The weekly Floridian. [volume] (Tallahassee, Fla.) 1867-19??, 1891-11-14
OUTWiTTING THE sMUG0LERS.
How Uncle Sans Customs Omcers Cap
ture Contraband Cigars.

OUTWTTING THE SMUG0LERS.
How Uncle Sans Customs Omcers Cap
ture Contraband Cigars.
"The ways Of smugglers are peculiar,
but the ways Of custom house men can
more than Guido them" remarked the
purser of Havana line steamship.
You know" he added refectively, "a
man who visits the West Indies and ap-
preciates fine cigar seldom comes back
to this country without making an at
tempt to do some quiet smuggling. OF
course the contraband articles are cigars.
It may not be because he is mean, but
the duty is stiff, and can easily imagine
with what pleasure box Of cigars can
be passed around among few friends
with the recommendation, Boys. Uncle
Sam never received any duty on these,
and I can vouch for them have been
there myself.
"The shrewd deputy of Uncle Sam
understands all this, and in addition,
the chances are he appreciates a good
| cigar as much as we do. OF course he
makes a thorough search for dutiable
goods on the arrival of all our ships, but
there are, he thinks. many little ways by
which he can be avoided, and travellers
are not long in finding 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, 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 a fact When smuggling
was more of business some years ago
than it is now, clever customs man de-
veloped a scheme by which the quantity
Of cigars smuggled il this port was re-
duced to minimum.
IAN 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
a 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 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 paralyze1 for
the wishing, l assure you Uncle Sam
would not have an ablebodied man in
the business. It is hard luck 10 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 confscate1, and the
amateur s:>1r:-g.e-s are lucky in getting
ont Of bad hole. for smuggling is an
ofense not II bt tr:fle1 with.
"Oh, yes, there are dozens Of ways by
which cigars could he smuggle1 il this
port without detection; but the practice
could not be carried on long, so the
business has not grown. Sorry I cant
give you some inside information, but it
would be bad policy"
Then the smart looking purser reflect
lively pulled a cigar which had never
paid Guty.-New York Sun.