The Madisonian. (Virginia City, Mont.) 1873-1915, 1895-03-02

better. Big schooners sail from the free
haven Of St Pierre richly laden and with
out a port before them.
That is the trick. When they have gone
far enough, and it is dark enough, down
goes the anchor and up goes the q~uietest
of signals. The spot is secluded. The big
schooner rides alone, without a light save
those carried by the most honest merchant
men. But in the night smaller boats come
alongside-sloops, rowboats, any craft of
mail capacity, and which can float in
shallow water. The cargo is distributed
quickly until it becomes 100 cargoes.
Then the big schooner beats back to the
free port Of St. Pierre, and the smaller
craft take their chances of landing where
they may. One or two may be captured
and the cargoes confiscated. The majority
CSC Pc, II the profit on the stuff that is
Inded in safety easily oompensates for the
losses and leaves a handsome margin.
The. chief article struggled there is
liquor. The Canadians, by avoiding the
duty on whisky and alcohol, save an
amount which is sometimes as high as 50
or So a gallon and profit accordingly.
Whisky, cigals and tobacco, too, to-
gether with pre03Ous stones. are the things
which seem most tempting to the frontiers
IiIti III 4Nitlilc dllu AN0N DIuilS lCh. Z
is many a logd of hay that goes over the
border with a big jug of whisky hidden
within. A load of wood or an apparently
empty packing case often serves the same
purpose. From Pa~ssamaquoddy bay the
boundary line runs for 40 miles up the St.
Croix river, thence 80 miles through a
chain Of lakes called the Schedules, so
miles through a sparsoly settled agricul-
tural region, GO miles along the St. John
river, through Lake st. Francis, and then
through a wilderness down to the Now
Hampshire line.
The geography is a temptation in itself.
The old cathedral town Of st. Andrews lies
but two miles from the Maine border, and
a railroad, of which Russell Sage is now
the chief owner, connects it with the ports
of St. John and Halifax, both of which
have steamship connections with England
and are constantly receiving English
goods. Busting Calais, in Maine, faces
st. Stephen, in New Brunswick, with a
toll bridge between them. The towns ex-
change goods with little regard to the rev
enue officials. You may walk over that
bridge, pay the toll, and unless you are
carrying a trunk you pass unquestioned.
So, too, many a man drives a decrepit,
wornout horse across to the Canadian side
and returns, after a proper lingering, with
quite a different animal. The officer at
the gate has forgotten his identity. If he
remembers it, he cannot swear to it prob
ably and credits the vast improvement in
the horse to the b~racing quality of Cana
dian air.
The inhabitants of the island and be
low, of PASSPORT, Luboc and Campobello,
the last a summer resort of growing pOpu-
l-.;t, - -F,a. t,-lo - I,1-A g.-I, -, &c
they are so inclined, and many of them
are.
Farther up country, where the railroads
cross, as at Vanceboro, Me, all baggage
is inspected, or is supposed to be, and yet
you might well wager that you could
carry what you liked in diamonds, silks
or opium out of or into Canada and stand
to win. A revenue man opens our grip,
peers into it, digs down into it perhaps
and overturns a few of the articles it con,
tains, then marks it with a bit of chalk
and is done. What you or the ordinary
immigrant has in his pockets OF in his
hat, his shoes, or his padded garments is
only discovered when the traveller does
something which would arouse suspicion
anywhere under heaven.
or curse if you began to carry great
quantities Of dutiablo goods across the
border they would be noticed and promptly
seized, but no one attempts any such thing,
The traveller smuggles in a small way il
most instances. Only one who is accus
toned to make the journey by rail cal
realize how f~arcical is the examination al
the border.
In the Wilder country which lies where
the border line IS a mere survey line one
does as one pleases there. An example il
the Megantic region, where Morrison, the
Megantio outlaw, SO long detied the au