Edgefield advertiser. [volume] (Edgefield, S.C.) 1836-current, 1900-02-14
4 SMUGGLERS REFUGE,
THE RENDEZVOUS FOR NORTH AMER
tcA is, ON FRENCH sr. PIERRE.


The Isle or the Southern Coast of New
foundiand Is the Nesting Place. for the
Boldest Contrabandists on Earth :
Some OF Their Ruses.
Twelve miles off the southern coast
Of Newfoundland is the smugglers'
rendezvous of North America. st.
Pierre and Miquelon, little islands,
the largest of which is not more than
three by FIVE miles, long ago ceded to
{ the French by the British, are as COM
pletely different from the rest of the
world as if they were in Mars. To
this antiquated, unknown, isolated
Z haven the most utter anchorite or
abandoned criminal might resort with
positive certainty of being as COM
Z pletely. cut off from modern existence
as if buried in sepulchre. The
Z agents of foreign governments are not
tolerated in ST. Pierre-the capital
and only town of the islands-none
{ of the great liners call there, and ex-
! cept for fishing schooners, 5here may
be said to be no traffic between this
! and other ports. That does not inn
ply, however, there is no traffic at st.
Pierre; but her peculiar traffic is of
the kind that shuns known harbors,
sneaks into hidden coves of the New
England, Canadian and Newfound-
land coasts, and there, under cover of
darkness, deposits cargo in such
strange places as graveyards, church
vaults and stable lofts. Nominally,
st. Pierre is the radiating point for
the French fishing feet that yearly
comes ont 10000 strong to ply for
cod on the Grand Banks until Octo-
Der; in reality, st. Pierre is the nest
ing-place for the most arrant snug
glers on the face of the earth.
Four days from New York via
Halifax, or few hours run from
some of the southern harbors of New
foundland-if one be lucky enough to
get a Passage in chance schooner
crossing from Burin-the three
islands, st. Pierre, furthest north.
; Great Miquelon and Little Miquelon,
or Langdale, are picturesque enough
to be an artists pan adise. The rocky
shore rises sheer out of the sea, naked
and frowning, from 600 to 1000 feet.
There is Lo sign of life, rs approach
ing boats almost Craze the iron wall,
till the prov pokes round some rocky
elbow, narrow vista, between beet
ling crags appears, and beyond is
mass of motionless masts. A grizzled
French pilot, with brass earrings and
bright tawdry smock, Chambers up the
side of the visiting steamer and guides
her to mid-harbor, where, in addition
to three-masted and two-masted
schooners, to briggs and barks, to
skifs and dories and fishing smacks
of every sort and size, may be seen
French men-of-war sent out to enforce
French claims on the treaty shore.
Z The town nestles on q scooped- out
saucer of land on the steep hill side.
The houses of the quaint, narrow
streets are close built, often white
washed inside and out low-raftered
and always gay with boxes of flowers
along each window-sill. From the
street one may catch glimpses of high,
old-fashioued canopied beds against
the inner walls. Everywhere are
slight-hearted Breton, Basque or Nor
man girls, pattering about in wooden
shoes, washing clothes at the banks
of some stream; or carrying baskets
of fish on their heads. Faggot gath
erers toll up narrow, steep paths to
their matchbox cottages, while the
Basque peasants ox-cart creaks in
mid.road, keeping time with the
monotonous sallez- allez- marchez
done of the men plodding behind.
"A French gendarme, distended with
pompous importance aud gorgeous in
costume of red, blue and gold, struts
about keeping order among the blue
;bloused sailors who slouch in and out
of the numerous rumshops.
What are known in ether parts of
the world as modern conveniences are
unknown in st. Pierre. Instead of
fire department, st. Pierre employs
old-fashioned curfew; and her curfew
is rub-a-dub of drum nightly
beaten by the town crier for all lights
out at 10 p. m. The American head
quarters of the French Cable Co. are,
indeed, the only reminder of modern
progress to be found in st. Pierre.
When 1000: vessels of the Grand
Banks feet from France invade the
little harbor every spring, and 10000
foreign fishermen, speaking strange
jargon and careless of their conduct,
fill the town to overhowing, it re-
quires all the pomp of the law in the
gendarme's person; as we'll as the au-
thority of the silent, .black-robed
priests, to maintain the peace. With
out the Bank feet, st. Pierre num-
bers population of only 5000. Never
theless, merchants retire with for
tune'o many million francs. "c.anu-
lated within few years, and the rea-
son for this is the strange traffic
which st. Pierre plies.
Boats havo been known to pass out
of st. Pierre with two masts showing
and white sails flying. Passing some
point on the south shore of New
the same boat might dis
play three masts and yellow sails,
while up the Gulf of st. Lawrence only
Two masts might be visible and the
sails black. Should such chameleon
change of complexion excite the curl.
osity of some revenue officer, he
might search the schooner from stem
TO stern without finding anything but
. few quintalsof cod; and if he did
not prove unpleasantly inquisitive
with the skipper, there might possibly
be complimentary flask of liquor
left at his door by an unknown hand
that same night. The revenue officer,
however, who knows the tricks of
st. Pierre craft, prizes into false bulk
heads, fish casks in the hull, and salt
barrels lying promiscuously about the
1ocE. ond ho 10 nor, 10 rarordaJ 6~