The morning news. [volume] (Savannah, Ga.) 1887-1900, 1896-02-23
SMUGGLERS' TRICKS.
STRANGE DEVICES TO EVADE PAY
MENT OF DUTY.
She Had Diamonds I'm Her Teeth-A
valuable String of Bends-The
Dutch Beer and IFS BuIIOck-How
shafras Carried the orion gem.

Shafras Carried the orion Gem.
From the Boston Traveller.
One OF the cleverest tricks of the dla-
mond smuggler was that OF hiding dia-
monds I'm artificial teeth The smuggler.
in this case, generally a woman, wore a
set OF fasle teeth made especially for the
purpose. Each tooth was hollow. and I'm
IL could be hidden a good-sized stone.
the hole being neatly closed with cement.
For a long time this method was sue
cessfully employed. but like every other
II was eventually discovered. A steward
ess, who was somewhat curious as TO the
reason for the repeated visits OF a GER
tain lady to Europe. one day discovered
in that ladys berth broken tooth which
was exceedingly hollow and fragile. on
her speaking about il the passenger look
ed greatly embarrassed. but at length re-
piled that her dentist had cheated her
with an inferior article. Convinced thar
all was not right. however. the steward
ess mentioned the circumstances to a Gus
tom house officer. with the result that at
the conclusion OF her next trip the lady
was requested to remove her artificial
teeth. Remonstrance was In vain, and.
upon examination. six valuable stones
were found and duly confiscated.
Another methOd employed by lady SNUG
slers was TO secrete precious stones In
the heels OF their slippers. the heels be-
ing made hollow for the purpose. This
TICK was discovered by a steward, who.
Tor a consideration, made the secret
known to the customs officers.
II would be difficult indeed 10 mama arv
article of clothing or travelling geor ,I,a.
mas not at some time or other been ern
PIoyeu by the amateur or professional
SlnussIer, Umbrellas, canes. crutches.
ana hair brush handles, cakes OF soaD
boot heels, garters, all have had their dav
anu ana gong; have taxed the Ingenuity OF
ing on his illegal trade. In snite OF TIE
WatchIulness of the authorities. III Is cal
culateu uhat at least 5000 600 worth of
precious stones are smugEled into the
United States every year wv
ferhaps as clever a trick as anv of
uneh ana certainly one calculated to
ia1e foe eIi1 oiIicer who found it out too
iiaI S leel badly, was that employed bv "A
iiauy PASSENGER on one of the Atlantic
bposts' Would you please hold my
bsIGs ne moment while my husband
70 the custom house officer. ''He will
De very good II you viii shake hts rattle -
tba s,, a kih9-hearted man and a. father.
t inc oIheer did as requested, and good
humoredly employed the rattle 10 The
great delight of the little one. Little ala
ne NJ, thiIlk however that the rattle in ques-
tion' which fastened by a ribbon, was
tied TO the child's waist, Contained quite
number of choice diamonds. Here yvas
TICK that succeeded by its very sim
Another case is recorded wbere a
cleEer female attired in the costume of
"a a. SISTER OF Mercy was passed over by
worth examining. She possessed how
ever line string of beads. which
HSitn downcast eyes, she kept telling.
Sate on land, she was affectionatelv wei
coined by two persons dressed In cos
tunes similar to her own. IL came ont
i has tn nat she was smuggler, and that
neI pedqs were so constructed that each
carats. VI es"e
Another, ingenious individual hit upon n
pan or placing few precious stones in
a toy kaleidoscope. which had been given
10 enid. who carried IL ashore In safety
An An extensive system of diamond SNUG
glnB was a few years ago carried on
across the Canadian border by rho ali
OF homing pigeons. The discovery Of this
Hllcll trade was made accidentally bv n
farmer, VINO haDDended to shoot one OF
the birds. On examining It. ne found fas
tened 10 its leg a quill containing n num-
yer OF diamonds. A clue being thus OBJ
ldlheu, the pigeon DroDrietOrs were hunt
ed up, and their mode of business ntit
an end TO. They had been Smuggling info
the states In this fashion hundred gems
But the ingenious snuggler f. not a,,-
clusively an American product Tht i'm
mense gains to be made by successful
Of
az countries. The story is related Uf a
Dutch Boer. who. after leaving cafnp
was followed by. couple of officers, who
suspected that he had several diamondS
in his possession. He saw his DursueIs corn,
ing, and, knowing that he would he over
taken and searched, he deliberately shot
I In Oa MN DuIlocks. When they came up
mem that the creature had broken its leg
ana Tor that resaon he had killed 1t. They
Ind1e careful search OF the man and his
found n fnF Id
sooner We're the officers out of sight. how
ever, than the Boer dug the diamonds
1 1 OF g tne body OF the bullock. where he
had 1red them from his rifle. Costly bull
let's, truly.
One of the most interesting Smuggling
STORES s res, OF TIE old world is that concerning
the OrIon diamond. In its rough state this
magnificent gem formed the eye of an Idol
in a temple near Trichinopoli 1t was stol-
en- Dy frenchman. who escaped with
ms pr1ze to Persia, and who, fearful of
peing discovered, was glad to dispose of
his ill-gotten gear for two thousand pounds
sterling. AFTER passing through several
bought it for twelve thousand pounds
Sha1ras decided TO carry 1t to Europe
where he believed he would get the stolen
prineely sum for It. But how to get the
stolen diamond there safely was a grave
question. IT was too large to swallow and
no mode Of concealment presented itself
to Shafras that seemed secure from discoV-
cry. At length, however he hit upon a
plan. He made a deep incision In the fieshv
part OF his left leg, and inserted the stone
therein, closing the wound carefully by
sewing 1t uD with silver thread When
the wound was healed the Armenian start
ed off, and, although several times appre-
hended, searched and even tortured he
reached his destination with the stone still
in his possession He then opened the
wound, removed the diamond and offered
1t to the Empress Catherine for forty thou
sand pounds. Just then, however. that la
dy could not afford such costly purchase
so the diamond went to Amsterdam where
it was bought by Count Orloff, who later
presented IL to his royal mistress the en-
press just mentioned
The smuggling Of expensive laces was
also at one time carried on most extern
sively not only across the Atlantic but
over the frontiers Of Europe. In this con-
nection an amusing story is told as fol-
lows: A Belgian bridegroom, being about
to start for Paris on his honeymoon tour,
was informed by the bride that she
thought OF concealing several thousand
francs worth of lace about her, hoping
by its sale to defray the cost of their
journey. The bridegroom was not struck
by this frugal project, and pointed ont
that there were custom house officers
and female searcher at Ercquelines, who
were given to searching passengers for
dutiable goods. The bride was not afraid