The Manitowoc pilot. [volume] (Manitowoc, Wis.) 1859-1932, 1877-11-29
CONSCIENCE MONEY.
The Queer Anonymous Letters that
are Sent to the New York Custom
HouSp.

The Queer Anonymous Letters that
are Sent to the New York Custom
House.
One of the special accounts kept at the
custom house is popularity designated,
" The Smugglers' Conscience Fund"
The account is made out monthly, and
sometimes amounts to thousands of dol
lars. Last month it was only $500
The money is received from those who
have cheated the government out of it's
Just revenue. Some of the correspond
ence affords an interesting insight into
the mysteries of smuggling. In one let
ter, written in woman's hand, enclos-
ing S25, the writer says she brought
some goods with her from Paris few
years ago, on which she did not pay the
duties. She had the goods in her trunk,
and when a custom house officer eX-
amined it on her arrival she told him
that it contained only clothing that she
had worn. The officer said that in that
case they were not dutiable, and let her
take them away. She omitted to inform
the officer that the only time she had
worn the dresses was when she tried
them at the dressmaker's in Paris.
Banker" writes as follows:
In 1873 | returned from Havana,
bringing with me 800 cigars as a present
to some of my friends. | had them
packed away in the bottom of my trunk,
under my clothing. | told the custom
house inspector, when he came TO look at
the trunk, that it contained no dutiable
goods, and he merely opened the trunk
and closed it again without making any
search. / did not have the least suspi-
cion then that the cigars were dutiable,
as they were only intended for presents.
Since then have heard that | was Just
as much liable to pay duty on them as if
| had fetched them here for sale. Please
find enclosed $50, which l hope is enough
to pay what owe the government.
A Captain" RENTED $40 as a pen.
atty for his trade in struggled goods. He
said that when he engaged in the snug
Cling it was common practice for mas
tiers of vessels to smuggle goods from
European ports and sell them here at a
great profit. He further said that the
profit from smuggling was one of the in
ducements held out to officers when they
were employed, and that shipowners
were constantly looking to them for
struggled presents.
A Merchant forwarded 800, con
Tossing that he had been engaged in I'M
dervaluing goods.
An Exclusions Officer" sent a con-
acknowledging of $50, because he had
got dresses for his wife, cigars, liquors
and other articles from the ocean steam
ers free of duty.
! One of the earliest of the anonymous
letters received is as follows:
my husband and self visited Europe
not long ago, and | bought several hun
dred dollars worth of goods in Paris and
London to bring home with me. When
we sailed from Liverpool for New York
one of my friends told me that / would
have to pay the government big sum
on my dresses. | thought it would be
nice to cheat Uncle Sam, didnot know
what right he had to make me pay him
for my clothes. Accordingly | got one
of my lady friends to hide some of the
articles in her trunk among her old
clothes. | also placed some in the bot
tom of my husbands trunk unbeknown
to him, and the remainder hid in my
own trunk. When we arrived polite
officer approached me and said, did
you bring any dutiable goods with you,
MADAME | said, No, sir in the most
innocent way possible. Are you quite
certain, MADAME he said yes, sir, |
am quite certain; | have only got my
old clothing with me-" He lifted the
lid of my trunk and just looked inside,
but did not discover anything. After
ward | was given a paper to sign. l
did wrong, | know, but | was told that
almost everybody acted like me-"
Accompanying the letter was fifty
dollar greenback.