The times., 1899-08-25
oPION FOR THE ISLANDS
Quantities of the Drug Struggled
into Honolulu.
The Treasury Department. Has In
formation That 1t Was Shipped
From San Francisco in CoaI Oil
Cases and There Are Runners of a
Ring Organized to Evade the Law

The Treasury Department has a SNUG
Cling sensation on its hands. The s.ory
comes from San Francisco that either the
| bark S. G. Wilder or the Albert. of Will
lams Dimond e Co.'S Honolulu line is
suspected of having carried unknown ID
the master of the vessel, a large quantity
of opium on its last run to the Hawaiian
Islands. The opium was packed in coal oil
cases consigned to the Hawaiian Hardware
Company by the Standard Oil Company.
Both vessels carried cases of coal oil for
the Hawaiian Hardware Company, and both
reached Honolulu almost at the same time
They were still in port when purchaser
of two cases of what purported to be oil
represented to the police that his boxes
each contained fifty pounds of opium. A
clerk of the Hawaiian Hardware Company
who made the sale was put under arrest,
but no proof of criminal intent could be
found against him, and the case fell
through. The customs officers, In the hope
of discovering the smuggling ring, kept
the matter as quiet as possible. and scarce
ly word leaked out concerning it until
the return OF the two barks to San Fran
cisco.
Rumors of the existence of a gigantic
opium smuggling ring are rife. officers OF
the Albert and S. G. Wilder are of the
opinion that many of the cases that their
vessels carried and which were supposed
| to contain kerosene were really filled with
| opium, which reached the Honolulu end
of the smugglers' ring through statesmen OF
| the Hawaiian Hardware Company. An
other explanation of the manner in which
| the opium was delivered to those inter
| ested in the traffic is that the agents OF
| the smugglers bought of the hardware
company only those cases that were pri-
yately marked and without the co-lu5ion of
| the statesmen. Whatever the scheme of the
smugglers, it is certain that at least two
| of the cases fell into the wrong hands 50
| that a partial exposure was brought about
There is scarcely a clew as to the iden-
! tity of the smugglers at this end of the
! line, but ii is thought not improbable that
] some employees of the Standard Oil Com
pany were concerned. The substitution of
! the opium filled cases, however, for those
! containing kerosene might have been made
! on the wharf at San Francisco, where the
! two packets were loaded by persons moi
! connected with the Standard Oil Company.
but who were familiarly known to watch
men and employees of Williams, Dimond G.
| Co. ON that wharf. According to freight
clerk whose business takes him along that
part of the front large number of the
cases of coal oil which the S. G.. Wilder
| loaded on June for her last trip We're
permitted to lie on the wharf over night
| in violation OF the State law The primed
cases could easily have been substituted for
| the others on that night.
/ Shipping Clerk o. C. Benjamin, who saw
| to the loading OF the Wilder, received on
June zoe cases of kerosense from the
| Standard Oil Company He noticed at
once particular thing about the marking
| OF the cases which for time somewhat
! aroused his suspicious They were marked
| 'tHaw. Hard. Co." while the customary
marking TO that company and that used
| invariably before by the shipper of the
! Standard Oil Company was H., followed by
| H., enclosed in a diamond before the word
Company" In his opinion these cases
were marked by some one other than the
regular shipper Of the oil company. Two
| other cases of caps" each of the size of
| the oil cases, had on them the same unu-
sual marking. These were consigned by
| c. A. Haight and were also received on
June g.
/ Captain Jackson of the Wilder and Cap
| tain Griffith of the Albert say that they
are entreiy ignorant OIL the manner IN
I which the smuggling was carried out They
reported to their agents, Shaeffer & Co.
| and H. Hackfeld, and on their representa-
| tion no investigation was made by the
! ships agents
This daring piece CT wholesale SNUG
! Cling has been reported to the Treasury
| Department and it is said that officers will
endeayor to get at the bottom of the mat
/ ter. There is much comment on the fact
that the customs officials at Honolulu over
looked so rich haul.