Pine Bluff daily graphic., 1897-09-26
IN BICYCLE TIRES.
The Latest Devtce of SmuggIers to Beat Revenue Officers.
 ICopyright. 1S97.l

 The Latest Device of smuggIers to
 Beat Revenue Officers.
 Copyright. 1S97l
 The smugglers' latest aid in amass- ing wealth by cheating the revenue officers of their due is the bicycle Those who haunt the border between Belgium and France have attained a worldwide notoriety by reason of their | audacity and the extraordinary num- Der of novel devices they have brought to bear on the alert officials of the French republic, and their latest scheme fully sustains their reputation for originality and nerve.
 The price of pepper in France is so outrageously high, in consequence of the enormous duty exaeted before it can be brought into the country, that poor people have almost ceased to know what pepper is, and even the moderately well-to-do Frenchman is to great extent compelled to strike it from his list of condiments. It is not l to be wondered at, therefore, that the smuggler of the Belgium border has come to regard smuggling pepper as an art of no less importance tlIsn smuggling diamonds, and the custdanS officers on the border are always ou the lookout for suspicious-l looking packages that may contain the valu- able table accessory. MA
 For some time past it had H2sN known that pepper was being sm gled into the country in large quantf4 l fiaS and many oIaporoc ware raoda ;,, consequence among the officers on the border, number of whom were sus- pected of being in collusion with the rogues. This unjust suspicion led the revenue officials to concentrate their energies on the detection of these pep per smugglers; but still the smuggling went merrily on, and would probably be going on to-day were it not for the fact that an unlucky accident hap pened few weeks ago and gave the whole snap away.
 The road that leads across the bor- der between Belgium and France is oyerrun with bieyelists, who are al- ways carefully searched for contra band goods before they are permitted to enter France The bicycIists have been rather under the ban all along, for much smuggling has been done by these up-to-date travellers. In one of these wheelmen watchful official re- gently recognized a well-known sus- pect. He made him dismount and put him through a rigid examination, with the result that not an ounce of in- eliminating goods could be found upon 1 him.
 The supposed smuggler smiled good naturedly during the examination, and bantered the revenue man on his idle suspicious; and the latter was begin ming to get angry over the non-success of his attempt when something hap pened that changed the expression of both mems faces. It was then the wheelman's turn to look dismayed, and that of the officer to laugh. What had happened was this: The lively lads who reside along the border between France and Belgium are as much given to playing practical jokes as are any youths the world over; and it was one of these who had caused the change in the situation by prodding the tire of the bcyclist' s wheel. The tire exploded with 6 loud report-and lol instantly the air was fileed with achoking, blind ing, pungent dust which the revenue officer had no difficulty in recognizing as pepper of the strongest kind. The smuggler tried to escape while they were clearing their eyes of pepper, but was seized.
 An examination of the other tire showed that it also was stuffed full of pepper; and the revenue people quick ly realized that this must have been the way in which they had been de- ceived all along. But as one of them remarked: "Who would have thought of looking for smuggled goods in bicycle tire?'
 All that day the officers were kept busy compelling bicyclists to defate the tires of their wheels, and immense was the contraband stock seized be- fore the day was over. 1t had been practice for the smugglers to ride across the border daily with tires stuffed full of the highest priced pep per, and had it not been for the mis- chievous boy who simply wished to make supposedly innocent tourist shoulder his wheel and walk, the smug- glers would still have been working their clever game As it is, the reve- nue officers, while congratulating themselves on having spiked another gun, are saying to one, another: What will they get up next?"
 Comradeship of Miners.