Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1891-02-28

Customs iaspcctor Tells of the sharp
Tricks at Diamond Dealer.

Tricks at a Diamond Dealer.
Il think. said = customs inspector 30 q New
York h'T0d reporter. the cleysrest man Who
ever gave us a long chase 10 catch him was a
frenehman. who devoted himself sutirpl, 20
smuggling diamonds. The man was worth man,
thousands Of dollars He could have retired from
business and spent the remainder Of his year.
in ease and luxury or he could have ,ablished
bag legitimate business and carried IL on
successfully. But he had made his money I'm
this way. There Was an immense pront I'm
the sale OF the struggled brillinu,s. ana A
he had been uniformly successful he preferred
20 remain n smugrler. N there ever ,.s /. man
who made smuggling a tine art Il Va. This fel-
low: lie WAS lust IN tine prime Of life aud va.
Ne shrewd and clever any man ever came IN
contact with. We we're sure he was engaged in
smuggling. His trips TO France aud back wsr.
too frequent for = man who was engaged an |.
legitimate business.
I'VE searched him time aud time again. hut
nothing was found either IN his trunks or on
has person. Finally. We made up our minds 90
have him watched IN PARIS The collector nut
himself in communication with the United
States minister az she French capital and few
weeks later received a letter from the late n. A.
Mashhurne. who WAS then our minister 60
France. informing him that be had had cur
man watched and that he had been purchasing
large quantities Of diamonds The minister
stated that. from information brought 60 him.
the value OF the gems was close 10 q quarter of
a million Of dollars
Soon after we received a cahlegram telling
us that our man had sailed with his stock n
precious stones Did we feel gaoll Well, nov,
do you know the commission on that SEIZURE
would make man consider hilas.lf rich2 Our
trap 10 catch Mr.. Smuggler was complete. Al
least We thought IL wac. We sent three sre-
clally instructed inspectors down the hRy 20
meet the steamer. As soon NJ they boarded her
thoN spotted our man and They never took their
1 from him all fla lao ~
The moment the gaugplank wac put in position
Two OF our men walked up 60 the suspected
man, slapPes him on the shoulder and
informed him that be was a prisoner
THERE WAS NOTHING THERE
He demonstrated, but they told him they
knew their game and he must come along.
Well sir, We spent the grester part II the inv
searching that fellow. We stripped him. Va
ripped open his clothing. We setr,Led every
nook and crevice in his trunks. but uut a single
stone did we mud. The tire, d.sgustcd in
! spectors simultaneously said Il n ana 4
joined In the chorus. We were sure he had the
diamonds still, but We had nothing OF which 20
detain him. The impudent rhscal pu, his
nnger TO his nose as he sauntersd avay and
remarked: You fellows thought YOU were
smart, didn't youg
Two weeks later we learned that opr pri.-
oners agents here had literally Hooded lie
market with very valuable and hirh-1riccd
diamonds. Then we knew he had eot;a, tl.a
best OF us. 1 stayed awake nights irving 60 iu,-
agine how he did IT, but was forced 10 give Il
up.
in less than three months our man aeain
appeared upon the scene This time he was
given away by one OF his partners on
the other side. The collector received an
anonymous letter from Paris telling hiIn
Just how the smuggler proposed 10 or
crate The fellow had cheated him. tie
writer OF the letter said: but even then he
would not have given him away bat for the fat
That besides cheating him be had persuade
his sweetheart to leave him aud this ~
a treachery that he could not forgive.
When your man gets into port. the
| letter said, he will feign Illness ON has
back he will have a big plaster put there. CT
course, as he viii tell you. BY the ships Sur
I geon. Take of this plaster and inside Oft Noa
Will find forty mine large and valuable stones
| In short time the smuggler arrived and again
we made him prisoner. lie acted exactly az
the letter stated be would act. and ~hen some
one touched him in the back he WINGED AZ IL ia
terrible pain. We were ready for hi acting
| however, and coon had his coat and sbirs on
There was the plaster and beneath IL The in
! spectors found forty-nine giittering gems jass
J as the letter stated they would. The man was
hustled of 90 Ludlow street jail and the dia-
monds sent TO the appraiser.
INSPECTORS FouED AGAIN.
I've were all jubilant and the chief inspector.
who had made the seizure. went home aud told
Aae WhAt VIM n sehlckln tafQuf he
was going TO buy her. The next dAy when
L reached my Office the first thing I reached for
was a big envelope from the appraiser contain
ing a statement of the value of the diamonds
We had variously estimated them the day be-
fore at from S60.0O to 100000. When 4
opened the envelope and read the official ap-
praisement you could have knocked me over
with a feather. This is what it said. The for
! ty-nine diamonds you sent for apprsisement
are made Of glass. Their net value il about IS
cents
81 could not help admiring the fellow.
cleyerness- He had written the ANONYMOUS
letter himself. of course. and had entrapped us
completely. We never thought of looking in
the hand bag he carried, and he had walked of
with his diamonds. We had to let him go free
| again.
We'll, sir il was two months after this before
We caught the man. He kept up his smuggling
regularly: Finally We let him pa-s several
times without paying much attention 10 hiu.
He became bold. and one day We discovered a
big lot of diamonds in the back %. a hair
brush. This time really had hiIn.
felt much curiosity 10 lind out
how the fellow had beaten 10 the fret time
L have described that l went 10 the United
States district attorney and persuaded MIN to
consent TO have "a year taken off the man sen
tence if he would tell. We all agreed that the
knowledge would be VI great benefit to the
service.
AND THIS Is How M DID 1T.
The man agreed. he was cool as a cuoum-
Der when he told us. Why he said. IT vas
the easiest and simplest thing in the world.
You see, knew what Won fellows were up 10.
posted myself a. 81 that ! found cut Won
were having watched in Paris aud 4 knew
there would De a complete search. When
sailed from France simply bought round
trip ticket. ! made agreement with the
steamship people that WAS to have he same
state room coming back which had s,cUpied
In coming over. Then secured the diamonds
in bag. made an excavation in the wall of the
state room, put the diamonds in il and puttied
up the hole. Then when the ship sailed my
wife came down TO bid me goodbye. 1 was too
modest to kiss her goodbye on deck and she
accompanied ma To my state room. l told her
about the diamonds and. woman like, che
would carry them ashore with her. Wasn't 70
easy'"