Bellevue gazette. [volume] (Bellevue City, N.T. [i.e. Neb.]) 1856-1858, 1857-02-05
MISCELLA NEOUS.
Smuggling Notes.

III ttic uuyo Wllcu UlSii-ltcitui TGilCU
boots were the pride of fashion, there was
a shoemaker in London who made a for
tune by the sale of the best Paris boots at
price which all his felow-tradesmen de-
clared ruinous. He undersold the trade,
and obtained troops of customers. These
boots must be stolen, said his rivals; but
there was no evidence that they we're
certainly they were not smuggled boots,
for any one could satisfy himself that the
full duty was paid upon them at the Gus
tom-house. The shoemaker retired from
business with a fortune. Afterward his
secret was accidentally discovered-al-
though he had paid duty for the boots, he
had not paid for everything that was in
them. There was heavy duty payable
on foreign watches; and every boot con-
signed to him from Paris had contained
in its high heel q cavity exactly large
enough to hold watch. The great pro-
fits obtained by the trade IN smuggled
watches, made il possible for this trades
man, when he had filed up their heels,
to sell his boots under prime cost. This
was worth while, again, because Of course,
by the extension of his boot-trade, he in
creased his power of importing watches,
duty-free.
d Some years later, an elderly lady and
a lap-dog travelled good deal between
Dover and Ostend. IL came to be gen.
orally considered at the custom-house that
her travels were for the sole purpose of
smuggling Brussels lace, then subject TO
exceedingly high duty; but neither the
examiners of her luggage, nor the female
searchers at the custom-house, who took
charge Of her person, could by the mar
rowest scrutiny find matter for single
accusation. At last, when she was about
to decline the smuggling business, this
lady accepted bribe from n custom-house
officer TO make him master Of her secret.
Calling to her side the lap.dog who was
10 all strangers avery snnpplsh little cur,
she asked the officer to fetch knife and
rip the little creature OPEN Lake few
of the dogs (Which have sometimes even
proved to be rats) sold in the streets Of
London, it gloried outwardly IN false
skin; and between the false skin and the
true skin was space enough TO provide u
thin cur with the comfortable fatness
proper to lady's pet, by means of warm
padding of the finest lace. In the reign
of Louis the Eighteenth may be. noted
by the way-very fierce dogs were train
ed to carry valuable watches and small
articles under false skins across the from
tier. They were taught to know and
avoid the uniform Of custom-house Off
GER. Swift, cunning, and fierce, they were
never to be taken alive, although they
were sometimes pursued and shot. .-t.
Not very long ago, a great number of
false bank-notes was put into circulation
within the dominions Of the Gar. They
could only have been imported; but al
though the strictest search was made ha-
bituaDy over every vessel entering Rus
sian port, no smuggling Of false notes was
discovered. So strict is meant to be the
scrutiny at Russian clstom-houses, that
the ship-capiain, who is bound to give an
inventory of every article on board, may
fall into unheard-of trouble il he forget so
much as his own private Canary-bird.
There was an English captain once at
Cronstadt, who. by accident, forgot TO en-
ter fine turtle upon his list. He told the
leading custom-house official plainly and
honestly Of his unfortunate omission, and
the functionary. who was a good-natured
man, saw no plain way out of the diff
Guilty. He recommended that the matter
should be CLOSED over by assuming that
the turtle was intended for the Emperor.
The captain dad, therefore, declare that,
if he had not entered the turtle, il was
because it had been brought expressly as
an Englishman's gift to the Gar, and to
the Gar the turtle was dispatched ac-
cordingly. Soon aherward there arrived
government messenger inquiring for
this most courteous Of captains, who
brought the gracious thanks of the Czal
Nicholas, together with the gift of a gold