Rum-running in Windsor

The many islands of the Detroit River made smuggling between Windsor and Detroit difficult to detect during Prohibition.

'Windsor'Windsor'Windsor'Windsor, Ontario, Canada, was a major rum-running port in the early part of the 20th century. In 1916, the State of Michigan, in the United States, adopted Prohibition. Alcohol was smuggled from Ohio until Prohibition became national in 1919. From then on, the City of Windsor, Ontario became a major site for alcohol smuggling and gang activity.

The Canadian federal government regulated the manufacturing, importation, and exportation of alcoholic beverages and approved liquor production in all the provinces. When the Wartime Resource Act prohibiting the manufacturing, sale or consumption of alcoholic beverages expired on January 1, 1927, new legislation authorized each province to decide whether to continue the enforced bans on alcohol. Like most provinces in Canada, Ontario chose to be dry. Consequently, this decision led to an upswing in organized crime activity along the Detroit-Windsor borders; gang violence erupted and Detroiters were murdered daily for their involvement.

The Eighteenth Amendment, Volstead Act and "Near Beer"

In January 16, 1919, the American Government passed the Eighteenth Amendment to the United States Constitution. It was divided into three separate sections:

Section 1. After one year from the ratification of this article the manufacture, sale, or transportation of intoxicating liquors within, the importation thereof into, or the exportation thereof from the United States and all territory subject to the jurisdiction thereof for beverage purposes is hereby prohibited.

Section 2. The Congress and the several States shall have concurrent power to enforce this article by appropriate legislation.

Section 3. This article shall be inoperative unless it shall have been ratified as an amendment to the Constitution by the legislatures of the several States, as provided in the Constitution, within seven years from the date of the submission hereof to the States by the Congress.

Andrew John Volstead is a name forever attached to Prohibition. He was one of the congressmen to really push the Eighteenth Amendment. The Volstead Act of 1920 defined intoxicating liquors as any liquor containing more than 0.5 percent alcohol. It permitted the manufacture of non-intoxicating cider and fruit juices for home use; and it allowed the sale of alcoholic beverages for medicinal, sacramental, and industrial purposes. The Volstead Act allowed breweries to produce “near beer” with an alcohol content of up to 0.5%. To make the beer, distilleries had to produce actual beer and then let it sit to eliminate most of its alcoholic content. This allowed breweries to produce virtually unlimited amounts of beer. The Volstead Act also meant that households could ferment wine for private consumption. With Detroit being the largest border city to Canada, it lead to a great deal of alcohol smuggling from Windsor to Detroit via the Detroit River. Even though Ontario went through their own prohibition, they found loopholes to avoid illegal activity in Ontario. Ontario’s Prohibition, which was called the Temperance Act, occurred from 1919 to 1923. The ability to purchase and consume alcohol was illegal but the ability to distil alcohol was still legal.

"Joe Sent Me"

Detroit police inspecting equipment found in a clandestine underground brewery during the Prohibition era

The popular saying, "Joe Sent Me", was used to gain entry to speakeasies, blind pigs, clubs or joints. By 1928, there were anywhere from 16,000 to 25,000 speakeasies and clubs in the Windsor-Detroit area. Clubs were located in slums and in some of Detroit's most prestigious neighborhoods. There was a club for everyone; and popular drinks of the time varied depending on the club, distinguishing one club from another. Criminal gangs often owned the clubs and provided protection to members from police and other gangs. As was customary, clubs and independent stills paid known criminals for protection, insuring their deliveries' arrival from Canada.

Some clubs and speakesies offered food, at times for free with the purchase of a beverage to encourage customers during prohibition. Police were often bribed to protect club owners and stills against raids, however they would intervene if a club was prone to violence or cases of food poisoning.

The lure of speakeasies during prohibition is not difficult to understand. Gambling played a significant role - the one arm bandit, poker, blackjack and roulette were popular games among higher-class blind pigs - giving clubs a social and economic benefit as well. The commonly accepted attitude towards drinking and minimal penalties for drinking made it worth consuming. The thrill of violating prohibition laws appealed to the young and they were rarely embarrassed to have their names in the paper. Blind pigs generally went unnoticed; although those near churches and school were often targeted because of their proximity to children. Drinking on campuses were usually in sororities and fraternities. The 18th amendment allowed people to obtain liquor by prescription. That liquor was diluted and often sold for huge profits.

Many Americans came to Windsor to enjoy a good time and party while drinking. There were several places for Americans to drink and party simply by crossing the Detroit River, including roadhouses. One of the most popular roadhouses, the Island View Hotel, was off of the shores of the Detroit River and had its own dock. Today, Island View Hotel is known as Abars, and is still open.

