Connecticut western news., 1888-02-29
ARTFUL SMUGGLERS.
Devices to Escape the Duty on
 Precious Stones.
How the Lynx-Eyed Officers
 Detect Them.

How the Lynx-Eyed Officers - Detect Them.
 Although the officers of the Customs Department take great precaution to prevent smuggling, says the New York Telegram, they are confident that large quantities of diamonds and other precious stones are brought into the country without payment of duty.
 The veteran, Captain Isaac Trimble, who spent twenty-two years of his life in the Custom House, and was during great portion of the time custodian of the seizure room. relates many ins tances of the ingenuity of the snug glers. On one occasion Captain Trimble exhibited 8 copy of the bible to visitor. ''Do you sec anything peculiar about the book2" the Captain asked. The visitor examined tho covers on both sides, as we'll as the back and edges, and then replied:-
 "Well, I can't say that do."
 s'But it is a smuggler's bible," the officer rejoined, 'and if you will un- clasp it, you will know how the rascals made use of it for smuggling dia- monds"
 The visitor did as directed and was surprised to find that the bible had been converted into box. An oblong cavity had been cut through all the leaves of the volume, the person who did the work being careful to leave the covers, 1 back and edges in the same condition as they were when they came from the binder. The box was about five inches long, three wide and two deep. In this oddly contrived box had been concealed about $6000 worth of smuggled diamonds.
 The person who brought these dia- monds to New York was passenger on one of the German steamers from Ham, burg. He had no idea that the customs inspectors would take the pains to examine an old and well-worn copy of the bible. Had he left the bible in his trunk the probability is that it would have attracted no special atten tion from the officials, but the owner took the book under his arm and was seemingly so jealous for it's safety that he raised the suspicious of an inspector, who im- mediately stepped up and relieved him l of it in short order.
 With tears in his eyes the owner ex- claimed:
 "Oh, don't rob mo of my bible. It was given me by my mother when I left my home in the old country"
 But the inspector was memorable. The book was retained and examined and the officer congratulated himself that he had done pretty good days work for Uncle Sam.
 One of the tricks most frequently re- sorted to by smugglers is to conceal dia. monds and other precious stones in the Things of garments. An overcoat which was worn by foreigner who landed or these shores about ten years ago had nc less than ten thousand dollars worth oi gems quilted into the padded lining. Il is probable that for every one of thi! kind of garment that is detected by tho inspectors there are score which arc never discovered. Among the curiosi ties which were preserved in the seizure room for long time was a coat of this description, the lining and padding O which contained over two hundred quilted squares, and h each was gem. Some of the gems were very small, not being worth more than five dollars each, but the aggregate amounted to a pretty large sum.
 Whenever the inspectors see newly arrived passenger of suspicious appear ance on foreign steam ship they look at his or her shoes or boots to see if the soles are of extra thickness. many thousands of dollars worth of smugglee stones have been found in these extrs thick soles. There are shoemakcrs 1T Switzerland who mako speciality O m anufacturing smugglers' foot gear Trunks with false bottoms have long been so common that they excite nc surprise on the part of the customs of fcers. It is customary with an inspec- tor when he examines baggayeto thrus a cane down into the trunk and ther measure on the outside. By this mean false bottom can be easily detected.
 Several years ago smugglcr carried nya successful smuggling business by hiding diamonds in the handles o palm-leaf fans. The duty on the fam was so low that he could we'll affort to pay it in view of tho valuable con tents of the handles. Finally the game was spoiled by an inspector wh' discovered that the end of each handl was plugged. The inspector extracted the plugs and out rolled the diamonds
 Men and women havo dcfrauded tn customs by hiding gems in their hair In fact, there are so many ingeniou methods adopted by smugglers that tn officers are often in despair.
 Figures Never Lie.