The Forest Republican. [volume] (Tionesta, Pa.) 1869-1952, 1886-11-17
THE MODERN SMUGGLER.
HE WEARS FINE CLOTHES INSTEAD
OF CUTBASSHS.
How Customs Duties are Avoided
A Talk With n Special Agent
Diamonds in a Cake of soap.

the sea, who sailed IN ozark suspicious |
looking craft and had cave hid some |
where far away where he stored his goods |
and held dark conclaves at night, has
passed away, and there are those who |
believe he never existed at all. But Snug |
Cling has not stopped. Only now they |
don't go in gangs and sail their own
ships. They don't wear red shirts and |
cutlasses nowadays. They are entirely
respectable people and go in the best
society. They wear fine clothes and dia-
monds, and are very friendly with the
customs officers. The smuggling is now
done mostly by fashionable people who
travel and by business men.
1--WE can never tell how much is done"
said a special agent of the government
to Washington Star reporter 81 have
nc doubt an immense number of things
are landed without duty. There is no
such thing as a band of smugglers, but
nearly every steamer brings over some
contraband goods.
They are generally fine laces, mil
linery, expensive tailor trimmings and
the like. A great many business men go
abroad with trunks and bring them back
full of these things. They are very ex-
pensive, and many thousand dollars
worth can be brought over in q very
small space. Expensive feathers, fine
velyets and ribbons, laces, silk braid and
trimmings of all sorts take up but little
space, and are subject to high duty.
Sometimes smugglers get caught. We
can't tell how often they don't. Jewelry
is smuggled to great extent, particularly
diamonds. Nea.ly all the diamonds
brought to this country are smuggled.
We know that great quantity of these
gems are imported, but we have never
collected duty on many. Such an i'm
mense value can be carried in a small
space that it is very easy to evade the
customs officers. Ten thousand dollars
worth of diamonds might be carried in
mans vest pocket. Who "a think
to search him unless he was sus octed of
smuggling2 The customs offic ers can't
search everybody2"
but then, " he added, as if he feared
he was offering too much encouragement
to violations of customs, "but then you
must not think it altogether safe bust
ness, You might get caught when you
least expected. Men who think they
are perfectly safe often fall into trap.
There are,people who are always ready to
uncovering Of a smuggler The govern
ment was warned by an anonymous let
ter not long since, that certain party
would sail from Europe on certain
steamer, and that if we would search him
we would find diamonds. We were on
the watch. He was a very gentlemanly
man of fine appearance and good ad-
dress. He had only the ordinary lug
gage was perfectly willing that it should
be searched, but was amused at the idea
of being suspected of smuggling. The
officers felt rather cheap after fruitless
search, and were apoligizing for the
trouble they. had given him, when one of
them piSkedNrp cake of soap out of his
dressing case There was nothing pecu-
liar in the appearance of the soap,
put when the officer handled it
900 roughly it broke open and
out rolled the little sparkling
gems. The inside of the cake had been
followed out and $40, 900 worth of dia-
monds hid away in the cavity Had we
not been notified he would have been
!, perfectly SAFE and got through as Others
have done. But no man can be sure that
he will not be the one to be caught. Our
informers are everywhere. The Govern
ment can give reward of as much as
half the value of the goods seized to the
informer. This is an inducement to many
people to report any cases that come un-
der their notice. There are people con-
stantly on the lookout on the other side,
and we are notified when to look for
smugglers. A great many patriotic citi-
zens have an antipathy for smugglers and
do, as matter of principle, report every
one they find. Preachers are particularly
apt to do this. The cloth is our best
source of information. People frequently
brag, on going abroad, that when they
return they will bring SO and so without
duty. We generally hear of this and are
on the lookout. Only the other dav a
gentleman came to the office and informed
me of parties who were going to bring
over lot of valuable things He did it
merely because he hated smuggling.
"But experienced smugglers," contin-
ued the special agent, do not get
caught thus. They are generally known
as dealers, and their baggage is very
closely watched, but they never make a
conidant of any one. Tourists do much
smuggling. They bring presents to their
friends and collect ornaments and all
sorts of things they can get cheap
"Dloau, anu lIy 10 sup them through
without duty. Many people do this
without knowing that they are violating
the law. They think that anything they
do not intend TO sell is not dutiable.
With thousands of dollars worth of
things in their trunks they will swear
that they have no dutiable goods. Their
surprise is genuine when the goods are
seized. The question what constitutes
lady's OF a gentleman's wardrobe is one
that bothers us much. In former wears
the station of the person was taken into
consideration. If a very wealthy man
had dozen suits of clothes lot of
jewelry and all sorts of expensive tog-
gerry it was considered nothing more
than his right. But for a man of less
means to have so much made him an OBJ
lect OF suspicion and he was liable to
arrest for smuggling. The same way
with the women A rich yrov,o,, -, g.