The Savannah morning news., 1900-12-30
TRACING DIAMOND sMuGGLERs
How the Treasury Department. Gets
Line on This Gentry.

How the Treasury Department. Gets
Line ON This Gentry.
From the New Orleans Times-Democrat.
How IN the world do the officials re,
posted as TO the movements Of diamond
smugglers?'' asked an inquisiuve citizen
OF on old customs Inspector Il read fire.
quently OF them arresting this person and
that at the steamer. and they never seem
20 make any mistake. But how do they
get their tipsg' Does the government
maintain an international spy system es-
pecialy 10 catch that brand OF offend
ors2" "Oh. no." replied the inspector.
laughing I'VE couldn't afford 10 do that;
the American people don't like spies, and
there would be hue and cry at once x
we attempted anything OF the sort on the
Partisan basis. The Information In re-
gard to diamond smugglers comes from
two Sources-tho French police and agents
employed BY the big importers and ex-
porters OF precious stones. The Paris de-
tectlve bureau keeps itself remarkably
well Informed as 10 the movements Of
strangers ia the city and frequently gets
wind o. some projected smuggling scheme.
In such cases word Is at once passed on
20 the American authorities. We often
have a chance 10 return the favor by
furnishing information concerning Crimi-
mails who are wanted abroad, and have
made a point FOR years OF cultivating the
good will OF the French police They are
valuable friends But fhe majority Of
the tips come from private detectives
employed by tho jewelers. All diamond
importers are personally interested in
checking smuggling because 70 intcrfcres
with thcir business.
Years ago 20 many stones we're sSeaked
into the country that they completely de-
moralzed the market and caused a shrink
age Ia values that involved the loss OF
thousands OF dollars. Finally the leglti-
mate dealers got together aud took sys-
temauc steps 10 pus a stop 10 the trafiic.
They employed detectives at Paris, Am
sterdam and other great diamond selling
cities. aud kept one or two % them DON
unualy on the principal steamship lines.
By chat means they soon spread conster-
nation among the professionals and the
scheme was al the more effective because
nobody knew where the information came
from. / remember one man who travelled
back and forth for several years IN the
role OF a buyer for a large dry goods
house He used to let Il be known casu-
ally among his ship-board acquaintance
that he was intending 40 smuggle through
q lot Of costly lace. IL r. Astonishing how
gossip OF that sort travels on board n
liner and also how smugglers will gray
itate together and exchange condolences.
In nine cases out or ten che bogus dry
goods man was soon on familiar terms
with everybody who had a similar scheme
Ia contemplation. and all that remained
was to give the officer the wink when the
vessel reached the dock. He caused the
detention Of lots OF people who rnarveied
az his good luck IN getting through him
self They never entertained the faint
eHt suspicion that he was a detective. An
other very successful agent was a little
French widow. She also posed as a SNUG
gler aud used 10 arrange 10 get caught
now ana then. 60 divert suspicion The
way she wcpt and raved az the Inspectors
was very realistic Both Of those opera
tives are out Of tho business now. but
there are others, ana the system ls SIN
pursued. although Il is not necessary 10
employ IS large a force as formerly pia-
mond smaEgling ne a profession mas prac-
tieslly ceased " exist"