Litchfield enquirer., 1857-01-29
, Smuggling Notes.

8s &g i2 52 smuggling Notes. ,iTl'eS s's 3' r In the days when high-heeled Frsrch boots were the pride of fashion, there was a shoes maker in London who made q fortune by the sale of the best Paris boots at, U price which all his fellow tradesm declared rlnheus. Aes, uudersoid the trade, and obtained troops of customers. These boots must be stoisl, said his rivals but there was no evidsncss that they were-certainly they were not smuggled boots, . for any one could satisfy himself that the full duty was paid upon them at the custoun-house The shoemaker retired from business with . fortune. Afterward his secret was accidental ly scovered-although he had paid duty for the boots, he had not paid for everything that Was n them. There was heavy duty paya.
 be on foreign watches and every boot cons sigued 10 hlm from Paris had contained in it's
 h,gh heel cavity exactly large enough to hold d watch. The great profits obtained by the
 trade in smuggled watches, made it possible for this tradeclnan, when he had filled up their heels, to sell his boots under prime cost. This
 was worth while, again, because of course, by
 the extention of his boot-trade, he increased his power of importing watches duty.frees 'a
 Some years later, an elderly lady and alap-g
 ,.,; travelled good deal between Dover aud Ostend. It came to be generally considered at the eustom-house that her travels were for the sole purpose of smuggling Brussels lace. then subject to exceedingly hlgh duty but neither the examiners of her luggage, nor the female scarchers at the custom-house, who
 took charge of her person. could by the nar. rowest scrutiny find matter for single aecuss- tion. At last, when she was about to decline the smuggling business, this lady accepted ' brbo froui cnston-housc officer to make him k
 master of her secret Calling to her side the lap-dog, who was to all strangers very slaI- Insh little cur, she asked the officer to fetch
 knife and rip the little creature open. Lake c
 few of the dogs (which have sometimes even
 proved to be rats) sold in the streets of London,
 1t goried outwardly in false skin; aud be- -
 tween the false skiu and the true skiu was spae
 enough to provide thin cur with the comOrt.
 able fatness proper to lady's pet, by means
 of warm padding of the iaest lace. ln tAo
 reign of Louis the Eighteenth-it may Le noted by the way--very fierce dogs were trained to carry valuable watches and smal articles under false skins across the frontier. They were taught to know and avoid the uniform of ;s custom-house officer. Swift cunning, and fierce, they were never to be taken alive, sl- ShSJ WCiC ooIuCSaehoo puAouSo cuu suOt. .
 Not very long ago, great number of fats. bank notes was put into circulation within the
 iomuions of tine Czlr. They could only have been imported but although the strictest search was made habitually over every vessel entering Russian port, no smuggling of false notes was discovered. So strict is meant to be the scrutiny at Russian custoul-house, thut
 he ship-ca?tain, who is bound to give an in- 'ventory of every of every article on board, nay fall into uunesrd.ot.trouble if he forge so much as his own puvate Canary bird. There vas all English Captain at CroIstadt, who, by accident, forgot to enter q fine turtle upon his ist. He tod the loading custom-house official plainly and honestly of hls unfortunately omis- 'ion and the functiouary, who was a good natured man, saw no plalll way out of the diff. icuity. He recommended Chat the matter should be glossed over by assuming that the turtle was intended for the Emperor Tho captain did, therefore, decere that, if he had not entered the turtle, it was because it had been brought expressly as an Engshman's gift to the Car, arc to the Czar the turtle vas dispatch accordingly. Soon aftrward
 lcre arrived arrived government messenger iqnlrlp5 for this most courteous of captans, fhJ brought the gracious thanks of the Car Nicholas, together with the gilt of Q gold snuff-box, embellished with the autocructic ci. pher set in diamonds. Instead of fine and per secution there were gifts and houors for this
 lucky sailor. But when, afterward, some other tradlug captains, acting, as they imagined. ,unningly upon the hint, bsought turtle to ex- change for snuff boxes, his astute majesty quiet y made the tutlos into soup. but decnec by thy act of exchange to add snuff.hoxes to tho .rt;cles of Russian trade shipped at the port ,f Cronstadt.
 Now to go back to the forged notcs Ac- ident brought also that mystery to light. Several cases of lead-pencils arrived cue day rom England, and Were beiug examined, when me of them fell out from package, aud the ustom-house aficer picking it up, cut it to s
 oint and used it to sign the order which de-
 vered up the cases to the coilsgnee. He
 ept the one loose pencil for his own use aud
 nd few days afterward, because it needed resh point, cut it again, and found that there vas no more lead. Another chip into the ce.
 er brought hin to roll of paper nested in follow place. This paper was one of the false
 otes, engraved in London, and thus passcd ato the dominions of the Muscovite.
 During the last epidemic fever which dis ,layed itself in this country as rage for an- ioue furniture, much of this was imported from