The daily dispatch. [volume] (Richmond [Va.]) 1850-1884, 1867-04-30

Prom the Boston Transcript Of Saturday.

Prom the Boston Transcript Of Saturday.
The various means and devices en-
ployed in defrauding the General Govern
ment and evadng the payment of taxes
and duties on certain articles of manufac
ture disclose an originality and ingenuity
worthy a better cause. Smuggling and
secret distilling arc managed on the most
ingenious plans; but during the present
week there has been discovered species
of swindling which, if not new to those en-
gagged in defrauding the Government, is at
least fresh to the officers and the commu-
nifty in general. From the few particulars
gathered, 1t appears that few days since
a man named Wright, liquor dealer, ap-
piled to the custom-house to export 205
barrels of alcohol. 1t is generally known
that there is Government tax of two dol
lars per gallon on all spirits manufactured
and consumed in this country; but when
it is exported, the party exporting has the
two dollars duty per gallon refunded
by the Government as drawback money!"
This Mr.. Wright, it is alleged, having ap-
piled to the custom-housc to export the
two hundred and five barrels of alco-
hol, was required, before receiving the
drawback money of two dollars per gallon,
to give bonds 10 the amount Of $4,000 to
export the quantity named, and Mr.. Ii. C..
Thatcher became his bondsman. The two
hundred and five barrels were then filled
with pure alcohol, Government official
examined and gagged them, pronounced
them all right, and affixed the proper Go
vernmcnt seal or stamp. 1t would seem
that Immediately after the Government
official left the storehouse the alcohol was
exchanged and casks of acater substituted,
and when the two hundred and five bar
rels were placed on board the schooner
Louise, of Salem, water was the only fluid
they contained. The vessel was properly
cleared from the custom-house for Eastport,
Maine, but before she sailed, information
was furnished at the custom-house that it
would be we'll to watch her, and this was
accordingly done. A week ago to-day the
watch was commenced and continued until
the Louise was preparing to sail Wednes-
day evening. During this interval the
casks were conveyed to her while lying at
the wharf, surreptitiously, as was sup
posed, the parties engaged in the enter
prise fearing, notwithstanding the barrels
were properly scaled and stamped, that
some struggling officer of the CUSTOM house
might come upon them and gauge some OF
their casks, and thus discover the fraud.
The only fear of detection, it seems, was
from parties on shore no one connected
with the alleged swindle expected for a
moment that the custOm-housc tug was
lying close by them in the stream and
watching every movement. The officers
who were on watch were also disap-
pointed in the manner of the fraud,
believing, as they did, that the casks
being conveyed aboard the schooner in
secret, under the cover of night, con-
tanned spirits illegally distilled. On We'd
nesday evening it was apparent to the oili-
GERS on board the tug that the Louise was
preparing to sail, and just as she was
about to set out on her voyage the tug
came up alongside and ordered her TO
anchor. The commander of the Louise
very wisely saw that it was useless to re-
sst, and Immediately complied with the
order. An officer went aboard, and while
pursuing his duty of gauging and testing
the contents of the casks, remarked, very
properly, to an associate officer that 1t
would take a considerable quantity Of such
stuff as that TO get a man drunk. Then,
for the first time, the character OF the
fraud was discovered, and upon further
examination it was aSccrtaincd that every
one Of the tlcO hundred and .1iUe barrels lrdS
fYed lriM lrdter! Yesterday afternoon the
schooner was brought up to India wharf, and +,
together with her not very valuable cargo,
placed in charge Of keepers. Assuming
that each barrel contained forty-two gal
Ions, there would be S,Gl0 gallons in all,
and the amount of drawback - fraudu-
lcnty received 1.-TWO dollars per GALLON
would be Sl7,220. If the fraud had sue
ceeded, the parties would have had the
alcohol left besides. The bonds given by the
party implicated in the fraud (sSO,OOO) will
be sufficient to cover all losses which the
Government would have sustained. Such,
in substance, were the sentiments our re-
ports were able TO collect last night from
reluctant informants.
ADDITIONAL PARTICULARS.
1t is said that the swindling operation
was managed through the connivance of
two revenue officers. The Louise was
chartered for PASSPORT, Me.
The barrels containing the alcohol were
taken to cellar on Russia wharf, where
DaTTClS Hllcu Will NdlCl udu plSNlouSls
been placed, and kept there long enough
to have the brands on the alcohol barrels
initiated and those with the water substi-
tuted for them and placed on board the
Louise. The heads of the genuine barrels
were painted over and then branded again
and rectified as having been reInspected.
When the schooner was seized the crew
all escaped, but returned yesterday, and
have given the revenue officers all the in
formation they could furnish.
As the water barrels were branded and
put on board the Louise, a similar proper
ton of those containing alcohol was re-
moved to various other places by the same
teamster who put them into the cellar on
Russia wharf.
CAN'T VISIT Us.-Senator Nyc's health
is such that he cannot take the southern
| l. l., In Ia :