The Anderson intelligencer. [volume] (Anderson Court House, S.C.) 1860-1914, 1899-01-25
AN INNOCENT SMUGGLER.

AN INNOCENT SMUGGLER.
Diamonds Brought I'm by an Unsun-
pectinR PaapengeP.
They were talking Of the $50. 900 dia-
mond smuggling case, and many Curl
Ous. bold and humorous cases of eimi-
lar nature were recalled. One II an 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 Saratoga hotels in the sum-
mer was an interested listener until all
had told their stories. aud then, taking
the half smoked cigar from his mouth,
said:
II know Of big case in which the
man who got the stuff past the Gus.
toms officer was ignorant Of the crime
and never made q cent by the operation.
''It ia we'll known that nearly all the
big custom house seizures arc the result
Of tips given by enemies Of the snug
glers. Letters " ith either no signature
or with manufactured names arc sont
&c chs customs authorities with the in
formation that John Smith or Mary
Jones, passenger on a certain vessel,
should bo watched for diamonds, dress
gooda, laces or some other valuable ar
tiole which Smith or Jones will try to
get through without paying duty. Sew
eral years ago letter Of that kind was
received. and on the arrival OF the
steamer tho man was seen and his bag.
gage was carefully searched. He had
declared few Swiss watches and some
ntk &c H,,k
having anything else, and the closest
search failed to reveal anything further.
"A few weeks later beard the sequel
to the story, and that's tho point
met q man whom have known for
years. who told me that no came over
OIL the same ship with diamond SNUG
gler, 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 max
ing preparations for landing. had only
n small trunk i'll my cabin, which was
HOOn packed, and went on deck to get q
glimpse Of the papers brought on by the
pilot. One of our passengers, an elderly
German, whom had mot often in the
course of the trip and who was known
on board for his fondness for penuchle
and his queer English. sided up to me-
and we remained together most Of the
timo until we went ashore. just as we
were going he handed me q couple of
canes and an old umbrella an1 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 happened to think
that had left the canes and umbrella
behind. ron back and found them On
the floor In baggage heap, the umbrel-
Ia a little more battered looking than it
| had been. Az we parted my German
| friend handed me one of the canes and
said, bring dot to my hotel md 1
show you something" and he gave me
tho name Of hotel in Fourth avenue
much frequented by Germans. A few
days later I called there and saw the
man. Ho was i'll high spirits, glad to
sec nae and to renew our friendship.
He told me that he would leave town
the next day, but would look mo up
whom he came again. l had already
said goodby when my host happened to
remember that hc wanted to "show me
sOmothing," and he went to u corner
of tho room and brought ont tho bat
tered umbrella.
! He unscrewnsa the little ivory liRn-
die and showed mo that tho rod was u
tube Then liz took from an inner pocket
Il leather wallet opened it and took out
q number of tissue paper parcels. each
ono of which contained number OF
diamonds. The .ginks and smiles Of the
willy German told tho rest, and i knew
that had carried ashore and como dan.
| gerously near losing a big consignment
of contrabund goods.
'A long time afterward it became
| well established in customs circles that
sha .,.:i. with the Swiss watches and
tho man with tho rickuty umbrella
wcro ono and the samo. and that despite
the information given tu the customs
department. tho goods came in free of
| duty New York Tribune