The Indiana State sentinel. [volume] (Indianapolis) 1868-1895, 1875-05-20
SILK SMUGGLING.
SECRETS OF THE SILK TRADE
HOW THE GOVERNMENT IS SWIM
MEN

HOW THE GOVERNMENT Is SWIM
DIED.
LAWRENCE, THE sMUGGLER, LODGED IN LUD'
Low STREET JAIL-HIs sTUPENDoUs SNUG
cUIN(3 AND THE DEVICES BY WHICH HE
SAVED HIMSELF UNTIL ENTANGLED IN THE
IoILs-wRY SOME MERCHANTS UNDERsELL
OTHERs-EURoPEAN MANUFACTURERS M
PLICATED.
Systematic swindling of the government
through the connivance Of administration
appointees is not confined to the Illicit
manufacture and sale of whisky but per-
meates the import trade. This sort of busi-
ness is becoming dreadfully discouraged
under the Bristow regime, as appears by re-
ports of recent seizures OF spirits, and tne
following from the New York Sun In regard
10 the smuggling OF silks, ETC.: charles II.
Lawrence, the great smuggler, was taken
of the steamer Scythia on revenue cut
ter yesterday morning, and landed at the
foot of Chambers street, North river.
From there he was TAKEN uy
Deputy Marshals Harris ana Bern Bern,
nard in q carriage TO the Cnlteo
states Court. he was in custody on bench
warrant, and Judge Blatchtord ana tne
district attorney gave orders that ne snould
be removed to Ludlow street jail, ana bnaI
nooue should be allowed to converse with
him about his case. His.two Young sons
met him in the maTshals offce and EN-
raced him Lawrence is alleged TO have
ecu the most dangerous conspirator tia
the government has ever bad 10
contend with iu the collection of the ems
toms. The magnitude of his operators is
counted by millions He organized a
system of fraud on the revenue almost ul-
p4rsleIled in ingenuity and execution IN the
whole record OF great frauds. hls Illicit
traffic in costly fabrics was carried on with
i 10 off 1izIa
greedy to get ricn. Having perfect knoWI-
edge OF all the intricscies of the revenue, he
was enabled to carry on his fraudulent I'M
portations for period of more than iour
years without detection. Honest merchants
suffered, and some were missed and driven
out of business through his agency and the
competition OF
THE UNPRINCIPLED TRADERS
in league with him. The goods which he
imported in the four years of his smuggling
are said TO have been worth over four mil
lion dollars. Over one-half of the amount
is represented by duties, which the govern
ment never got. The bulk of the Illicit i'm
portations consisted of French silks, laces,
mohairs. and other costly articles that pay
high rates of duty. The discovery of the
frauds was made by the merest accident in
September last. The credit OF the discovery
is claimed by several persons. One story is
LLr4S II. %. Nldlliu 1 OOs uLoClOO pAAfdbc
detectives in their employ to find out
how certain kind of laces were sold by rival
firms below the market prices, and that the
detectives, in the course of their investiga-
ticns, stumbled across the silk frauds which
led to the exposure of Lawrence and his CO.
conspirators. They informed the collector
and the treasury department OF their dis
covery. and in the examination 1t turned
out that Ciaflin & Company had bought
largely at auction of the very silks SNUG
gled by Lawrence. Another story is thai
the detection of the great conspiracy Is due
to Mr.. Isaac D. Balch, chief clerk in the law
division Of the custom house, and Mr.. n
p. Rice, a bond clerk, who found several
fictitious bonds made out by Lawrence, and
started the inquiries which led to
the disclosure of the conspiracy.
After the clue had been struck by the de
tectives or the revenue clerks, Deputy Sur
veycr Klink was called into the case, as an
officer who could be trusted, and he, assisted
by Special Agent Brackett, aided materially
in bringing Lawrence's mode of operations
70 light. The work was one that requires
great caution, as the smuggler and his ae
complies, in and out OF the custom house
on getting wind OF the investigation, trieC
every strstagsm TO battle the authorities
Col. Robert Des Anges, deputy collector o
the warehouse department, the most i'm
portant department in the Custom House
who was afterward
ARRESTED FOR COMPLETELY IN THE FRAUD:
was one OF the first TO be taken into tn
confidence of the collector and his aid
In Decem Dor the investigating officers seize
in the Hoboken stores eight cases Of Lyor
umbrella silks, worth S45, 900, imported i
the steamer Pomerania. The invoice of th
goods called for nine cases of cotton hosiel,
Case 100 was a dummy" and was checke
in the invoice by Deputy Collector DE
ABgss TO bs sent to the public stores for az
praissment. Freeman & Powell wei
med as the importers, but no such pol
Sons could b8 found. IG was discovere
that Lawrence had used names
mythical importers to cover up h
frauds. His plah was to import the richie:
OF fabrics and invoice them as cheap geod
Silks, laces, etc., were invoiced as cottol
artificial fiowers dolls iute, etc. A DUNN
case containing the article called for in tt
invoice invariably came with each import;
ton. This would be- the one designated
the deputy collector for appralsemen
When the dummy case came to be examine
by the assistant appraiser he would ind th
it corresponded with the invoice. In u
mean time the real goods would be take
by Lawrence on fictitious bonds and place
on the market. II is claimed that he b
made over one hundred importation
OF this character, and that in every Il
stance he forged the name OF mythic
importers on bonds for the release of I!
goods. He acted in his capacity as custo
house lawyer and broker. Over fifty of Il
dummy cases were checked in wrong invoic
by Deputy Collector Des Anges, and the re
were marked off by a deputy collector WI
has since died. Il is said that the frau
were begun By Lawrence while the latt
was in Office, and that Dss Anges abett
him almost Immediately alter being pr
moted to be acting deputy collector,
April, 1873. Das Anges has a good militia
record here and abroad, and it is thOug
By his official friends that he could not hs
been easily led by Lawrence. 1t is suppos
that Lawrence made him a loan to buy
house, and afserward
KEPT HIM IN HIS POWER.
Des Angss's services were worth $1,000
but his seeming poverty is regarded