, 1885-12-10
LADY INSPECTORS.
THEIR ARoUous WORK OF DETECT
ING sMUeoLsRs ABOARD SHIP.
Not an Hour TO Call Her own-Taot and
Dsifcacy Required In Searching
Out Fraud-out on the Water
Ansr Dark.
celia Logan In Now York World

Meeting a lady employed In tho custom
house. l asked her TO give me an Idea OF
her pay and duties, to which she con
sented She said: at Is generally sup
posed that the pay Of q lady in the custom
house Is so large as TO enable her to retire
wealthy In the course Of a few years. but
tho truth is. we receive about 81 a week.
Upon which we must maintain ourselves
aud families. Husbandsg Oh, no. there
are no husbands allowed us No married
women coud obtain u situation in the
custom house. and a single woman would
be dismissed II she were to marry while
In the service Of the government We
arc obliged to pay our car iaro. al
though when we arc required very late at
night or In very bad weather a carriage is
frequently sent for us. We arc often on
duty far away from homo at meal times
and on such occasions are compelled to
%patronizc the restaurants. which makes
quite an item In our expenses.
We are given a percentage upon any
contraband goods seized by us. What
makes these government positionss so much
in demand Is the absolute certainty OF
the pay and the almost equal certainty
that the employment once obtained. will
be permanent There are eight only OF
us lady inspectors in New York and
among us we divide the work Of inspect
ing every vessel arriving on this coast, so
you may believe none of us are idle
A pfsAGREEABLE TASK.
at would 10 dangerous for a woman
TO 20 alone at l or 2 O'Clock in the morn
ing to some Of the docks we have to go
to. therefore a man is always sent 10 take
us to the vessel and accompany us home
again II we do not go home before day
light. The most irksome part Of the
duty Of a lady inspector is that she has
never an hour that she may call her own
: he never dare make an appointment to
go out for over an hour or go to a mat
inee. or ever to church for fear that a
dispatch may arrive In her absence telling
her to be at such and such n dock to-in.
spect a inamedl vessel. In thirty five
minutes after receiving the telegram she
must be at the place indicated
I'VE are rowed out to the vessels. and
as in winter the weather Is cold and often
stormy. the exposure Is irving to the
health. and a disa greeab'e task even TO the
most robust. Nevertheless. once a lady
gets into a berth In the custom house-a
most di fcult thing To accomplish-she
stays. There are no designations and very
rarely a death. so that it may be said that
there are never any vacancies.
"A woman must be a born detective to
make "A good inspector. She should know
almost the first time she lays eyes upon a
lady whether or not she has any struggled
goods in her possession. Then. when II
comes to searching a woman. il requires a
great deal Of tact and d~elicacy to carry
your point and vet Civ no lust cause for
complaint And irmnessl dear me- Som
of them beg so hard not TO be entirely
denuded that il would melt a heart Of
tone
what are usually secreted in \ lady's
dress? Oh. diamonds and other precious
stones The conceal these everywhere
in the hair and in the paddings of the
dress. in the seams of the clothing and in
the shoes They have shoes made as II
for large bunions. which they Oil with
precious stones. The Italians are natural
born ~smugglers. and smuggle coral
chiefly.
SMUGGLING BY ROXY.
First and second-cabin passengers
smuggle by proxy, now more generally
thar in person. Storage passengers are
not required to declare their goods. 80
that many people who want 10 smuggle
light but valuable goods. like lace and
diamonds. pay the passage over OF n steer
age passenger. on condition OF him or her
getting through certain contraband
articles. 1t is rather risky, because The
trusted persons may walk oil with the
goods, and the owner cannot recover
Them. or II he does. it IL only to have
them nabhcd by the custom house officers.
but there is less risk OF dissection In the
steerago than In The cabin.
Il remember an amusing incident; A
gentleman returning from Europe
brought back half u dozen valuable gold
watches as presents TO his family.
How TO escape paying duty on
them tormented his mind until he
was nearing his native land Having
become well acquainted during the voyage
with six gentl men who had no watches.
he asked each one To wear a wa tch until
he got ashore. They all consented Four
of them brought the watches ashore un.
challenged by the oil GERS and returned
them. hut the other two vamoosed with
the watches. leaving the gentleman TO
ma c the best OF his loss Had he made
any row or arrested the thieves he would
have betrayed that he himself was trying
10 defraud the government
Among the other accomplishments
OF n lady inspector must he a knowledge
OF languages. unless she wishes to be put
10 great Inconvenience and considerable
expense in fleeing interpreters. lmmi'
grants arrive here from oycry place under
the sun. A lady searcher has got to con
verse with them oil Among the steer
age passengers Il knowledge OF the various
patois of a language is as necessary As Of
the pure tongue itself