Barbour County index. [volume] (Medicine Lodge, Kan.) 1880-current, 1897-09-29
OPIUM sMUeGLED ON BICYCLES
A New Trick Said to BE Practiced on
the Frontier in North Dakota

| A New Trick Said to BE Practiced on
the Frontier in North Dakota
The smuggling of opium and small
and valuable articles has been carried
on across the international line near
here for many years, and large sums
h;ve been made in the operation OF
late years the United States officials
have been so careful that the business
has greatly languished From reports
along the line it is now evident. how
ever, that new scheme for defrauding'
the government has been put into prac-
tice. 1t requires the aid of the bicycle
in its execution. The frame tubing of
wheel is found by smugglers to be a
most convenient hiding place for small
articles. 1t is very simple matter to
remove the seat post, stop the lower
end of the big central tube with a cork
to which is attached a long string. and
I'LL the space from cork to seat with
opium or other valuables. This space
Will hold several pounds. and the ma
chine can be ridden across the line from
town to town in few hours. and the
profits secured. There is said to be
regular line for this sort of trade be-
tween Crystal City, town on the line
of the Canadian Pacific road, and Wood
bridge and Hannah. along the northern
edge of this county. The receipts of
OPIUM in the county are said to amount
to several hundred pounds a month
Crystal City is the home of Premier
Greenway, of Manitoba. and has been
the seat of long-continued smuggling
transactions by reason of the fact that
it is the nearest point on the Canadian
Pacific line to North Dakota. The con-
struction of line of railway from
Langdon to Hannah and Woodbridge,
and the employment of hundreds of
men at this time. aid materially in pres
ent smuggling operations.
The last unique smuggling operations
carried ON in this section were brought
to sudden end some four years ago
by secret service officials. An unusual
ly large number of cattle were being
driven across the line to the North Da-
kota markets, and the officers deter
mined to investigate the matter. For
some time they looked in vain for I'M
lawful operations, but finally an acct
dent revealed the fact that the nostrils
of the cattle were stuffed with opium
wrapped carefully in tin foil. thus con-
siderably more than doubling the value
OF each steer in the bunch. Hundreds
of animals had been driven across be-
fore the discovery was made. and it was
estimated that some $4,000 had been
made by the transaction. The origin
ators of the fraud got safely away.
The Manitoba government pays very
little attention to the collection of Gus
toms along these exposed boundaries.
and last fall hundreds of farmers living
south of the line. but nearer to the
Canadian Pacific than to any other rail-
road, hauled their wheat and oats across
20 Crystal City and nearby markets for
sale to Winnipeg merchants, and did
not have to pay any import duty to the
Canadians either. The government was
generally supposed to know of the
transactions, but the cost of collection
would have left little profit to the in
terror department, and it made business
for Canadian railroads.-N. Y. Sum