The Middlebury register and Addison County journal. [volume] (Middlebury, Vt.) 1883-1885, 1883-09-21
SOME FEMALE SMUGGLERS.
HOW UNCLE SAM IS DEFRAUDED
OUT OF LARGE SUMS.

tectIOH by custom House Oitccrs---A
Detectives Experience.
"Do ladies indulge in amateur snug
gling?' a New Y ork reporter inquired
of custom house detective.
"All of them don't, and some are so
DEMONSTRATIONS that they even offer
to pay duty on non-dutiable goods.
But human nature is the same,
whether it is fashionable dressmaker
or the wife of prominent clergyman,
like the one who had twenty yards of
fine Nalenciennes lace tucked in her
petticoat.
care the ladies cunning in the
devices they adopt?'
"Their ingenuity is unbounded.
Take for instance the case of Madame
Leone, the fashionable modiste, who
was arrested for smuggling some time
ago. She declared that she was an
actress and that the dresses which she
attempted to pass through without
paying duty formed her theatrical
wardrobe and were entitled to be sent
in free under the section relating to
tools of trade. She showed contract
In which she was engaged to perform
the leading male roles in number of
plays. On the trial this contract was
proved to be a forgery.
"Ladies will bring sealskin sacques
In the middle of summer and wear
them when the thermometer is in the
nineties, simply to he able to swear
that they have been worn. l remem-
Der a lady who wore a brand new
camers hair shawl valued at $500.
In her trunk was another shawl of the
same material worth about $500. She
claimed to own both of them, but the
dearer one was confiscated and never
afterwards called for. 1t was subse-
quently ascertained that the person
who had given her the commission had
made her a present of the cheaper
shawl with the understanding that
she was to get the other one through
free.
another device of the ladies IS to
fold new dresses inside of their old
ones, and it takes an experienced eye
to detect the fraud. In one case a
lady covered $500 Worth dress with
an ordinary calico wrapper much the
worse for wear. | knew that she was
too aristocratic to wear anything SO
humble as calico, and that awakened
my suspicious. Had she taken one
of her ordinary wearing dresses in
stead of her servants the fraud might
have been successful. Some ladies do
not hesitate to resort to trunks with
false bottoms. One trunk in particular
had false sides as well, and when L
pulled a couple of screws out it all
came to pieces"
"Do you ever arrest the ladies whom
you catch in the attempt to smuggle?'
"No. The only case of arrest that
remember of is that of Nine. Leone
We are contented to confscate the
goods. We send the articles t. the
public store and the owners can OBJ
tain them either by paying the duty or
proving under oath that no duty is due.
We take that course even in cases of
suspicion, and | admit that innocent
passengers sometimes suffer delay and
hardships on this account. We must
be extra cautious or Uncle Sans rev.
enue would be seriously diminished.
Y ou have an idea of our work when
say that over $4,000 are annually
collected at the docks of the
various steamships for duty on
baggage brought over by the passen-
gers. This is exclusive of what passes
through the custom-hOuse in the ordi-
nary course of business. How large
an amount the government is defrauded
of in the year by people who would be
Mortified to he called smugglers and
who are not professionally engaged in
the illegal trade L cannot pretend to
say"
"Have you had much experience
with the tricks and devices of profess
ional smugglers:'
q should say l did, replied the de-
tective, with a smile, as he took from
his desk hollow boot-heel fashioned
of iron, to which was attached an iron
clamp, and showed it to the reporter.
do you see this? That clamp was
fastened to a mans boot after the
leather heel Of the latter had been e.
moved. Then this iron heel was filled
with diamonds and screwed to the
clamp. The shape and color are eX-
actly like that of an ordinary heel, and
were it not that the smuggler's ner-
vousness betrayed him he might have
defrauded the government out of about
5000 in duty