The Seattle post-intelligencer. [volume] (Seattle, Wash. Terr. [Wash.]) 1888-1914, 1888-11-07

S W SAOO0A<Bkl
CIg.rs IN the Legs Of . Piane-A spa,
Ful1 ~ whisky.
Lewiston ycar1aI.
One morning recenfly I happenet
into the Office Of Shipping Commits
si0ner Smith on Commercial street. Il
Bath, and found a. choice collection
OF Old salts and master mariners ..
could easily be gotten together. Ths
sea-dogs were making = pleasant ex
change of "reminiscences touchine
upon the means that they had re.
sorted to in Guiding the vigilance Of
| Uncle Sans custom house officers ii
bringing home cigars and 0the,
articles from foreign ports without
paying the prescribed duties. .Abou:
the neatest way thai ever saw" re
marked the captain OF large schooner
now being repaired in Bath. twas one
used By Capt. Blank of the bark So
and-So. Have any OF you ever been
aboard that bark7r he asked One
man replied that he had. and the mar
raior asked him II he had noticed that
large upright piano In the after cabin.
The other said that he had noticed the
piano, and the narrator proceeded TO
tell a bit OF It's history.
Well. = he resumed, when Capt.
Blank bought that piano, number OF
years ago, he had four large legs con-
strzeted by his carpenter for it, as the
legs on the piano were rather fraii and
weren't stout enough to stand much
of sea When those new legs were
made for the piano he had them hos-
lowed out, and he used TO come into
Boston and New York with 1900 Ha-
vanas in each leg OF that piano 1t
was good dodge, and he came into
port many q time and landed his goo
cigars safely after the departure OF the
custom house officers But he finally
paid for his fun. On one voyage the
bark experienced u gale, and among
other things damaged were tso OF the
pianos legs They were split from top
to bottom. The captain saw, Of
course, that the piano racket was up,
and he had GOO cigars 10 hide some
where else. He hid them in the fore
cas- lie, but they were found by the in
spectors, and the captain vas arrested,
rr,ea, aud tined 5000. snayen't heard
of his doing any smuggling since
After few puff from his cigar, a
Bath man who was Interested in ship
ping began an anecsiose. Captain,
said he, '.trat story of yours reminds
me OF Something in about the same
line in which ! was interested. A
friend of mine, who was master OF a
large ship, promised he would bring
me home some excellent liquor on the
next voyage he made, and he ac-
eomranied the promise by the boast
that there would be no duty paid on il
either. Well. had not thought much
about the matter until one day |
noticed in q Boston paper that the
ship had arrived in port Bat the
next DAVIS issue of the same paper
contained an interesting story OF the
manner in which the custom house
officials discovered that about half OF
one OF the spare spars which the YES
sci carried was hollow, and that the
hole contained Is gallons o liquors. |
never got my five gallons and nay
friend got four months in jail, while
the ship made the next voyage under
the charge If the mate"
A little. short man now took up the
converse ion, and said; II remember
a pretty neat thing once which was
done in this very port only few days
ago by the captain OF one OF the ships
OF the Houghton fleet. He came
across from Liverpool, and on the
voyage he treated the sailors unusu-
ally weIl-so well. in fact, that when
the captain asked IL of them, shortly
before going into port, to do him a
little favor, they readily consented.
! The result was that when the ship was
moored to the wharf those IL sailors
walked ashore, each with an Imported
leather shooting coat on under his
own rough pea jacket. The captain
followed them to rendezvous where
the sailors Invested themselves OF the
English coats. The captain set 'em
up' all around several times, and
parted from the sailors like and old
friend"
No sooner had this aneedote been
concluded than another old sea cap
tain. rich and retired now, broke in
onietly with: "Yes, that's a good
scheme, but it don't always work. II
didn't when | tried it, anyhow. You
see. / was in England and ! bought a
handsome shawl for my wife, who
was not with me. paying t20 (Sl00l for
it. When | got int New York
! asked the staw:rtiess OF the ship ii she
wound wear the shawl ashore for me.
She said she would. and, putting II on
wore il over the side and out OF ths
reach of the inspectors. followed
her ashore. but when | overlook her
| well up town, the hussey refused to
| give the shawl back TO me, and threat
ened to call policeman / attempted
| 10 take the shawl from her. What
| could do? couldn't prove that tht
shawl was mine, ami so | was Obliged
to stand there and see that woman
| walk off with a Si00-shawl that | hac
written TO my wife about, You ma,
believe that | never tried anything II
that line again"
A hearty laugh went round at the
captains expense. and "a soon as
had died away the mate OF iarg'
four-masted schooner, now discharg
ing in port, spoke up: Two year
ago" said he, II was mate oil iarg'
ship. with Capt. s. OF this city a
master. In Birmingham, England
one day we both purchased silk nm
brellas. They were good ones and w
paid Sl2 apiece for them. We cam
across to New York, and after we ha'
been in port a few moments the cap
tain and myself StArtei 10 20 asHoIe
The day before | had removed tn
covering from my umbrella and ha'
wiped up all dirt I could ind in II!
room to make il look old. The captail
had thought this nrecaution unneces
sary, and We started ashore, havini
mine all waving in the wind and III,
captain having his with silk wrap
per round it and done up in its origin
al package as well. An inspector too
ON the wharf. and As soon rs We ha,
passed him he turned and followed rs
| He stepped up to the captain and tool
his umbrella away rom him, and late
in the day the captain was fined 81
for petty smuggling. A madden maj
| never saw
Preaching with "A Knife and Bible