Rumrunning in North Sydney

Walking Directions:  Leaving the Ballast Grounds, head northeast for 220 m on Commercial Street toward Caledonia St, turn left onto Archibald Avenue, continue for 90 m until you reach the Royal Canadian Legion.  The Belmont Hotel stood here and was just one of the many establishments involved in the rum-running trade.

Charlie Ballard was a genial American, born in Old Town, Me., who moved to Sydney Mines prior to the start of the First World War. Upon his arrival in Cape Breton, he quickly became involved in the business community and his interests included real estate, rental properties and the North Sydney Horse Racetrack. And, while he made his mark in each of these areas, he is perhaps best remembered as one of Cape Breton's biggest and most notable rum-runners during Prohibition years, 1918-1930.

Rum-running was in vogue in Cape Breton well before Prohibition in the United States, as all provinces, with the exception of Quebec, instituted alcohol bans during the First World War. Referred to as “The Noble Experiment,” Prohibition began in the U.S. in 1920 and the Act specified that all sale, manufacture and transportation of alcohol was outlawed. But, even though alcohol was illegal, an underground rum-running industry began to unfold and with it the creation of a liquor distribution center on the island of St. Pierre, off the coast of Newfoundland, and not too far from Cape Breton. Owned by France, the Island of St. Pierre was strategically located close to North America but accessible by Europe and a larger number of liquor suppliers.

The growth of the industry didn't come as a surprise. People needed to work. The fishery in Atlantic Canada had taken a nosedive since the war and the rumrunning industry provided a new kind of employment. Crews and new boats were needed immediately. Most of these were built in Shelburne and Lunenburg, but Cape Breton ports flourished too, particularly the boat slip in North Sydney. There was a need for boats for the rum-runners and cutters for the police, providing a double premium to the craftsmen.

Charlie Ballard was a savvy businessman and not one to miss an opportunity. Ballard had made contact and confirmed a deal shortly after the war with the Sandbach Parker Co., suppliers of the famed Black Diamond rum in Guyana, the drink of choice for thirsty Cape Bretoners. He maintained this premium connection through the Prohibition years and was sought out for the product as other brands were rejected. He owned schooners that brought kegs manufactured in Ontario to Demerara, Guyana and returned with them full of rum. He paid 50 cents a gallon which resold for $3-$5 after being cut four or five times from its strong state of keg rum. Later in the 1920s, Ballard established a solid connection with Henry Moraze, the kingpin of St. Pierre who oversaw distribution to the Maritimes and Newfoundland. It is said that Moraze was before his time. He created an organized sales system for rum running. Each spring, he sent out the travelling salesmen, lining up local bootleggers and assigning them communication codes to help thwart revenue cutters of landing times and places.

Ballard and Moraze had a good relationship. Charlie sent small schooners to St. Pierre for pick up and he also bought directly from Moraze’s ships when at rendezvous outside the 3-mile limit for foreign ships. Things were going gangbusters, but like any industry, there is always competition. Ballard’s biggest competitor at that time was a Capt. Dunphy from Ingonish, who had a bigger, faster boat to carry more booze from the West Indies and St. Pierre. There was enough business to go around, however. Both Ballard and Dunphy serviced numerous Cape Breton bootleggers. All were from time to time fined for illegal distribution of alcohol, including Ballard's own wife, Margaret, the proprietress of the Guyana Hotel on Commercial Street in North Sydney, and Archie Green, proprietor of the Belmont Hotel on Archibald Avenue. Charlie also ran a number of “joints”, some classed as “roadhouses” and one-room bars that had over-the-counter sales.

North Sydney was awash in illegal rum and bootleg establishments during the 1920s and 1930s. From a farm in Upper North Sydney, there was a bonfire system to warn the boats making liquor landings of police activity and surveillance. Despite rumrunning being against the law, several bootleggers operated openly in downtown North Sydney, including on the site of the present museum/library. But, by the end of the 1920s things were becoming tougher. In the court records of 1931, with a new government in Ottawa, there were signs of stricter policing as Ballard and other local bootleggers were fined. The court documents state that Ballard was caught with 26 kegs of rum, 12 bottles of brandy and 10 bottles of gin. By the 1930s, with increased surveillance and better communications, revenue cutters were able to seize more rum and prevent landings. Furthermore, the dangers of theft and death that United States smugglers faced were leaking north. Ballard lamented it was time to quit. He wrote Moraze a letter stating, "I am absolutely quitting … I would not look nice going to prison at 58 years of age.”

But the temptation to make a clandestine buck was still there and even with the racetrack to take up his time Ballard played a role in rum-running, albeit a smaller one, till Prohibition ended in the U.S. in 1933. Charlie remained involved in the racetrack until the time of death. He died divorced and alone, on July 21, 1957, of a coronary heart attack in a Sydney hospital, with no known next of kin.

Source: This was adapted by Dan Bunbury from a recollection written by Ron Macdonald, a member of the North Sydney Historical Society

The Belmont Hotel, Archibald Avenue, North Sydney.