The Washington bee., 1891-01-31
WAYS OF SMUGGLERS.
MANY SUCCEED DESPITE CONSTANT
WATcHFULNEsS.

Great Ingenuity Displayed in the Busi-
ness-The Governments Detectives Are
Pretty sharp, Too-Some FavOrite Meth
ods of smuggling.
In spite OF the vigilance of customs in
spectors and the almost perfect working Of
the secret service, smuggling is continually
carried on in some degree, and for ingenui-
ty in ways that are dark and tricks not
always vain the smuggler is an adept.
Steamers from South America and the
West Indies and tramp steamers bring in
cigars, liquors and great variety of mer-
chandise not on the vessels manifest, which
finally gets on the market without paying
tribute to the government, and probably
never great transatlantic liner arrived at
this port that did not bring some goods
which were smuggled through. The cases
of smuggled English clothing on Liver
pool steamer, when the fact was brought
to light that for years London tailors had
been evading American duties, will give
some idea of what may still be going on
undetected.
The ingenuity of the smuggler is great.
Some years ago, when the barge office was
gers, a custom house officer one day STEP
ped up to a respectable appearing, well
dressed woman, who with her husband
was standing waiting to have her luggage
examined, and requested her presence in
the searching room. She carried small
travelling bag in her hand, and he made
her bring that along too. She was of
course indignant aud her husband uttered
Ill s ! he eff, Gov
what he denounced as "this outrage"
CIGARS IN A DEAD HORSE.
But the officer calmly opened the bag
and took therefrom a soap box, and from
the soap box a cake of soap. The cake of
soap had been used and looked like any
other innocent piece of toilet soap. But
when the officer cut it in two with his
knife nest of sparkling diamonds of great
beauty and value was disclosed in its in
terror. How the customs officer knew that
woman, that travelling bag and that cake
of soap is mystery, but one no doubt sus-
ceptible of an easy solution if all the facts
in the case were known.
The secret service has its agents every
where, and the great trouble with women
smugglers is that they will talk, especially
when they have hit upon some particularly
ingenious plan for smuggling Sometimes
portly women will enter the seizure room
to merge therefrom greatly emaciated, but
leaving behind large quantities of valuable
lace.
The smOkestacks of steamers from the
West Indies have been known on several
occasions to yield up many hundred dol
lars worth of cigars. In fact, the smoke
stack is favorite place for hiding snug
gled goods. This sort of smuggling is done
by the crew, who work under the double
disadvantage as a rule of having to evade
the watchful eyes of both the officers of the
steamer and the customs officers.
Once a dead horse floated up on the
beach at Coney Island. When people went
to remove the carcass they found that the
intestines had been removed and the inte-
rior of the dead animal filed with Havana
cigars. The carcass and its cargo had prob
ably been thrown overheard from some
steamer, and the confederates who were to
have roweAthe argosy ashore at some Sc
se had miss connection.