A popular and elegant hot spot in Windsor frequented by wealthy Detroiters was Edgewater Thomas Inn, owned by former Detroiter, Bertha Thomas. It had highly paid dock and parking attendants who served as lookouts. Although the attendants couldn't actually stop a police raid, they were instructed to push one of the many warning buzzers located every 20 feet around the lot to warn the occupants and drinkers inside. Once the button had been pushed, flashing lights and sirens would sound for 5 seconds in the Inn's bar and dining rooms. In July 1929, Windsor's Border Cities Star reported that on the 110th raid, police were finally able to find four cases of strong beer and the beautiful Bertha Thomas was arrested. The "Riverfront's Leading Hostess" endured over 2,000 raids during prohibition (ending in 1933) but continued running her business until her death in 1955. Today, the Windsor Yacht Club is located on the land of the former Edgewater Thomas Inn. The street opposite is named, "Bertha" in her honor, and Thomas Avenue is east of that, where she owned farmland.

Rum-running

The Detroit-Windsor Railroad Tunnel was one of the conduits for illegal alcohol,

The waterways that separate Windsor and Detroit saw 75% of the alcohol that was consumed in the United States during Prohibition..^{[citation needed]} The numerous islands (notably Bois Blanc, Grosse Ile, Fighting Island and Belle Isle) that dot the 30-mile stretch from Lake Erie to Lake St. Clair provided the necessary hiding spots to evade officials. The river is narrow and could quickly and easily be crossed by boat. Many people on both sides of the river had private boathouse and docks. Many of those were connected by underground tunnels. An estimated 25% of Windsor’s citizens were involved in smuggling during the 1920s and made large profits.^{[citation needed]} Windsor residents capitalized and many became millionaires, building some of the most prestigious mansions in Windsor.^{[citation needed]} Once the Ambassador Bridge and the Windsor-Detroit Tunnel were constructed, the flow of alcohol saw a dramatic increase.

Windsor also became an exporter of alcohol to Barbados, Cuba, Mexico and other foreign countries. The booze was usually redistributed by smugglers to ports in the southern United States. The flow of whiskey continued and merely 5% of the alcohol shipped from Ontario was ever seized.

Drys vs. wets

The term "Drys" referred to those who were generally well financed and organized, with the support of influential people. They argued on a “high moral road” and believed in Prohibition. These figures included Billy Sunday who offered a Booze Sermon in hope of inspiring the "water wagon". The people that agreed with the prohibition often argued that the winners were the American family, churches, schools, workers and the American political system. The losers were seen as criminals, drunks and corrupt politicians.

The "Wets" were poorly organized and were recognized opponents of the prohibition. Saloons keepers, brewers, and distillers were viewed as corruptors of State. People in Detroit during the 1920s frequently visited speakeasies and blind pigs for something to do. They were generally not afraid to be arrested and considered it a status symbol.

The entrance of the United States into World War I provided opportunities to win support for prohibition. Rationing was widely accepted as a necessary ingredient of the American war effort. The use of grain for alcohol production was seen as wasteful.

Methods

Rum Runners found several ways to smuggle alcohol from Windsor to Detroit. A major way Detroit River played in Rum Running was large vessels full of alcohol docked in Windsor on the Detroit River would have documentation going to South America, but instead the large vessel would just drop off its shipments in Detroit. The only stipulation was that a B-13 clearance document had to be issued from federal customs officials with the destination stamped on it. For example, rumrunners would unload a boxcar into a waiting speedboat at the docks in Windsor. A few cases would be stored in the bow and more in the cockpit. In the speedboat driver's pocket would be a permit, stamped by a bribed customs officer, allowing him to export his cargo to Venezuela. Instead of going to Venezuela, the driver would just make an easier trip to Detroit. In a days work the driver of the speedboat would net around $200 Many people made profit on bootlegging alcohol over the boarder from Windsor to Detroit. Harry Low was one of the first people to take full advantage of the prohibition. He purchased large vessels and delivered alcohol to Michigan while having papers saying his ships were delivering goods to Cuba or West Indian ports.

In wintertime, with the Detroit River being frozen, Rum Runners took their chances driving across the river, often taking lighter cars with smaller engines. These lighter vehicles were called "whiskey sixes" by the smugglers because of the vehicle's six-cylinder engine.

Most alcohol was smuggled across the border by everyday people. They continuously designed new devices to hide the alcohol as they rode the ferry from one side to the other. People used such gimmicks as rubber belts, false breasts, chest protectors, suitcases and even loaves of bread to transport it. Many took children and traveled in families to avoid detection. Children were taught to cry and shout to create confusion and avoid long searches by officials.^{[citation needed]}

Criminal gangs also developed sophisticated methods to signal across the border to avoid raids and arrests. The system was timed like clock work, one group arranged the purchase of liquor on Windsor's docks and another team transported it across. Then a third team would transport it to a warehouse where a final team organized the distribution. Gangs with strong financial backing would often bribe federal, state and local officials. Police would often call in sick as requested by the gangs, and in the end hundreds were indicted. They eventually began to use airplanes after the prohibition navy became effective. Railways were also used extensively, 2 tunnels and loads of space and short staff made it easy. Railways were responsible for around 800 cases of beer daily. Customs officers noticed that after the Volstead Act there was a sharp increase in the application of motorboat licenses. During the mid-1920s, the narrow Detroit River and highways running farther inland could quench the thirst of millions of mid westerners.

