June 19, 1929- Gang of rum runners kidnap photojournalist, Horace Wild, for Border Cities Star. The following details come from an interview between Marty Gervais and Leon Wild, grandson of Horace Wild, and is found in Chapter 12 of Gervais’ book: The Rumrunners: A Prohibition Scrapbook (2009). Gervais explains that Horace, his 16 year old son Noel, and two Star reporters went to a river in Amherstburg to take some photographs of bootleggers passing through. Approaching a dock by boat, the group spotted a gang of rum runners moving crates of liquor to their shipping vessel from warehouses along the water. The rum runners realized they were being watched, and scrambled to get back into the warehouse, bumping into each other in their haste. The
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They rescued Horace. Unfortunately for the rummies, the gear they stole was not the entire lot of it- there was more film left behind in the woods, and the remaining photos were published by the Star the next day. Ultimately, Woods was charged for receiving stolen goods, but not for damaging the cameras. In addition, a suspicious Canadian boat in American waters was searched by the US Coast Guard, believed to have been delivering illegal liquor. The boat had nothing on it, but 5 of the crew were detained for questioning, two of whom were sent back to Canada and were identified by Wild has having been involved in the …show more content…
A few details are a bit divergent, though. For example, in the Star article, Noel was said to be 17 at the time, while according to Horace, Noel was 16. This discrepancy doesn’t really affect the story, but it was the first of several. In the Star article (p. 1), it was stated that A.J. Woods brought Horace to the police station, rather than his Noel telling the police himself, followed by the police rescuing Horace, as explained in the interview with Leon. The next day, June 20, 1929, the Star published a follow-up article about the incident entitled “Rum Dock Lessor Arrested in Theft of Two Star Cameras” referring to A.J. Woods. The article explains that Woods was arrested and jailed at Essex County, and maintained that he did not know who was responsible for actually damaging the cameras. It does not state specifically whether he was only charged for receiving stolen goods or not, as per Leon’s account. Further, the June 19 article of the Star suggests that more than a dozen men were involved in the kidnapping (p. 1), and the article from the following day stated it was about 8 to 10 men (p. 1). This fits with a statement made by Leon in the interview with Gervais where he explains that, according to his grandfather, the Star made the whole ordeal out to be much bigger than it was (p.
They rescued Horace. Unfortunately for the rummies, the gear they stole was not the entire lot of it- there was more film left behind in the woods, and the remaining photos were published by the Star the next day. Ultimately, Woods was charged for receiving stolen goods, but not for damaging the cameras. In addition, a suspicious Canadian boat in American waters was searched by the US Coast Guard, believed to have been delivering illegal liquor. The boat had nothing on it, but 5 of the crew were detained for questioning, two of whom were sent back to Canada and were identified by Wild has having been involved in the …show more content…
A few details are a bit divergent, though. For example, in the Star article, Noel was said to be 17 at the time, while according to Horace, Noel was 16. This discrepancy doesn’t really affect the story, but it was the first of several. In the Star article (p. 1), it was stated that A.J. Woods brought Horace to the police station, rather than his Noel telling the police himself, followed by the police rescuing Horace, as explained in the interview with Leon. The next day, June 20, 1929, the Star published a follow-up article about the incident entitled “Rum Dock Lessor Arrested in Theft of Two Star Cameras” referring to A.J. Woods. The article explains that Woods was arrested and jailed at Essex County, and maintained that he did not know who was responsible for actually damaging the cameras. It does not state specifically whether he was only charged for receiving stolen goods or not, as per Leon’s account. Further, the June 19 article of the Star suggests that more than a dozen men were involved in the kidnapping (p. 1), and the article from the following day stated it was about 8 to 10 men (p. 1). This fits with a statement made by Leon in the interview with Gervais where he explains that, according to his grandfather, the Star made the whole ordeal out to be much bigger than it was (p.