Watertown republican. [volume] (Watertown, Wis.) 1860-1906, 1883-09-19
BEAUTIFUL SMUGGLERS.

How Uncle Sam is DeFrauded Out of Large
Revenues---Secrets of Custom House Evasions.
From the New York worId.I
Now is the time we have to keep our
eyes open, /" said prominent member OF
Capt. Brackets staff of custom-house
detectives. CAN the gay birds of fashion
who spend the summer abroad are on
the wing for home, and if they could
slip III even q few yards of costly lace
without paying duty 1t would save them
the expenses of their trip"
s. Do ladies indulge IN amateur snug
gling?"
"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
a fashionable dressmaker or the wife of
a prominent c ergyman, like the one who
had twenty yards of fine Valenciennes
lace tackled Ia her pettlcoat. l can not
give YOU her name for publication, for
no proceedings we re taken against her
except to have the lace removed from
the garment and sent to the public
stores. from which her husband after
ward obtained it by paying 81 yard
duty"
care the ladies cunning in the devices
they adopt ?"
"Their ingenuity is unbounded.
Take, for instance, the case of Nine.
Leone, the fashionable modiste, who
was arrested Tor smuggling some time
ago. She declared that she was an ac-
tress, and that the dresses which she at
tempted to pass through without paying
i oy1 oh
and were entitled to be sent In free I'M
der the section relating to tools of trade.
She showed a contract Ii which she was
engaged to perform the leading female
roles IN a number of plays. On the trial
this contract was proved to be a for
gerry"
Ladies will bring over sealskin
sacques IN the middle of summer and
wear them when the thermometer is in
the nineties, simply to be able to swear
that they have been worn. [ remember
a lady who wore a brand-new camels-
hair shawl valued at $4,000. 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 confscated and never afterward
called for. 1t vas subsequently ascer-
tanned that the person who had given
her the commission had made her pres
ent Of the cheaper shawl, with the IN
derstanding 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 a
S5O0Worth 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 instead of her servants the
fraud might have been successful. Some
ladies do not hesitate to resort to trunks
with false bottoms. One trunk in par
ticular had false sides as well, and when
I 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 ?"
mo. The only case of arrest that I
remember is that of Nine Leone. We
are contented to confscate the goods
We send the articles to the public store
and the owners can obtain 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 I
admit that innocent passengers some
times suffer delay and hardships on this
account. We must be extra cautious or
Uncle Sans revenue would be seriously
diminished. You have an idea of our
work when I say that over $50, 1000 are
annually collected at the docks of the
various steamships for duty on baggage
brought over by the passengers. This
Is exclusive of what passes through the
custom house in the ordinary course of
business. How large an amount the
government is defrauded of In the year
by people who would be Mortified to be
called smugglers and who are not pro-
fessionally engaged IN the illegal trade,
/ cannot pretend to say.
esHave you had much experience with
the tricks and devices of professional
smugglers?'
g l should say 1 had, replied the de-
tective. with smile, as he took from
his desk q hollow boot heel fashioned OF
iron. TO which was attached an iron
clamp, and slowed it to the reporter.
DO you Sc this? That clamp was
fastened to a mans boot after the leath-
er heel of the latter had been removed.
Then this iron heel was filled with dia.
monds and screwed to the clamp. The
shape and color are exactly like that OF
an ordinary heel, and were it not that
the smuggler's nervousness betrayed
him. he might have defrauded the gov.
eminent out of about S., 900 In duty.
"Another case happened on board
one of the Havana steamers. was
looking for smuggled cigars, and having
as I thought, satisfied myself that there
were none on board, was about TO leave
when [ noticed that the cleat OF the WIN
dow of the barber-shop, which was OF
ke upper deck, was trI1e loose.