“We don’t have any graft or attempts at bribery among our city officials; the city wouldn’t stand for that, and none of our officers would stoop that low,” declared a prominent Edenton citizen this week, “but we did have something happen here a few days ago that was about as sensational as your turn-up over in Elizabeth City.”
“It seems,” he continued, “that some of our big officials were preparing to stage a little party, and hired a boat Captain to make the trip to East Lake, and bring back about 55 gallons of liquor, a jug for each man. Some of our policemen and Aldermen figured in on this deal, and so we have just learned why nothing has been done toward putting down the liquor traffic hereabouts.
“Well, the boat captain had a key to his employer’s fish house, and getting back late that night, unbeknown to the owner of the building, he ties up at the wharf and unloads his liquor in the building. But it happened that some sports abut town were having some fun down on the waterfront, and seeing something unusual that late at night going on, made a little investigation for themselves.
“the long and the short of it was that while the Captain was gone up town to collec this check for the 55 gallons at $15 per jug, these fellows down on the waterfront got into the building and got the stuff out of the way. When the Aldermen and policemen went down after their liquor, it was gone, and the alderman who had given his check for the goods ordered the bank to stop payment on his check.
“While the Captain was having a helluva time trying to collect the check on which payment had been stopped, the Aldermen were laying down the law to the policeman. “You’ve got to go after this bird, and you’ve got to catch him,” said the Alderman, “or we’ll get your job.” The policeman was in a fix and lost two days of good time trying to get onto the bird who stole the liquor.
“The Captain of the boat found that he couldn’t collect his check, and he started more trouble. It wasn’t long before he had spilled the beans all over town, and inside of 24 hours, all the drug stores were full of folks talking about the episode. And it wasn’t long either before the man who gave the check went down and settled up with the Captain, and got back the little scrap of paper that the boatman had been showing around town. But the Alderman is $165 out of pocket, and some fellow has enough wet goods to last him all summer. No, our Aldermen won’t take graft, but they are sporty fellows who like to enjoy themselves, even if they have a little hard luck while they are at it.”
From the front page of The Independent, Elizabeth City, N.C., Friday, Aug. 6, 1926
newspapers.digitalnc.org/lccn/sn83025812/1926-08-06/ed-1/seq-1/
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