American citizen. [volume] (Canton, Miss.) 1864-1890, 1872-01-13
Smuggling at Niagara.

IT has long been known by the govern
ment that the petty smuggling from Can
ada which hourly takes place amounts to
a large aggregate, and is the cause of an
annual loss to the customs of no small
sum. Professional smuggcrs who load
themselves down with goods and betray
themselves by their peculiar shapes,
guilty countGnances, or too great eager
ness to deny that they have anything du-
table with them or on their person, are
easily detected, and can be generally
guarded against and caught But it is
your wcll.to-do, highly aristocratic and
totally above-suspicion people who are
at present doing so much damage to the
customs receipts. Ladies and gentlemen
of the first water, old men and maidens,
Young men and children, clad in the best
apparel, and apparently only bent on a
pleasure trip, are the ones who do the
mischicf and against these, during the
past summer, the government has carried
on a violent crusade.
In the summer and fall, when the "sea-
SON. is in existence, is the time for aristo-
cratic smuggling, and during the past few
months a force of detectives has been
stationed at Niagara Falls, the Bridge,
Lewiston ana oIncr TclsiloorllS pluces,
TO aIL me custom i,o''Se sealcnels III
ller lelTttllg'ou1 Noih' Notaple anon!
these detectives has been very promi-
nent officer whose headquarters are in
your city. He has constantly been on the
alert at the different points named, and
mas, by his knoWle9ge, OF human nature,
ably Superinlended the measures taken
lof the detectloh OF the mlSdoerS' III
conversation Win nun ana ny peiilT
present at some Oh ms discoveries l
nave received Il lew hiltS as u nov vi'e
pctty Sll9gIlhg IS cairleu on allu alSo
checked' ana VIII give 'heh LOT 'lle pehe-
lit Oh your TeauSr''
BESIDES inc large force OF detec'i!eS
ana SeafcilerS stt'loiie0 III we Suspension
Bridge thcfe IS an orSaiil.Heu corps ol
spies VINO tfdFei on tIle uelhS' WISH llie
NailaGa lo"lS' anu spy "iouliu SeneIally.
MOI atl Oh 'iiGSe' however. are regularly
III saeil employ oat aie III soit'e ot III,
business, ana OBTAIN percentage OF lie
Vaiue Oh IN, me SootS captured ny IllelI
agency Many Oh them, agalll, nave
iTIehuS or reIa'lVcS among lhG pIlGse
olilcefS, ana SPY LOT tllelh, anu SEM Ilie'i
secret knoWled@c IN ADVANCE OF tle ar-
rival OF the SihuggIGrS' so tilal NOSE ON
GERS may MAKE ile discoveries ana receive
lhGlr snare OF the Spolls'
AS many OF our summer IraVelerS now
go over INTO canada; elther 1or "TRIP
tntough II, OF eSpeclallN LOT inc purpose
OF purchasing some nice, goods at very
low rates the citieS ana towns III inc
he'ghporhooq OF the prIuge are oIteh
crowded WIN Americans shopping, anu
no lncohSldefabie amount OF goods are
bought, 10 cheat the government or
railroad company seems TO ne peflectiE
allowable, even 10 tle coAsclencca Oh
otherwise the best OF cltlZens, ana SILK
dress al %jo, when the llke al nome Is
worth so, Is TOO great atemptatloh LOT le-
male lFallty Besides, the Canadian
Shoi-elefEs assure inc purchasers tlal II
not only Is done every DAY, put tlat II Is
perfectly allowable the lnlIcd states GOV
efnment always permitting a person 10
BRING INTO the States any goods they may
want iof llelF own use, ana that llley
never stopped anybody with as lew as TWO
or three SIX dress patterns, couple OF
dozen OF KID gloves, ana say thirty yards
OF the best lace, the duty thus With
held from the customs beng only
perhaps Sl0O. AT the same TIME, just TO
avoid detention and formal entering
OF the goods should the officer see them,
these clerks advise That the silks be maze
up into pannlcr or hung round the lady's
hoops, etc, while the Kid gloves make
capital pads to set oil the shape OF the
body, and the lace IS easily wrapped
around the waist. And so, having stitted
the conScience-casy task 1t is, too-ot the
purchaser, and having sold the goods at
higher rates than Canadians would have
been asked to pay, the purchasers are
bowed out Of the store and IA new scene
appears on the stage.
The Shopkeeper himself is too deeply
interested in the keeping up of aristocratlc
smuggling to in any way nip it in the bud.
Not only will he give the American pur-
chaser the best advice rs to how the Gus
toms officers may be deceived, but he will
assure him or her privately, that if suf-
ticient number of goods are purchased, or
the purchaser pay the expenses of travel,
he will deliver them free on the other side
Of the bridge. How he can do this is a
question that might pertinently be asked
of the Custom House officers; but that he
can and does do it is very true, and that
he will send clerk with the goods in the
same train rs the purchasers, and though
the latter will be closely questioned, and
perhaps searched, the clerk, who rode in
another car, so as not to show his little
Ho9UsoDl5uadi, will be at the other side of
the bridge with the trunk, never UNI
locked, or the bundles that he carried
openly in his arms, untouched.
But with the shop-clerk it is very differ
ent. nl-paid and over-worked, he looks
upon an American as a legitimate prey,
and no sooner is such purchaser out of
the shop than he seeks some way to turn
an honest On penny out of him or her. 1t
is TO such as these that the detectives have
revealed themselves. and have shown
them The way TO make that honest IN
amount of money. In Hamilton and st.
Cafbarinps particularly. have these shop
clerks been approached and seen" and
if is with very little trouble TO themselves
that they discover the time and train that
the emugplcrs leave on. and warn their
friends the officers. 4 partial descrip-
ton of their persons is sent. and an officer
meeting the train a few stations before
the bridge is reached. is enabled TO spot