The record-union., 1898-12-30
AN INNOCENT SMUGGLER.
Diamonds Brought in by an Un-
suspecting Passenger.

They were talking about the $6O,OOO
diamond smuggling case, and many
curious, bold and humorous cases of
a similar nature were recalled. One
man who does odd jobs at detective
work in the large department stores
in the fall and winter seasons. and
has similar work in one of the Sara
toga hotels in the summer, was an
interested listener until all had told
their stories, and then, taking the half
smoked cigar from his mouth, said:
4 know of big case in which the
man who got the 'stun past the GUS
toms officers was ignorant Of the crime
and never made a cent by the opera
ton
1T is we'll known that nearly all the
big custom-h house seizures are the re-
suit of tips given by enemies of the
smugglers. Letters with either no sig
nature or with manufactured names
are sent to the customs authorities
with the information that John Smith
or Mary Jones, passengers on a GER
tain vessel, should be watched for dia-
monds, dress goods, laces or some other
valuable article which Smith or Jones
will try to get through without paying
"a
that kind was received. and on the
arrival of the steamer the man was
seen and his baggage was carefully
searched. He had declared a few Swiss
watches and some other articles Of
jewelry, but denied having anything
else, and the cloest search failed to
reveal anything further
"A few weeks later 1 heard the Sc
0IlRI 10 the md hot
/ met a man whom 1 have known for
years, who told me that he came over
on the same ship with diamond
smuggler, and that he had helped do
the job, and the fact worried him.
We had taken the pilot aboard
the man said, and everybody was
making preparations for landing. 1
had only a small trunk in my cabin
which was soon packed, and 1 went on
deck to get a glimpse of the papers
brought on by the pilot One of our
passengers, an elderly German, whom
l had met often in the course of the
trip, and who was known on board
for his fondness for pinochle and his
queer English, sidled up to me, and
we remained together most of the time
until we went ashore. Just as we were
going he handed me a couple of canes
and an old umbrella and asked me to
carry them ashore because he had "zu
much baggage
" Our baggage was examined. and
when we reached the place beyond the.
custom house line l happened to think
that had left the canes and umbrella
behind. l ran back and found them
on the floor in a baggage heap, the
uI0 Dr0IIA litf1a hof
ing than it had been. AS we parted
my German friend handed me one of
the canes and said: Bring dot to my
hotel und l show you something's" and
he gave me the name of a hotel in
Fourth avenue much frequented by
Germans. A few days later I called
there and saw the man. He was in
high spirits, glad to see me and to re-
new our friendship. He told me that
he would leave town the next day. but
would look me up when he came again.
had already said good-by when my
host happened to remember that he
wanted to show me something" and
he went to a corner of the room and
brought out the battered umbrella
He unscrewed the little ivory
handle and showed me that the rod
was tube. Then he took from an
inner pocket a leather wallet opened
it and took out a number of tissue
paper parcels, each one of which con-
tanned a number of diamonds. The
winks and smiles of the willy German
told the rest, and I knew that l had
carried ashore and came dangerously
near losing a big consignment of con-
traband goods
"A long time afterward it became
we'll established in customs circles that
the man with the Swiss watches and
the man with the rickety umbrella
were one and the same, and that de-
spite the information given to the Gus
toms department the goods came in
free of duty.''-New York Tribune