Rock Island daily Argus. (Rock Island, Ill.) 1886-1893, 1892-01-21
SMUGGLING IS ~ AL.
Ingenious Schemes Which Have Deceived
Old Customs Officers

| Old Customs officers.
Standing on pier near the gangyav Of
| one of the great Atlantic liners, a cvcloufc
laugh was playing havoc within me while
watching the nervous antics of a fair pas
| senger. Her face, neck. wrists and amply
| displayed ankles gave her the su,picion of
| registering 125 pounds net weight. while
| her body, with its bulk of appendages
| would insure clean bill of lading to the
| tune of 210 pounds Il is needless to say
that when she had passed through Uncle
Sans inquisitorial alembic she had fallen
to her normal condition.
1t may be incidentally stated here that
any attempt to introduce to these shores
| in single jump, duty free. silk mill, A
glove factory and a complete emporium of
| gold and precious stones is slightly over
doing things.
One of the smartest bits of smuggling I
| know of occurred when one of the largest
| and handsomest diamonds in this country
owned at present by one of our leading
families-was brought in duty free Here
is the scheme: Among the steerage passen-
gers was respectable looking workman
with large Dutch pipe. just as he ap-
preached Castle Garden he wrapped the
diamond in thin piece of paper, put it in
| the bowl of his pipe, then filled il up with
tobacco.
When he landed and while the iuspect-
ors were sitting his few worldly posses
sions, the immigrant was making various
futile attempts to light his pipe. but just
when about to do - he would make some
remark to the inspectors and the match
would go out. In a short time he was in
an east side hotel, luggage and all, whence
he was soon transferred to one of the city'e
aristocratic abodes.
Another equally clever scheme is worked
this way: \ European gentleman deals
heavily in fine iewelry of all kinds. His
private partner presumably exports well
known makers fancy toilet soaps to his
brother, simple grocer over here. The
exporter" has fine facsimile single cake
mold with the name, etc, of the maker,
minus one letter in the name. One or
more of the cakes of soap is split and hol-
lowed ont and filled with jewels The
cakes are then put into the mold and soon
have the appearance of new cakes. When
the box of soap arrives at its destination
In America the simple grocer knows by the
absence of the letter in the makers name
which cakes are for him. As soon as pos
sible he hands the contents over to his rel
alive, dealer over here who finds a ready
market.
An importing friend of mine once told
me that it is invariably the repeaters Of
old tricks who are caught smuggling An
ingenious person can carry on the game as
his mental fertility brings forth a new
scheme.
The purser on one of the steamers plying
between San Francisco and China used to
he the butt of his fellow officers on account
of his old fashioned. big saddled. clumsy
bicycle. He had ridden his old machine. he
said, until il had become a second wife to
him. Every opportunity he got he sailed
forth on his bicycle, both in China and
over here. He retired wealthy short
time ago, and then the cat got out Of the
bag. His big, clumsy saddle was hollow,
and every time he rode forth in China he
returned with the hollow part filled with
opium, which he carefully hid in the YES
sci, and every time he rode forth in San
Francisco he in like manner carried part
of his cargo into the city, finding a ready
customer.
The latest diamond trick is this: Cut the
buttons off your overcoat, place unset
stones inside the top of the button, cover
with cloth and sew them on afresh. The
scheme pays for the trouble and goes tri-
umphantly.
have known a case where "A pair of hol-
low heels on lady's shoe contained more
wealth than a modern shoe store The
shoes were worn simply to come ashore
with.
1t is notorious fact that if you desire
nice cigar or a bottle of bay oil. acquire the
acquaintance of some lady of color who
manipulates the sailors washing.
Uncle Sans inspectors are expert judges
of humanity, and hence it is only the reck-
less, unruffled, though simple looking gen
fuses who succeed in smuGgling.-New
York World