Richmond dispatch. [volume] (Richmond, Va.) 1884-1903, 1888-07-08
Ichicacn Tribunal

heart to say much. Still pale, sno SAT
down, biting her lips and looking round
to see that nobody had heard us. 'Of-
ficer, she said at length, 'hew much will
make it seuarc?' Well, said /, with a
sly glance at her sbspely figure, i don't
know how much it took to make it
round, but guess there is about s., 900
worth Of lace and jevelry in the lining
OF that dress of yours. And 80 1t was.
When the women-searchers had I'M
dressed her she looked like scarecrow-
old, haggard, q regular skeleton. The
haul just doubled my estimate.
"Whero are struggled articles usually
concealed?"
Everywhere. Anything will form q
hiding-placc. Fruit is perhaps the
handiest covering. Who would look for
cigars in a pumpkin or for snuff in tur-
nip? Yet pumpkins and turnips care
fully lined with wool have brought any
amount of tobacco into this country"
"And jewelry?"
"No. Jewelry generally travels in
boot heels. The boots are specially made
in Paris. / remember unscrewing one
of those heels in New York. A shower
OF brilliants fell all around me. There
was fortune in that little shoe"
"And gloves ?"
"There was famous lawsuit, you re-
collect, against a Frenchman who i'm
ported gloves in his long Hessian boots.
For my own part have generally found
gloves in trusses of hay. A tin box can
lie snugly in the centre Of big truss of
hay. Indeed there is no article of mer-
chandise which the smuggler cannot
turn 70 his purpose. At Liverpool they
to-, how on a vessel coming from
ST.. in the Baltic they found cigars
in casks of camomile flowers and else
where cigars in cases of glue tobacco
in potato-sacks; tea lying on furze
bushes waiting to be shipped; tobacco
slowed away in loayes of German bread !;
to say nothing of boat drifting in the
barber with fifty barrels OF snuif in it. "
care the purchasers usually aware Of
the smuggling"
"They are generally proud OF it.
Enter club smoking-room. Note with
what pride your juvenile host offers you
a cigarette of the finest Turkish tobacco.
Tobacco, dear boy, he says, that
would be cheap at $40 pound. But
can you afford such price, Hush,
he whispers, 1T costs me only dollar.
Struggled, dear boy, smuggled.' The
youth has been hoaxed by his tobacco.
mist. He is smoking native tobacco,
with a favoring OF cheap Turkish or
Egyptian"
"And the ladies? ?"
"The ladies' are born smugglers. They
think it no harm to defraud Uncle Sam.
They are rabid free traders. They will
hide jewelry in their hair, wrap lace
around their bodies, and pack their hus-
bands cigars among their petticoats.
The commonest device of the feminine
smuesler is the false-bottomed trunk.
In a box filed apparently with cheap
gInshams and calicoes may lie the finest
dress that Felix can produce"
care dress-makerS the principal Gull
prits ?"
"Tailors are just as bad. Their GUS
toners compete with them. Tag goes
to Rag at tho club and says: You're
going to London, old man. Bring me
back six pair OF trousers from Poole.
All of Rags club friends give him n
similar commission. Rag has to bring
back about lee pair of trousers. He di-
vides thea among his trunks. With a
small donceur lie gets them safely
through the custom-house. Hence Snip,
the tailor, would be ruined if he did not
smuggle too"
"And the wine merchant"
Swine merchants find it harder. And
besides, why smuggle il you can adulte-
rate? Pure wine is only known to those
who live near tho vineyards. "
"And the picture dealers ?"
"Their smuggling is merely erasing
the name of the painter or otherwise dis
figuring the work until it has passed
muster. No; the leading smugglers, as
said, are people of fashion. They
smuggle instlnctively. No matter how
rich the man, he loves to bring over a
few diamonds surreptitiously. No matter
how honest the woman, she loves to fill
her trunks with new dresses for her
friends"
Has smuggling as a trade died
out }"
"Not at all. Will. Watch, the bold
smuggler, is not as daring as he used to
be. But he still plies his trade in sail
ing-vessels on the coast l have seen
ladies Of the highest social rank in sum-
mer resorts OF Jersey receive visits from
women bringing silks aud laces which
the purchasers knew 10 be smuggled.
Their husbands would say Take care.
my dear. 1t means a humping fine il
you are caught. 'Well risk it, they
would reply. I'VE make profit enough
by the transaction to cover far more than
the fine"
Where do the Jersey smugglers
livo?"
"They have cottages on the shore
bleak huts which seagul would disdain
to alight upon. l remember how We
raided jim Alden's place Cassowary
jim, they used to call him. We saw
him enter the hut with three compsn-
ions. all carrying bundles OF struggled
cigars. We broke into the hut, but Jim
and his friends were gone. Where
There was an clubhouse connected with
the hut II was as empty as the hut it.
sell. 1t had no article OF furniture but
a seaman's chest. There was no trace Of
hiding-place."
show did the smugglers escape ,"
81 sent my men away, bidding them
make as much noise ashley could. Then
l waited in the dark waited for hours
waited as silent as DEATH. At last /
heard scratching. The sound came
FROM chest in the clubhouse. The bot
tom Of the chest was lifted. Cassowary
Jim's head appeared. The coast is clear,
boys. said he. waited for no more. /
escaped in the darkness.