the region of our hero’s tum
my, a little soft from easy living.
“H-he feels like a freight train,”
yelped the tyro. “I c-c-can’t hold him
at all. He takes out line whenever he
wants.”
'T'HATS tarpon fishing, or a minor
sample of it. In case you haven't
already become acquainted with the
sabalo or grand ecale, or tarpon At
lantlcus, all of which apply to the
same grand fish of the tropics, you'd
better make his acquointance as quick
ly as possible. And there isn’t a bet
ter time than right now. They’re
rolling in all the passes of Florida’s
West Coast from Sanibel south to Key
West, and it looks like the best tarpon
season in a decade. Ordinarily you
couldn’t be sure of tarpon at this time
of year. Winter tarp are more or less
a myth. Like the unicorn, they’re
reported, but the guy who tells about
’em being caught in the waters of
continental Florida usually winds up
I* saying ha heard it from JimJ who
The gentlemen displaying the fine array of fish are, left to right, L. W. Laudick, W. R. McCallum, the author, and Capt. C. T. Boggess.
heard It from John, and John says
he learned it from Jack, and Jack
forgets who told him. But it’s been
an unusual Winter.
Last year at this time the North was
covered with snow and ice, Florida
was getting the tail end of a flock of
storms, the water was chilled and, al
though the tarpon may have been
there, they weren’t being caught.
Some of the guides who took parties
around to the Shark-River region at
tributed the lack of fish to the hurri
cane on Labor day, 1935. But that
sounded doubtful to me and my pals.
Sure, the hurricane hit hard down
there in the Cape Sable area, but it
didn’t destroy the feeding grounds.
It would take quite a breeze to lift
the water out of that river, from
around its thousands of islands. The
fact about the big wind of 1935 is that
it aided Ashing, for it cut new chan
nels, and. if there’s one thing fish
really go for, it’s new feeding grounds
and plenty of feed.
So right now, from the reports com
ing here, the tarpon are in. The
weather has been warms In South
Florida, there haven’t been those fre
quent “northers” that chase the fish
away or cause ’em to go deep or what
ever tarpon do when they aren’t bit
ing. And it looks like the biggest and
the earliest tarpon year of them all,
particularly in the region south of
Everglades and south of Matecumbe,
the little spot on the Florida Keys
that was hit so hard by the hurricane.
'DUT don’t let any one fool you about
U the tarpon. Where there are hun
dreds now, there’ll be literally thou
sands later. In May and June the
creeks, passes and rivers between Sara
sota, Venice and Cape Sable will be
full of ’em, so many of them that
you’ll get tired pulling ’em in, provided
you can hook and hold one of those
tackle busters. A few Washingtonians
do and have, those that haven’t fallen
for the highly publicized sallfish on
the other side, over around Miami and
Palm Beach. Now don’t get me wrong
about the sail. He’s a good and tough
hombre. He scraps and scraps, but
one good tarpon fight will take more
out of jrou than half .a joaan. sailfish
scraps. The tarp runs heavier, he’s
out of the water longer and more
often, he’s harder to hook (they may
stop me on that one), and all around
he’s a rougher, tougher gent than the
sail. And he isn’t as expensive to
catch.
Those tarpon that are in now are
good, but the ones that will come along
in March will be bigger and better,
runny fish, the tarp. No one seems to
know much about him. Authorities
agree that he makes a complete circuit
of the Caribbean Sea area each year.
OrdinarUy he appears in South Florida
late in February or early in March,
hitting into the Shark, Rodgers and
Lostmans Rivers in small numbers
and small fish, anywhere from 20 to
100 pounds. First, however, he shows
up at Key West, but that’s rather in
convenient to get at, now that the
railroad has been washed out by the
big wind. It’s a 6-hour ferry run
from Upper Matecumbe to Grassy Key
and then a 35-mlle run by motor to
Key West, so it takes all day from
Miami. But In Febcpary the passes
(a pass is a channel) around No Name
Key, Graaay Key, Munsons Island and
Key West have tarpon in them. And
another thing, if you don’t know your
tarp. He's a West Coast fish. He
strays into the Atlantic occasionally,
but his main habitat is the Gulf of
Mexico and the Caribbean Sea.
Sure, they are caught at Cape
Henry, Va., occasionally, and along
the Eastern Seaboard in August, but
those that are caught are strays. The
big schools feed along the West Coast
of Florida. And now, to get back to
his habits, or as much as we know
of them. The tarp hits in around
Cape Sable in March in small schools,
gradually enlarging in number
through April and May and spreading
north. May and June are top months
for them all along the West Coast of
the Sunshine State. There they keep
on moving west, hitting the coasts of
Mississippi, Alabama, Louisiana and
then Texas. August is the month for
them in Texas, and Corpus Christ! and
Port Aransas the places. Bight now
the big boys an down In Mexico, when
Big Schools Found Feeding
Along West Coast, Ready
for Great Battles.
the shallow waters around Tampico
are full of them.
OUT In February and March, pro
U vided the weather holds fairly
good, you can Journey down to the
little town of Everglades, hop a boat
and run down the coast to Shark River
or Rodgers or Lostmans and get your
thrills. Late Winter tarpon are good
tarpon and don't let any one Josh you
that they aren’t scrappers. That
country down there is utterly wild and
virgin. The nearest human habita
tion to the mouth of Shark River 1s
25 miles away and there isn't a land
ing place within 10 miles, even a sand
beach. It’s all mangrove swamp and
deep river channels, scoured twice
daily by the tides which rush in and
out to and from the Gulf of Mexico
from the fastnesses of the Everglades.
For the Shark and the Rodgers and
Lostmans and Harney Rivers all pene
trate deep into the back country where
only the Semlnoles know their way,
and alligators slide and the mos
quitos grow in countless millions.
You'll have to live on the boat and
fish for tarp by day and night, and
.bring along plenty of liniment—and
hooks. A tarp takes it out of you,
and unless you know the game, you’ll
run out of hooks.
Brother Tarpon, so tne nignDrows
tell us, Is a holdover from the ancient
age of fishes, a throwback with all the
savagery and ruggedness of neolithic
man of cave days. He looks it, too,
and when you get him on the business
end of a 12-thread line you'll think
you've hooked a dlplodocus.
In the first place he’s covered with
protective armor plate. It isn’t strong
enough to stop the dental armament
of a big shark, but you can’t get a
gall into a tarpon’s hide. Those scales.
3 inches across, are pure bone, and
they are overlaid in about six layers.
In the second place you’ve only got
a 25 per cent chance of getting a
fish hook into his mouth so it will
hold. The other 75 per cent of a tar
pon’s mouth is made up of plates of
bone, and 11 your hook goes into one
of these it won’t hold. All of which
explains the usual ratio for expert tar
pon fishermen, about one tarp landed
to every three or lour strikes. Com
bine such a fish with a diabolical
j.Conthrad on Page B-2.)
r\ESPITE the late and unlamented
^ decline and fall of large-scale
bootlegging, the "revenooers” con
tinue to have enthralling cases. There
was the one, for instance, of the Gior
dana gang of ’leggers from New York
and Atlantic City. In 1934 this canny
crew established a distillery in a re
mote spot near Camden, N. J. Osten
sibly they were engaged in the manu
facture of roofing paint and the rec
lamation of crankcase oil. They ex
plained their out-of-the-way location
by stating their methods were highly
dangerous, presenting the possibility
of an explosion. Tony Giordana, the
head of the ring, was an "alky" rack
eteer with four aliases. His principal
partner was a crony named Sam Wald
man, who took the name of Whitcomb*
and represented himself as president
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