The Wichita daily eagle., 1891-11-20
oUTwITTlNG rre omuGGLERs.
How Uncle Sans Customs Officers Cap
ture Contraband Cigars.


ture ContrabRnd Cigars.
"The ways of smugglers are peculiar
but the ways of custom house men ca
more than outdo them remarked til
purser of Havana line steamship.
"You know" he added refectively, d"
man who visits the West Indies and a.
! preciates fine cigar seldom comes bac
to this country without making an a
tempt to do some quiet smuggling. 9
course the contraband articles are cigar
1t may not be because he is mean, bC
the duty is stiff, and l can easily imaein
with what pleasure box Of cigars ca
| be passed around among few friend
with the recommendation, Boys, Uncl
Sam never received any duty on these
and l can vouch for them have bee
there myself.
"The shrewd deputy of Uncle Sar
understands all this, and in addition
the chances are he appreciates goo
cigar as much as we do. OF course h.
makes a thorough search for dutiabls
goods on the arrival of all our ships, buj
there are, he thinks, many little ways b.
which he can be avoided, and travellers
are not long in findicg them out.
"This does not worry our friend, the
customs man, for his arrangements, al
though most simple, do not fall far short
of perfection. He knows of the where
abouts of every large lot of cigars which
leave Havana, and when we arrive here
has, in all probability, a complete list of
the number we have on board and the
names of their owners.
You don't believe it. Well, never
theless it is fact. When smuggling
was more of a business some years ago
than it is now, a clever customs man de-
veloped scheme by which the quantity
of cigars smuggled in this port was re-
duced to a minimum.
''An agent of the department was
placed at Havana. He straightway made
friends with the cigar dealers and man.
ufacturers. This cost money, but the
game was worth the candle. Whenever
cigars were sold to an American or an
Englishman, in nine cases out of ten the
dealer delivered them, and politely in
sisted on doing SO.
cat the request of the buyer they
would invariably be sent on board his
steamship or to the hotel at which he
was boarding. In this way the buyers
name and address were ascertained.
'The crafty Cuban would then make
memorandum of this seemingly worth
less information and send it to Uncle
Sans agent. Once in his possession, that
man kept well posted in regard to the
buyers movements, and on the day he
sailed for New York the amateur snug
gler's name, description and the number
of cigars which he had were cabled to
the authorities here.
''No fear of detection bothered the
would be smUggler, and on arrival he
would give the customs man the coolest
kind of bluff until a few facts and
figures were presented to him.
"Do they give up the cigars? Oh, yes,
but with mighty bad grace, and if all
the customs men could be paralyzed for
the wishing, / assure you Uncle Sam
would not have an ablebodied man in
the business. 1t is hard luck to have
some other man smoke the weed which
your money has paid for, but it happens
more often than you imagine. The
goods are always confscated, and the
amateur smugglers are lucky in getting
out of bad hole, for smuggling is an
ofense not to be triied with.
"Oh, yes, there are dozens of ways by
which cigars could be smuggled in this
port without detection; but the practice
could not be carried on long, so the
business has rot grown. Sorry 1 can't
give you some inside information, but it
would be bad policy"
Then the smart looking purser reflect
lively pufed a cigar which had never
paid duty.-New York Sun.