St. Paul daily globe. [volume] (Saint Paul, Minn.) 1884-1896, 1895-08-18


the opium and putting blocks of wood
into the cans. This was found out
before the trial. Had it not been so,
the ex-ofiicial would have said that.
they should open the cans in court,
and upon the wood being discovered
the story of his being a bogus SNUG,
gler fer the sake of his detective
scheme would have scanned true and he
would probably have escaped. An
other case of a customs official becom-
ing corrupt was that of a. man named
Gardner, who was acting as chief in.
spector in the Port Townsend dis.
trict, when four trunks came into Seat
tie checked to Portland. The inspec-,
tor at Seattle suspected that they
contained opium, and he telegraphed
ahead that they should be detained.
This man was a subordinate of Gard
ner's, and Gardner, hearing of this
telegram, went on ahead and took
charge of the trunks on the ground
that he was the chief inspector and
had the right to do so. He took these
trunks back to Tacoma and secretly
sold the opium, and then reported to
the department that the boxes found
in the trunks had no real opium, but
only dummy packages of tar. 1t is es-
timated that there was $4,000 worth
of the drug In the trunk. Gardner
was finally removed from office. He
continued his smuggling in a private
capacity and was eventually arrested
and sent to prison. A great deal of
opium is brought in by Cinnamon.
Nearly every laborer who is struggled
into the United States brings more or
less opium, and Cinnamon aid the
smugglers on this side of the border.
Opium is sometimes hidden in the coal
of the ships which land at San Fran
cisco and other points along the coast.
1t is brought in the bottoms of trunks
and in many other ways.
NAVAL OFFICERS SMUGGLERS.
am told that a great many things
are brought into the United States by
naval officers. They are classed as per-
sonal effects, and they are not as a
rule offered by the officials for sale,
though such cases. have been known.
Not long time ago a merchant YES
sci was sent by the navy department to
Havana to bring back to the United
States some shipwrecked sailors. While
there the officers in charge bought
so many of them that they corded
them up in a great pile on the deck
and over this pile they threw a lot of
old sailcloth. When the customs Of
ficers appeared and asked them if they
had any dutiable goods on board the
naval officers pointed to this pile and
said it contained cigars. They laughed
as they did so, and the customs officers
thought that they were being guyed.
They had never seen cigars put up in
that way, and they passed over the
stack of sailcloth without further ex.-
animation.
Liquors have been brought into Can
ada by naval officers, and one Of the
revenue marine corps told me once of
an experience which he had at Hall
fax. He had gone into a large liquor
store, and the man had offered him
some very cheap cigars and showed him
samples of fine wines, liquors and bran
dies. AS he tasted them the merchant
said, "Of course, you want to load up
here with Scotch whisky and Hennessy
brandy. You can get the goods here
for half what they will cost you in the
United States. We are are doing a
big trade with the navy. A number of
your ships have called here, and 1 have
sold the officers large orders" My
friend of the revenue marine said
that this was against the law, and that
he could not take goods into the United
States in that way. The merchant was
much surprised, and he had evidently
been doing a large business with the
navy.
A SMUGGLED DRESS.
1t is not often that our American con-
suls try to rob Uncle Sam, but they do
it now and then. Some years ago a
United States senator was caught
smuggling. His son was vice consul at
one of the interior towns in Germany,
and he had sent in the state department
mail bag a package to his father,
which was supposed to contain papers.
The treasury department had been
troubled with petty smuggling, and in
some way this package came under the
eyes of one of the special agents
abroad. He wrote to the state depart
ment and asked if it could be examin-
ed. The senator was notified when the
package arrived, and he went to the
department for it. He was told that
there had been question raised as to
the contents of the package, and that
it must be opened at the department.
He stormed and protested. The clerk
in charge, however, quietly opened the
package in spite of his objections, and
then held up before the senator's eyes
about thirty yards of the finest black
gros-grained silk. The senator at once
subsidized He became as meek as a
lamb, and allowed the silk to be sent
on to New York for appraisement
The duty was high at that time, and he
i ILL
dress. The matter was kept quiet, and
it came to me through one Of the old
officials, who was connected with the
state department at the time.
FRANK C. CARPENTER,