The morning news. [volume] (Savannah, Ga.) 1887-1900, 1892-04-23

| ana YARDS OF red flannel wrapped
4oout her on sweltering,
July day. There is less smuggling of Jewels
now, for the duty is small, and as woman
wears her Jewelry concealed about her per-
son It is difficult to determine whether she
Is smuggling or not. Very frequently ladies
give choice things to the steerage passengers
70 smuggle through for them, and often in
the blackests of pots will be found choice
bits Of china and glass One lady borrowed
little peasant boys jacket the day before
they came into port, sewed it full of jewels
and bought it from him after they passed
the inspectors for a sum that astonished the
boys mother by its generosity.
1t is considered a great blunder among
the officials to examine personally one who
Is innocent. Very few mistakes of this kind
are made, because the manner in which
woman receives the accusation usually de-
cldes beyond doubt whether she is inno-
cent or guilty. II she laughs and says, GER
talnly she has no objection to being
searched, she is usually innocent One mid
dle-aged lady of peculiar figure smiled
when the official detained her because of
her suspicious appearance, and said to the
inspectors: - You come with me over here
In the corner and l will show you right here
whether have any dutiable goods or not,
and prove to you that | have right TO
everything you find" And when she put the
hands of the inspectress down on the al
normally developed hips covered with
cushions Of fat, she added: 81 don't blame
the man at all, but am glad there is a
woman heren
When women look frightened and begin
to cry or storm and say it is an outrage aud
an insult and that they won't submit to it,
1t is safe to say that one is an amateur and
the other professional smuggler and that
both need searching. One of the dress
| makers who came over this spring and swore
that the in har oil No.
own, went of in fury because an inspector
questioned her little, and said that she
would put every one of them on to prove to
him that they were for herself. To her
surprise he told her that she might put them
on there, and, though she did manage to
get herself into one of them, the inspectress
had TO cut the sleeves TO get her out Of
them. One of the evening cloaks sup
posed to be worn over a gown lacked about
TOUR Inches or fastening across the bust
with no gown underneath. Another little
trick of the women who smuggle gowns Is
TO baste the seams in the waist instead of
sewing them, or to haste in some seams to
make the waists fit in case they are com
PEELED to try them on, leaving the edges of
the seams ragged and unfinished. The
most amusing thing about it is that they do
all their fixing, bastlng of laces, and arrang-
Ing OF concealed things on the steamer be-
fore the stewardess, who is very apt to re-
port it. In the rush of travelling and the
preparation for Homecoming there seems to
be no other time.
AS for smuggling in trunks, the methods
are cunning and varied. Women fold
chlldren's dresses cunningly inside their
own, line cheap skirts with costly brocades
and velvets, fit false bottoms in their trunks,
and stow away valuable trimmings and
JeWelry in the accumulated wash. Some
| times an inner trunk is fitted in, papered all
I Low khra l.
the two is filed with valuables. The in
spectresses find the study of the trunks and
boxes which come banging down on the
| docks far more interesting than one would
| imagine, and in the yearly transatlantic
| fitting gain a wide and varied knowledge
Of the appearance and dress of noted
| people.
One thing that seems to impress them very
| much is the condition Of the worn trunks
and shabby baggage brought over by the
| foreign men of rank who come over here to
marry rich widows and heiresses. They
will tell you that Col. Ralph Vivian, hand
some gentleman that he is, had lot OF bat
| tered boxes filled with things that an Ameri-
can gentleman would not consider suitable
Tor wedding garments; that Howell Osborn
travels with eighteen pairs of shoes, and
that Mrs. Bradley Martin takes the lead
in the number of pieces of bag
gage she carries To the woman who
travels with thirty or forty trunks, it may
be of interest to know Emma Abbott's
system of marking her keys. Her trunks
were always beautifully packed, and she
seldom returned from abroad with less than
forty of them, large aud small. Just below
the keyhole of each trunk was painted a
bright strip of one color or of combina-
ton of colors. In the key of each trunk
was tied a bit of ribbon matching the
painted band on the trunk in color, which
simplified the process Of unlocking and ex-
aiming the baggage.
The most favorable time to arrive in port
with dutiable goods is on Sunday night,
when the inspectors are tired and in a hurry
to get home, and when the much feared
Capt. Story is most inclined to relax his
vigilance.