Kansas City journal. [volume] (Kansas City, Mo.) 1897-1928, 1897-12-19
Smarter THIN Detectives.

How the man howled as the officers told
him they would have to disturb The wound:
The pain would Ice 50 great that ne fnlSnt
not be able TO bear il. II" survived, now
ever, and he appeared much dlSSruhtled
when the gems dropped out and no wound
whatever was found.
game was so apparent that, of course. he
couldn't make any explanation, rs most
of them try TO do. The stones Went to the
appraisers office 10 be examined. when.
curious TO relate. they Were discovered 10
he glass and absolutely worthless. Then
the man was discharged. and he had the
laugh on the officials.
What was the matter? Why, the fellow
was simply a little smarter than the de-
t~e"tives. He had learned before he sailed
that they suspected him, and he put up this
trick 10 save himself. The real diamonds
he passed through 10y means of a confed-
crate. and to this day the customs author
flies never found who did it.
You have heard Of the old tricks. such
IS concealing stones in boot heels, In the
ends OF walking sticks or umbrellas, in
oranges. in the hair. in the mouth, ana
sewing them in different parts of ones
clothing. Sometimes they put the stones IN
sandwiches and bottles of wine and other
contents Of lunch baskets.
Diamonds in Fruit Cake.
But this isn't always safe. for once a
custom officer, who suspected something
wrong, asked a passenger for some illcn.
stating that he had been on the dock many
hours and hadn't had time TO get anything.
The passenger made a lame excuse. and the
officer made UP his mind that he had
found the colered person, in the fence.
He made a very careful examination of
the contents of the basket. and, sure
enough. he found diamonds cleverly hidden
away in the fruit cake. small pieces OF
cake had been cut out and the stones In
serted. The officer seized the whole has
Ret. and the authorities spent a very prof
itahle hour mining for diamonds under the
most favorable conditions.
LAS for smuggling diamonds through
confederates. as the Lasar gems. are re-
ported to have come over. that is neceS-
earily done under Disadvantages. for 1t Is
not always possible to trust confederates-
at any rate not with any quantity of gems
You frequently hear OF b~ltcknailinE meth
DDS being used To make the principal give
up a large profit under penalty of being
exposed. ConfederatcS usually have tn
advantage, for the authorities are general
ly willing to let the informer off In order
10 catch larger prey
1T : easy for customs officials to keel
tai, on the large dealers or importers, FOL
they have means of learning just how
many gems each concern imports. Now. i
an importer shows gems worth $i60.H-i. say
them from some local dealer, they have
good reasons for believing the stones wer
Observation-Disclosures if the gems are of
ferod at prices Il little above the cost an'
duty combined. or If they are dispose
of for le.s than the duty added 10 the act
ual value abroad. They can draw this in
ference from the fact that this countr,
produces 10 diamonds, but all of then
come from abroad.
III Ilt tiilP ll'ie IL pillS blc way ~
avoiding detection. and that is through
brokers who are unwilling 10 give up tlei
PRINCIPALS. But even this trick can not b
practiced long. since the temptation i
strong for the broker to take advantage o
his principal. particularly if the informa
tion is wanted by the federal authorities
But. as / said before. 1t is easy enough I
smugglC diamonds. and il is only 4 ques
tiou with importers whether they prefer t
be honest or dishonest. ] am glad TO sa
thar 10y far the larger number come in tn
former class