Fairhaven herald. [volume] (Fairhaven, Wash.) 1890-????, 1891-05-31
ACTIVE SMUGGLERS.
THEY KEEP THE SPECIAL TREASURY
AGENTS VERY BUSY.

, Part of the Customs Department of
is Knowo-Men Whose Sharp Eyes
Save Une,e Sam Thousands OF Dollars
In the extreme northwest corner of the
basement floor of the New York custom
house is the headquarters of the United
states special treasury agent for this dis
trict. 1t is an transformations suit of of
fees, plainly furnished, the easements
painted virgin white. The casual visitor
who stroils in is amazed chiefly at one
thing, that is at the order and neatness
which prevails.
he sees number of fat top desks at
Which sit clerical looking men figuring
and writing. An air of sleepy quietude
pervades the place, as If it were some
coXlting room where the most ordinary
er,nfsactions in hides or wheat were the
suf5ect of consideration. Yet the quiet
Office is the fountain head of what may be
termed the United States treasury detect
i've work for this district.
The special treasury agent Is stationed
here special treasury agents mission
is an anomaly and a paradox He is at
once a watch dog and in certain lines an
auditor. He is a prevention and a cure.
He watches alike the just and the unjust,
the righteous and the SHINING the customs
officer and the smuggler.
The thirty local agents report directly to
the department at Washington, with a
lesser consumption of red tape and a more
frequent use of the telegraph and the iron
bound packet than almost any other depart
ment in our great governmental system
unless it be that of the secret service.
PERFECT ESPIONAGE.
The detective work of the inspectors and
agents is always interesting The treasury
agents throughout the country work sys-
tematicaly and into each others hands.
and}by means of this wonderful unity in
, the department the most perfect system of
espionage and care has been built up. The
special treasury agents department saves
to the United States annually many hun
dreds of thousands Of dollars over and
above expenses of its maintenance. Prob
ably no bureau under any of the cabinet
departments has been proved to be a more
thoroughly useful and paying institution
The treasury agent for the local district
has always had his hands full The local
Office has had in charge such matters as
the investigation attendant on the finding
of the body of the murdered Dane in bar
rel of plaster on board the steamship
Thingvalla, from Copenhagen, which
aroused so much interest; the pushing of
cases in the discovery of criminals con
nected with the Illegal importation of
opium, both by way of water and over the
Canadian line; accumulative discoveries
connected with the wholesale smuggling
OF cigars, and the seizures and strict sys-
tenn of espionage which have decreased the
percentage Of this Illicit trade and many
othe- open-and-abo board varieties of
fraudulent dealings with the government.
The most romantic and interesting Dor
ton Of the work of the inspectors is the
secret or detective part of it, and the in
spectors and agents who visit the steam
ship docks or stroll idly about the custom
house or appraiser stores in citizens dress
are ali men Of determination, keenness and
energy. The surveyor of the port, with his
force of 80 inspectors, twelve inspectresses
and ll9 night inspectors, is compelled to
acknowledge that without the aid of the
special treasury agent and his efficient
corps of assistants the government would
be defrauded of hundreds of thousands of
dollars yearly.
Smuggling as carried on today varies
little In its methods or subterfuges from
that of ten, twenty or fifty years ago. The
ingenuity OF man Is constantly supplying
new means for evading the collection of
lawful duties, but these newly invented
methods follow along old lines to a LARGE
extent, and the facilities for capturing a
smuggIer who operated in that unknown |
epoch in history commonly called before
the VAR are much the same as those in
vogue at the present day.
GETTING TIPS.
~
the department who does not know that it |
is on intimate terms Of correspondence
with consuis at foreign cities, the ministers /
at foreign capitals the department Of state
at Washington, the department Of the |
navy, the secret service and all the branches 1
of the customs department. When this is |
considered it is not strange that the in ]
spectors Of the special treasury agents, or |
at least the agents themselves are pretty |
well informed Of all that is going on ia the !
nature of importations and know Just |
where and how 70 look for violations of |
the law
They tell many curious stories of meth |
DDS in vogue, and many events which seem |
to be cOincidentaf with certain facts, but /
which are in truth an outgrowth of those
facts. One Of the special agents under. |
stands that there Is a quantity Of Snug |
gled cigars on board Cuban brig Under |
cover Of darkness he is rowed out, and ]
calls roughly to the sailors on board the
ship that "he has come for the cigars"
Quietly and deity box containing sew
eral hundred Of the Struggled articles is
passed down over the ships side, and away
rows the inspector, seeming TO disappear
like p mist Of the sea.
3f2hably the captain of the brig has
|nevN4to this day, fathomed the disappear
ance of those cigars. There were cigars,
land they were handed to living hands, and
a notice of their receipt was given by voices /
which were not Of the spirit, and yet with
In a very few minutes there were no cigars.
and to the last, unless the seizure room
gives up many Of the secrets which it
holds padloeked in its depths, the SNUG
glers will never be able TO fathom such oc-
currences as these.-Hew York World.
A Monster Grapevine
u