With the open market of Detroit being the major hub for alcohol smuggling it was obvious organized crime could heavily succeed in rum running. Al Capone was one of the biggest members of organized crime during prohibition, although he was from Chicago. There were not a lot of major local organized groups that were involved with rum running, one of the main ones were The Purple Gang, which dealt with crime from Grosse Pointe to Wyandotte. The Purple Gang's main rivals were the Licavoli Squad, they ran their smuggling operations on the upper Detroit River and virtually seized control over the bigger east side businesses in the city.

After 1923 gangs controlled a large percentage of alcohol and their facilities and acquired huge profits. The Purple Gang was very powerful, made up of several Jewish hoodlums. They became a major supplier to Al Capone and his Chicago Empire. The Purple Gang fell in 1929 after many leaders were arrested or murdered.

Blaise Diesbourg, also known as “King Canada,” was a major figure in the liquor smuggling and bootlegging business in the regions around Windsor, Ontario during the American Prohibition period. His success brought him in contact with Chicago kingpin Al Capone, who arranged a deal with Diesbourg to supply him with regular shipment of booze by plane. Diesbourg took the name “King Canada” at this time as an alias to hide from legal authorities.

Early Bootlegging Born in the farming area near Belle River, a small town east of Windsor, French-Canadian Diesbourg started his career as a small-time bootlegger, serving bar at his brother Charlie’s hotel, the Wellington, on the main street of Belle River. The “King’s” early bootlegging operations were only in his town—he never sent the liquor across the border. Diesbourg profited greatly—buying whiskey for about $1.25 a case and selling it for $3.00. Around 1925-1926, he went on his own and started his own hotel called Omar Hotel, and got into the export business.

Export Business and Contact with Al Capone Given the popularity and profit wealth of the Detroit River as a smuggling area to the United States, it seemed an obvious choice for Diesbourg to take his bootlegging operations across the border. Dollar a land pay or $35 a month fishing wages could not compete with monthly rum running salaries of $400 a month for a captain.C. Mark Davis, “Altantic Canada’s Rum Running Tradition,” Acadiensis: Journal of the History of the Atlantic Region 14 no.2 (1985): 149-150. An astounding seventy-five percent of all illegal liquor brought into the United States was transported across the Detroit River from Canada, mainly the thirty-five mile stretch from Lake Erie to the St. Clair River. In Fact, the city’s two major industries during this time were the manufacturing of automobiles and the distribution of Canadian liquor. Enforcement was difficult, if not impossible, by authorities from both Canada and the United States. It is estimated that in the vicinity of Detroit, over a thousand cases of liquor a day is legally shipped from Canada upon vessels bound to one place or another. Diesbourg was very successful bringing the alcohol to the U.S., working with the Mexico Export Company, the largest outfit at the time. He would take the whiskey across the ice in the winter months. “It was like a highway out there,” Diesbourg recalls, “the cars going back and forth, and no one to stop you.” He says that it was very hard to catch smugglers in the winter. The export docks were all along the river, and people paid cash for the liquor—up to $10,000 sometimes. Diesbourg spent his money almost as fast as he made it. In addition to boats and cars, King Canada smuggled liquor by plane. He was one of the only ones to organize that. He would load the planes up on fields that he rented from farmers in exchange for a case of beer or whiskey, and his stash for whiskey and beer—which he called “plants”—would be hidden underground to hide from the police. The liquor was placed in cisterns, right under the feet of authorities that would search the place, and never found.

Contact with Al Capone The business of smuggling via planes gave Blaise Diesbourg his greatest wealth; it was also in this time that he came in contact with kingpin giant Al Capone. The mod boss came to see him at the Mexico Export Dock, and they discussed business in Diesbourg’s brother Charlie’s cellar. From the start, the “King” demonstrated he wasn’t afraid of Capone, and the kingpin wouldn’t push him around. Diesbourg recalls their meeting, telling the gangster, “Listen, I am King Canada, and you know you can’t fool around with me. I know every move in Chicago—every move you make.” When asked how he knew this, he replied, “What do you think I am? Don’t you think I know something through the government of what’s going on in Chicago?” Diesbourg recalls how despite Capone’s tough attitude, he was “a good guy.” He “never talked tough” with King Canada. They only met once more after the meeting in the cellar—in Chicago, when Diesbourg flew down with his pilots. Working with Capone, Diesbourg used old bombers that could hold twenty-five cases of whiskey. They would meet at six in the morning and load up the planes, regardless of the weather.

