1920 Prohibition
Seemingly doomed from the start, Prohibition and the added Volstead Act was also termed the Noble Experiment. Eventually even those who supported it recognized that it was useless to try and ban liquor. While crippling once legal business, the 19th Amendment spawned a thriving trade in smuggled goods and illicit stills.

William McCoy
Recognized as the 'founder' of Rum Row, the imaginary area 3 miles off shore from Montauk, NY to Nantucket, MA where tramp steamers, schooners and freighters lay at anchor with holds full of whiskey, rum, brandy, beer, wine and champagne ready to sell to anyone with the money.

1925 Max Fox
Max Fox was a local rum-runner of dubious distinction. Boston director of Customs Joseph Maynard called Fox "as notorious here as Capone is in Chicago." His involvement in illegal liquor was not limited to merely smuggling and his court appearances were often sensational news stories.

Frank Butler
Frank Butler was a Fairhaven resident who seemed to either be on a streak of bad luck or was just plain reckless. Frank had a boat the Tramp which was seized running in a $10,000 load of liquor into Mattapoisett Harbor in 1926. Charlie Travers, 19 years old, is his engineer.

1927 Bergeron Farm Shootout
The Bergeron Farm was located off Old Fall River Road, Dartmouth, near the Westport town line. A secluded location down a stone wall lined dirt road led to a small farmhouse. In January 1925 Fox showed up at the home of the Dartmouth Police Chief asking for assitance with some "chicken coop raiders."

1927 Somerset Incident
The Somerset Incident involved a load of liquor that was landed on the shore of the Taunton River in January of 1927. The total value of the shipment landed was estimated by Federal authorities as well over $1,000,000.

Alexander C. Cornell
Coast Guard Boatswain A.C. Cornell was the commander of the patrol boat CG-290. Cornell was a former high ranking Navy man, who joined the Coast Guard after the end of WW1. Without a war to fight the Coast Guard and chasing rum boats must have seemed like a good opportunity for him. In July of 1929 he was involved in an incident while chasing a runrunner where he ordered machine gun fire directed at the suspected rum-running ship 'Idle Hour' and through poor judgement ended up firing into houses on Jamestown, RI.

Charles Travers and the Black Duck
Charles Travers was born in Dartmouth to Frank P. and Mary (Avila) Travers in 1906. Charlie was an excellent mechanic, avid boatman and former Coast Guard surfmen on Cuttyhunk. The surfmen were the men who where stationed on shore stations and would take to boats to rescue stranded and wrecked ships. The Cuttyhunk, Cape Cod and Buzzards Bay area's coastline is notoriously dangerous, strewn with massive boulders and rips. The surfmen were the Coast Guard personnel who braved the seas that had made wreckage of some of the best ships and sailors that sailed the local waters, and the world for that matter. The surfmen put out in small boats, some powered by oars, later by small gasoline engines, hoping to save those stranded in sea wrecks. The job of surfmen was not for the faint of heart, and Charlie was perfect for the job.

1929 Newport Massacre
On the night of December 29, 1929 Charlie Travers, John Goulart, Jacob Weissman and Dudley Brandt were on the Black Duck bringing in 500 cases of liquor for the coming New Year’s Eve celebrations which would ring in a new decade with the hope of prosperity for the U.S. in the 1930’s.

1929 Monola

1930 Charles Raymond Hacking Murder
Charles Raymond Hacking started out as a Rhode Island rumruner in Pawtucket and Providence, RI.

1930 Madame X
The Madame X was a 60-foot dragger that Charlie Travers had ordered built by Casey Boatyard in Fairhaven in the latter half of 1929.

1932 The Amacita
The Amacita was a 123 foot long rum supply ship that was seized by the Coast Guard in Nasketucket Bay, north of West Island, near Puppy Rocks, off of Seaview Street. The Amacita slipped in east of West Island during a raging gale.

The Accuracy

1935 Peter Blier
Peter Blier was born in Riviere-Du-Loup, Quebec, Canada in 1899 and came to New Bedford with his parents when he was three years old. As an adult he became a carpenter by trade and established himself as a capable builder of quality homes.

Sea View Poultry Farm
The Sea View Poultry Farm was located at what was once "the end of the public road, on Sconticut Neck Road, Fairhaven." After West Island road, Sconticut Neck Road was a private road. The actual farm consisted of 21 acres along the west side of the road, from what is now Starboard Drive, north about 500 feet and west down to the shore.

Fall River Herald Rum Running Articles

Rum Running Boats

Coast Guard Boats

New Bedford Street Directories

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