The morning news. [volume] (Savannah, Ga.) 1887-1900, 1898-12-20

VI CllS OOlu pduy
CALIFORNIA FIG SYRUP co.
SAN FRANCISCO, Cal
LOUISVILLE. Ky. NEW YORK. NY.
o'wars-man in the curio dealing business
| does not rush ashore a Yokohama or
! Kobe or Nagasaki or Hakodate and clean
! out the merchants stalls at one fell swoop-
| Not by a houseful. does he. Before leav-
| ing the United States his list of curio
dealers have provided him with a detailed
] list of just the sort of stuff and how
| much of 1t they want. With this list in
! his pocket, the trading man-O' warsman
! gets shore liberty, and, instead of buying
any of the curios he is commissioned 10
! get in the ports at which his ship lies, ne
! makes up-country trips. In the interior
! towns and cities the curios are about five
times cheaper than they are in the ports,
and this is one of the facts that a man-o'-
warsman of business acumen gets onto at
| the very outset Of his business career.
| Most of the articles he purchases are
small in bulk, and he is able to bring
them off to his ship with comparatively
! little trouble. The sailor who is in the
curio collecting business for profit is gem
orally able TO make arrangements with
! one of the three ships yeomen, who are
1
the slowing of his goods.
! 1t is on the China station that the man
of-war trader picks up the stuff that nets
him the most money. In the interior
! towns of China, Corea and Japan the peo-
pie seem 10 have little appreciation of the
| modern value of superb examples of the
| art of their ancestors, and in search of
| these old specimens the battering sailors,
! who in time become very fair connois-
70 10
ana houses of the inferior people, In this
way they occasionally make prodigious
! finds. In 1898 a man-of- warsman whose
ship was in Corean waters happened upon
a magnificent pair of Corean vases in
Seoul, examples of the ceramic art in that
country of several centuries ago. He
bought them for song and got 81. 500 for
them from dealer when his ship reach
ed New York.
Smuggling by naval sailors returning to
the United States from cruises on the Eu-
ropean station has not been carried on so
largely in recent years as il was when the
Old Wind-jammers, otherwise sailing YES
sells of the United States navy cruised in
| the waters on the other side; yet many a
bluejacket attached to ships on the Med
iterranean station picks up a fairly nice
thing of it by bringing back to the United
| States such stowable goods for instance
90 AhS sims NUN lAy OtlS ana lace from
| Spain. When the Chicago, one of the first
ships Of the new white navy. was the
| flagship of the European station about
a decade ago, a coal passer named Burke
| with a fine eye to business got about n
! dozen of his shipmates to devote their
| savings of the cruise. about 5000 in all
TO the purchase in Barcelona of a lob lot
of hundred and odd fine handmade
black lace mantilas, for which the men
of-warsmen paid about $50 each. Burke
| had no trouble whatever in disposing of
the mantillas at net profit of $50 each
when the Chicago returned TO the United
| States, thus doubling his own and ship
mates savings.
more remarkable case Of naval SNUG
| Cling happened on the European station
about seven years ago An Amsterdam
diamond cutter, who had taken passage
| on an English steamer for the United
| States, only to be turned back when he
! arrived in New York, ON the charge that
| his entrance into this country would be
| in violation of the contract labor law
| thought out a good scheme whereby to
| gain access to this country and at the
same time pick up an honest dollar or two
lie preached his scheme to two or three
! small dealers in diamonds in Amsterdam
| with the result that they risked about SIG
900 worth of gems to his keeping. The dia-
mond cutter went 10 Vnlefranche, where
the u. S. S. Atlanta, which was short
handed on account of numerous discharges
and transfers, was lying and applied for
enlistment as a mess attendant He was
accepted. and with the $4,000 worth of
diamonds on him. he put on the blue
jacket uniform. The Atlanta returned to
the United States about a month later
and the Amsterdam diamond cutter pro-
ceeded to put into play a fine bit of man
of-war malngering. He pretended to be
| hopeessly rheumatic when the Atlanta
was only half way across the Atlantic on
her cruise to New York, and he seemed
such a guileless sort of chap that the
ships surgeons suspicious were MOI
aroused. The diamond cutter was dis
charged for disability soon after the Al
lanta tied up az the Brooklyn navy ward
and he went over the side with SIG con
worth OF stones, that he disposed of for
about 40 per cent profit a couple Of days
after he arrived in New York. He return
cd their proportion Of the profits on the
transaction 10 the Amsterdam diamond
dealers who had intrusted the gems with
him, ana then went on TO Philadelphia to
go TO work at the diamond cutting lob
that was offered TO him when he first tried
to get into the United States I'M the legiti-
male way. The Dutchman had taken "a few
OF his shipmates on the Atlanta into his
confidence when he put his malngerinp
dodge into practice. and the story OF the
game did not gee out untl about a year
ago.
Bluejackots attached 10 ships that have
departed from the Euiicd states FOR Hon
o.uiu have Offen taken heavy chances on
getting Into aii kinds ~ trouble. civil and
military, by smuggling opium 70 tAe aa.