COAST GUARD RECEIVED TIP-OFF TO BLACK DUCK’S ROUTE

LAY IN WAIT TIED TO CHANNEL BUOY, UNDER COVER OF DENSE FOG

NEWPORT, JAN. 2—The Coast Guard cutter that opened fire on the Black Duck early Sunday morning, killing three men and wounding one, was tipped off to the rum runners’ route by a local police chief, according to the Coast Guard officer in charge, Capt. Roger Campbell.

An earlier report that the Coast Guard had stumbled by chance on the craft was incorrect, Campbell said.

“We got direct word from a local police chief that the Black Duck would be coming in to a beach along that coast. We knew they’d be steering for the bell buoy off West Island in that thick fog, so we tied up there to wait for them. Sure enough, they came along about three A.M.”

Campbell refused to name the source for the tip. He insisted again that the rum runners were warned before his marksman opened fire with a machine gun.

Questions have been raised as to whether the victims were given adequate legal warning before they were shot down. The federal statute on the pursuit of smuggling craft requires that a shot be fired in warning before effective firing is started if a suspect fails to halt when ordered.