King Canada’s Legacy Since his death in 1989, Blaise Diesbourg has added new interest in tourism in his hometown of Belle River, illustrated by councilor Ray Lalonde’s pitch to showcase the town’s rum-running history by using his name, and Al Capone’s. Old prohibition buildings, including their secret passages to transport liquor, could be turned into museums for anyone interested in the history of prohibition.

Italian mafiosi (Licavoli, Vitali, and Giannolo families; see more at Detroit Partnership) divided the waterways into sections and if crossed, all out warfare would follow. Gangs were financially stable and it allowed them to control state officials and police. They would hire anyone to transport alcohol: families, men, women and young teenagers.

Harry Low

Harry Low was one of Windsor's most prominent rumrunners during the prohibition era, leaving behind one of Windsor’s most treasured historic sites. Low became one of Windsor and Detroit’s most powerful rumrunners before going full circle and losing everything. Harry was a machinist by trade and worked in the industry for many years before opening up his own pool hall on Sandwich Street (Now Riverside Drive). As prohibition came to fruition in the 1920, Low witnessed an opportunity to make quick money by smuggling booze from Windsor, Ontario where the sale of alcohol was illegal but the production of it was not. Low borrowed $300 from a friend to help him along with setting up a bootlegging business for his pool hall customers. Through the profits he mad from this operation he was able to close to pool hall and move on to bigger bootlegging businesses. Low started small by running liquor from Windsor across the Detroit River into Detroit. This proved to be so successful that soon Low had to purchase two cargo ships. Most notably was the World War I Mine sweeper named “ The Vedas”, this ship was used mostly for the movement of alcohol from the Montreal area to the docks of Windsor. Harry Low was no ordinary bootlegger; he was able to build a small empire, this is best expressed by the mansion he was able to build in Walkerville, Ontario, neighborhood of Windsor. This house is most famous for its slate ocean like roof and for housing Canada’s former Prime Minister Paul Martin. To this day the house still stands as a symbol of Low's accomplishments. With all of his accomplishments there were also downfalls. In 1928 Carling Brewery, which Low was CEO of at the time, was sued by the Canadian government for tax evasion. Low and his associates were also linked to the murder of a former employee whose body was found in south Michigan near the Ohio state line. By the end of the Great Depression most of Lows fortunes had dried up in legal fees fighting charges in both Canada and the United States, as well as investing in his own promotions company that ultimately failed. Low eventually came full circle when he returned to Quebec to work as a tool maker in a ship yard, leaving his now failed empire behind him in Windsor. Low eventually returned to Windsor before dying in 1955 at Hotel Dieu Hospital in 1955.

Outcome

Customs officers and police official were overwhelmed by the smuggling; not only did the sheer number of people doing it but they miscalculated Canada's commitment. The prohibition movement lacked organization and smugglers often had better routes and better technology for outrunning the police. Police introduced new vessels. Once the "prohibition navy" was established rum-runners began using aircraft. Canada’s failure to enforce prohibition laws made it easily available; Canada was reluctant to close distilleries because of tax revenues and the potential loss of thousands of jobs.

The American government had several agencies attempting to stop smuggling from happening among the Detroit River. There was the Detroit Border Patrol, the Detroit Police, the Federal Prohibition Bureau, and other forces. With the Detroit Border patrol attempting to stop alcohol smuggling they did not do a great job. The Federal Prohibition Bureau claims that four-fifths of the nations supply of contraband alcohol came from Detroit. At the start of Prohibition the American forces trying to stop rum running to Detroit was impotent. But by 1922, they started making ways in attempting on stopping rumrunners by having a powerful speedboat loaded with heavy weaponry.

The United States was growing tired of the violence involved with smuggling; the unemployment rate was a staggering 46% in 1931. In 1933 it was argued that the legalization of liquor would reduce crime, lawlessness and gangs. The amendment was repealed by the 21st amendment on December 5, 1933.

References and further reading

• Davis, Mark C. “Atlantic Canada’s Rum Running Tradition.” Acadiensis: Journal of the History of the Atlantic Region 14 no.2 (1985): 147-56.
• Gervais, C.H. (Marty). (1980) The Rumrunners: A Prohibition Scrapbook. Thornhill, Ont: Firefly Books. pages 51–63.
• Mason, Philip P. (1995). Rumrunning and the Roaring Twenties: Prohibition on the Michigan-Ontario Waterway. Detroit: Wayne State University Press. ISBN 0814325831
• Rennie, Gary. “’Grand Bend’ visions for Belle River; Councillor sees tourism possibilities.” The Windsor Star, September 9, 2010, A5.
• Spence, B. H. “Prohibitory Legislation in Canada,” Annals of the American Academy of Political and Social Science, 109 (1923): 230-64.