Rapides gazette. (Alexandria, La.) 1869-187?, 1873-07-19
Smuggling.

THERE Is no part of ship or its cargo,
or of the personal effects or the wearing
apparel of the crew and passengers, which
it would not be necessary TO examine be-
fore it would be possible to pronounce
with certainty that there was no con-
cealment Of goods liable to duty. Even
the very rigging is to be regarded with
suspicion. Ropes have been found to be
made Of tobacco. and the same material
mas constituted the pully wheels inside
the blocks. The log of wood hanging
over the ships side by way of ''fender"
has been sometimes discovered to be
merely a shell filled with the fragrant
weed. A log of wood, indeed in almost
any form is to be eyed with misgivings.
Cargo in the most unlikely forms must
be carefully scrutinized if deception is to
be detected. Baskets of fruit have been
found with lace at the bottom, and eggs
have been imported in cases the thick
ends of which have been illed so as to
afford carriage for a large number Of ci-
gars. A bundle of willows has been
known to conceal eight or nine pounds OF
cavendish in the center, and similar de-
ceptiOn has been practiced In the impor-
tation of hogshead Of arsenic. and
crate of live ducks, the tobacco in the lat
ter case being hidden beneath false bot
tom to the crate.
False bottoms and lids are among the
commonest and clumsiest of smugglers'
devices. Only amateurs would risk for
feiture and fine on their chance OF escap-
ing detection in this way. A much more
business-like attempt to impose on the
myrmidons of government was once dis
covered In an importation consisting of
number of broomsticks. The custom
house officers of course passed such a con-
signment, and very much to their credit
too. The fraud was discovered by one of
them being accidentally broken, when 1t
appeared that they were hollow and full
of cigars.
One of the most ingenious and auda-
cious attempts at imposition by means of
an article of wearing apparel was an eft.
fort to pass eighteen hundred-weight OF
cavendish tobacco in the form of soles at
tached to the boots of the crew OF q YES
sci.
In concealment by means Of dress the
ladies are by far the most enterprising.
At one time the skirts of q lady are found
TO conceal tweRty-One pounds OF tobacco,
carefully distributed in receptacles ma e
for the purpose, and supported by bands
or braces passing over the shoulders.
NOt Oiiy thC kd hAcheS OA P%N,''>As6
however, but the simplest articles carried
in the hand, are often used for the pur-
pose of Illicit coiIcealment. A venerable.
looking old gentleman. with gold-rimmed
spectacles and a broad-brimmed hat is
thoughtfully pacing the deck, evidently
coming over the chapter he has just fin
ished in the solid and serious-loOking vol
ume under his arm. The officer who
would doubt the respectability of that old
gentleman would be only one degr. less
suspicious and uncharitable In his disposi'
ton than the man who would question the
bona tides of a broomstick. There are
however. men to whom, alas! even q
broad-brimmed hat is not an absolute
guarantee of respectability, and who have
so little reverence for learning as actually
to seize classic-looking volume on suspi
cion. On examination 1t Is found thai
that old gentleman is a smugg,er ol
watches. He has large book, the leaves
Of which have been stuck together In 9
solid mass, and the body of the volume
has tn, n been followed out into recep
tacle large enough to contain sixty OF
seventy Geneva watches, which, at the
time this deception was practiced, were
liable to an ad valorem duty of twenty pei
cent.-Erchange.