The morning news. [volume] (Savannah, Ga.) 1887-1900, 1894-05-13
sMUeeLED A BRICK BUILDING.
What U. 8. Revenue officer Discov-
cred Near the Mexican Border.
From the Ell Paso Times.

From the Ell Paso Times.
One of the most remarkable seizures
ever made by customs officer in any part
of the country was made recently by T.
G. Hannum, special inspector in the
Office of Special Agent Wagstaff, at Ell
Paso, Tex. Mr. Hannum is an old news
paper man. He was directed to go over
into Arizona and look into certain matters
indicated In a letter from the treasury
department. But the knowledge of it
never came to the public until few even
ings ago, when Mr.. Hannum's enjoymen
of the ludicrous overcame his modeSty to
such a, degree that he related the story to
reporter,
"Wen, 1 got over to Nogales, +" said he,
land transacted the business | was sent
to look after, and was preparing to leave
without any dream of becoming a marked
man in the government service But one
morning fellow came to me and re-
marked in most mysterious and conf
Dental way that he could put me onto
something OF course, in my innocence,
| had no idea what he meant unless he
had some new and more deadly method of
mixing drinks. But that interested me,
and l kindly allowed him the use of my
ear. jerking his thumb over his shout
der toward the custom house, he Kissed,
'Smuggled.' AS he pointed exactly in the
direction Of the custom house / was sur
prised and shocked. Then | thought that
in all probability he was an exclusion
house officer and wanted to get even with
his successor, But on closer inquiry |
found that he was intending to point, not
at the custom house, but at brick store
house beyond
What kind of goods do they smuggle!''
I asked.
They don't smuggle goods, he energet-
ically declared, but the house was
struggled
ITO say that was interested is putting
it mildly. l knew at once that If he was
not a most glorious liar l had a great
scoop, and went in to examine the sub
iect The house he pointed out was a
long brick and situated a few doors from
the custom house and in the same block.
The idea of man smuggling brick
house into this country, and that. too,
under the very nose of the customs col
lectOr, began to be very funny to me, and
] went al it with great deal of interest.
/ found that as matter of fact the owner
of the house had been doing business in
Mexico, which was some ten or fifteen
feet away and that he had concluded to
move over under the waving folds of
old Glory. He could not sell the house
at profit, and did not care to build an
other, so he simply tore it down and
moved the whole outfit, goods and all,
into the United States. The goods went
through the custom house all right, but
the secondhand house was carried over
without notice.
"Well, ] seized the house and put it in
the hands of newly appointed inspector
that had been discovered on a ranch, and
who was not familiar with the CONNER
cial terms l told him to take care of the
house. but not TO interfere with the
stock When he came to report to me
next morning he said that the house was
still there, but that he couldn't find anv
stock except three ducks and two pigs in
the back yard. 1 collected the duty on n
whole house, and that is all my fellow
servants can accuse me of having done
wrong in the way Of work that remuner-
ates the government"