Omaha daily bee., 1896-05-23
SMUGGLING ON THE BORDER
Vain Efforts to Stop the Illegal Traffic from
Canada.
TRAPS SET ON THE DIAMOND TRAIL
Operations OF Noted SmuEElcrs Who
Have Escaped ConNiction-A
Revenue Officers Chase in
the Maine woods.

days ago Alvin S. Strasburger a Maiden
Lane diamond dealer, who was charged with
attempting to bribe James II. Heffernan, a
| United States deputy collector of customs.
stationed at Montreal. The dismissal of the
charge relates the New York Sun, was
made entirely upon the weakness of the tes-
tmony offered by the complaining witness,
and the failure of the case marks one more
futile effort in the endeavor that United
States treasury agents have been making for
over twelve years to prevent the flooding OF
the country with emuggled jewels by way Of
what has become known to them as THE
! Great Diamond Trail"
| The failure of Heffernans case caused not
a little amusement among the older govern
ment agents. nearly all of whom have had
experience with this line Of frauds upon the
| customs revenue, and nearly all of whom
have seen their best laid plans for the cap
ture of smugglers 60 wrong. Hefternan, who
! is stationed at Montreal for the especial pur-
| pose of protecting the customs revenue on
| the northern frontier, became convinced that
| a man named Baxter, who was making ire
| quent trips between Montreal and this city,
| was engaged in diamond smuggling. He
| followed Baxter to this city and to the
| place Of business Of Louis Strasburger d
| Co.. dealers in diamonds at 16 Maiden Lane.
| There he saw Baxter take from his pocket
| wallet containing twenty-five ullt'Sl uldllphuS'
| This wallet the officer possessed himself Of,
but he did not arrest Baxter. 1t was at this
point Heffernan says, that Strasburger
| offered him a bribe of 800 to settle the
! matter. The officials testimony was so un-
| satisfactory that Commissioner Shields dis
| charged Straeburger and doubts are eX
pressed whether the stones seized by Heffer-
| nan can be held
| An occasional brilliant seizure of smuggled
Jewels by treasury officers always gets into
| .l,a hn oil
| selGom hear of-yet the records OF the
| Treasury department are full of the history
| of months and even yeats spent by the
| brightest of the government agents in ehorts
| to catch and convict diamond smuggers,
and nearly every case has ended exactly as
| this latest enieavor OF Henfernan's. For
years thousands Of dollars worth of gems
| have come into the United States without
paying duty, and by far the greatest number
| have come by way of Plattsburgh. Govern
| ment agents have devoted thousands of dol
| lars and their best energies to trapping
smuggle,s only to fail, and today the older
agents fight shy of detail to this class Of
| work. and lock upon attention to II as time
| thrown away. To the younger men in the
| service there IS always a temptation to take
up this work. In addition to the glory of
making a brilliant capture the se!z:ng officer
| gets 25 per cent Of the value of the goods
| seized when theyt.are forfeited and sold.
| Diamonds are staple and when sold at
auction generally fetch somewhere near their
value Urged by these considerations the
| officers new to- the service enter upon their
investigations with ardor and zeal, only to
| find themselves up against insurmountabe
| obstacles at the end.
| The key to the whole situation is found in
| the fact tina; diamonds are on the free list
| of the Canadian tariff schedule. Under the
| Canadian customs regulations the importer
| is presumed to make a declaration of his
| imports. whether free otherwise, but this
/ rule isSnot rigidly enforced as regards goods
| free of duty and many importers of precious
| stones take advantage of this laxity. The
| diamond dealers in this city have brokers
| in London Paris Vienna and Amsterdam
who purchase for them regularly. By far
| the greatest number OF the purchasing
houses are located in Paris. Dealers in this
city who make business of eVading the
| customs laws and the duty have a regular
| system of running their goods into the
| country. The jewels are sent 10 Montreal
| by parcel post and held at the postofce
until called for. There the, agent of the
| purchaser or consignee in this city secures
| them and takes what seems to him the best
| and safest method of running them across
| the border. In the long run the smugglers
| have found the shortest and most direct
| route the safest, although they must run the
| gauntlet of the custom house at Patts-
| burgh and of late years the customs force
| on the New York frontier has been greatly
| strengthened. In ten years there have not
| heen a half dozen notable seizures of gems
|
| States.
In 1856 the treasury authorities made a
| determined effort to stop this smuggling OF
| diamonds by way of the Montreal postoffice
| and the Canadian, customs officials extended
to this government every aid In their power.
| The case was placed in the hands of Special
| Agent F. ID. Howells now dead who was
| then stationed at Plattsburgh. He was a
| big, broad-shouldered, energetic fellow of
| great courage and considerable detective
| A cDppial agent attached the New
| York Office with a wide acquaintance among
| Maiden Lane jewellers was detailed to work
| up the case in this city. One diamond i'm
| porting firm with branches in London and
! Paris was then doing an extensive business
| in precious stones and underseli.ng its COM
! Detitors. Reputable importers who paid their
duties suffered greatly from the competition
| of firms which smuggled half their stock
and evaded the 10 per cent duty, and they
| were always willing to aid the government
| with any information obtanabe. From these
| firms and from special agents stationed in
| Europe information came that the diamond
| firm referred to was consigning large guam
titles of precious stones to Montreal. The
| agent Of the firm was followed to that city
| by Howels, who visited the postoffice and
| saw him receive a package. 1t was con-
| signed to the firm, was declared" and was
| said to contain precious stones valued at
| $4,000
Certain that the agent would leave for
| New York, Howells watched the outgoing
| trains, and entered the sleeper for New
| York attached TO the night express to find
| his man the only other occupant AS the
train left Plattsburgh Howells stepped over
to the agent and demanded the package.
The man, without any appearance Of sur
prise, blandIy denied having any conraband
articles about him. He declined to be
searched however, and dared the special
agent to touch him at his peril. HDwe.ls,
whose resemblance to Grover Cleveland, both
in face and figure, was marked, took the
agent by the shoulders, laid MIN on his
back in the aisle, iand sat on him while he
searched him thoroughly. The man had no
signs of a diamond about him.
Iuarrhed Howels lifted the man to his
feet with the Apst profuse apologies. suit
for damages against the government and
himself stared him in the face. Strangely
enough, the agenl accepted the apologies
without further protests and did not pursue
the case Later II was learned that the firm
had been advised, Of Iowels movements by
an employe OF the Montreal p0stofice, and
the agent had passed the package of stones
to another man, who had carried them to
Windsor crossed the river, and shipped them
by express from Detroit to this city.
For eighteen months work on these cases
was continued without diminishing the influx
Of smuggled stones. Two or three arrests
and seizures were made, but the impossi-