The Norfolk Virginian. [volume] (Norfolk, Va.) 186?-189?, 1896-07-26


cost price in Hong Kong or Victoria, Il.
c.. where 1t Is manufactured. Most OF
the opium smuggled into this country |
is manufactured at Victoria, and 1t nat |
urally gets across she line by the near |
est and most available routes.
Puget Sound, with its many harbors, |
inlets and streams, affords landing
places for all sorts of smuggling vessels !
and its numerous islands, with rocks
and crags and dense woods. offer the
smugglcr safety from pursuit. Not only
do these heavily limbercd localities ar
ford conccalment 10 the Smuggler him
self. but they also enable him To safely
store away his contrahnnd goods when
holly pursued. one Of the most COM
mon receptacles for getting opium
across the line Is the ordinary travellers
trunk. which Is checked as baggage and
generally goes through unsearched.
Satchel and mail parcels of every de-
scription are also made use Of by the
smuggler. and in one instance an old
piano was stripped of it's inner parts
and filed up with cans of opium valued
at $4,000. Even the most innocent-looli-
ing flower pots have been made to serve
the smugglerS.
To a man the Chinese crews on the
steamers plying between San Francisco
and Mexico, South America and China
are smugglers. They hide their con-
traband goods in the oldest places ina
ENABLE and get them ashore past the
eyes of the custom officers In ways that
almost battle detection. They have
brought opium skilfully stuffed in ba-
nanas still hanging to the stalk and in
oranges. a Chinese cook walked ashore
with several ioaves of bread filled with
opium. Chinese have been detected
with boxes of the drug deity bound
in their queues or tied under their
arms. Every bit of baggage and every
article they take ashore is Il hiding
place.
In one invoice of "chow" or chopped
| vegetables over $4,000 worth of opium
was contiscated. and in one lot of
hardware samples" n seizure of the
drug valued at $1,000 was made. AT
| that time Secretary OF the Treasury
Folger was of the opinion that one ring
of smugglers during its existence had
cheated the Government out of more
| than 100000. In one venture a syn
dictate with 100000 capital made $780,
600 n smuggling opium from Vancouver.
and during the trial of smuggling case
! in San Francisco, ii United States Urea
| sury officer testified that during the pre-
vious ten years over 900 worth of
opium had been struggled into San
| Francisco.
The Chinese resort to all manner of
devices down to false heels and soles
to their shoes. Some time ago $500
| worth was seized in the hump" of an
oilSGcu nullpDdCk. n customs boat Is
nearly always stationed under the
wharf during the stay of China
steamer. and from time to time the of
hcers see planks, pieces of scantlinE
and tins with floats waiting boatman to
pick up. When seized they nearly al
WAYS prove devices for smuggling in
the costly opium. The planks and
scantlings have lang auger holes bored
| in them: these are filled with the drug
and then carefully plugged up. Jnno-
cent looking boards are taken from n
steamer and laid carefully to one side
on the wharf. They are not there lonr.
| for presently some watchful eve has
discovered them and they are quickly
'sneaked off" These are likewise full
! of opium. One of these dummy plank;
-FOUR inches thick by fourteen wide ar
| ranged TO contain several hundred dol
| lars worth of the drug is preserved in
the Surveyors office al San Francisco
opium has been discovered i'm the
hollow iron stringers of steamers. in the
| false bottoms 10 the chain lockers and
the hollow OF the iron masts. Opium
| has been covered with oil cloth and
| slowed away in the ships bilEc. II has
! been found in the tubes of the boilers
| inside the vessels skin. and II has been
| brought ashore in pockets on the per-
! son and in hats upon the head. 1t has
peeh discovered behind panels in the
staterooms, in partitions, strung up in
| sausage skins. in table legs in false bot :
toms. in cuddy holes and pantry draw
ers: In coal bunkers and under engines
and boilers. in the folds of extra sails
| In the Storage stateroom. in barrels of
| picked salmon. in mats or rice and in
| every nook and corner of the vessel.
| Recently. when one of the large
steamers was on the dock for repairs
numbers of mattresses were thrown on
the wharf with the apparent intent OF
! letting them air They were discover
] ca 10 pc STUFFED with some of the finest
| silks that had come into that port
| me Government was defrauded out OF
more than s250.000 by firm who had
| toweling."
| ALONG THE CANADIAN BORDER.
Smuggling As not confined TO the Allan.
TIC anc Pacific coasts but extends ali
along the Canadian border. The SNUG.
6hns OF clothing, silks. jewelry, whisky