St. Landry clarion. (Opelousas, La.) 1890-1921, 1901-03-30
oDo SMUGGLING SCHEME.
o-ssonie 0fae;als lFooisd By Cheap Dauos
ov.r Famous Paintings.


ov.r Famous Paintings.
i see igytlse papers, said New
ORLEANS. ait and clrio dealer to re-
porter for the New Orleans Tines
Democrat, that a lot Of paintings
were held ap BY the custom house peo-
pie al New ! York the other day on the
ground that they were genuine old
masters that were being smnggled IN
as cheap copies. OF course, ! know
nothing of the merits Of that particu-
lar case, but I can say from experience
that the game IS old and has been the
basis of some Of the most ingenious
sWindles ever worked on Uncle Sans
inspectors. The man who would at
tempt to bring over one Of the So
called seld masters, or any canvas Of
recognized merit, BY merely changing
its name and attrihuting tito soma
unknown dauber. would certainly be
a very clumsy rascal. The way the
trick IS usually worked is to paint an
entirely new picture over the original
surface. Anyone unaequainted with
! the details would suppose, OF course,
that such a proceeding Would bury the
first painting beyond hope Of resur-
rection; but. when done by an expert,
the top picture can be removed and
! not the slightest trace Of its presence
left behind. But there are other
schemes that are almost.as ingenious,
and that reminds me, by the way, Of
a curious story, that can tell nova
days without harming anybody, as
the principal parties to It are alldead.
Back in-but never mind the exact
date, it was good while ago-an ec-
centric Pole who was a picture dealer
in very small, cheap way, got con-
lsignment Of about two dozen paint
Eings from somewhere in Germany.
| They were all very ordinary canyasses,
about third-rate student work, and
were appraised low; but the Pole was
unable to pay the duty, and went, in
great distress, to dealer friend Of
mine and asked him to take them ont
of the custom house and hold them
for him for 80 days Ny friend didn't.
think the daubs were worth even the
duty, but he felt sorry for the poor
fellow, and did as he was asked. After
that the Pole used to fairly haunt the
storeroom. gazing at the Wretched
pictures in sort of rapture, and as
/ suring the dealer over and over again
that he would have the money ready
at the end Of the stipulated time.
On no account sell one, was the bur-
den of his song, and my friend finally
! become annoyed and told him very
plainly that he proposed to live up to
his agreement, but doubted whether
there was anybody in New Y York who
was fool enough to make him an offer.
At last the Pole appeared with the
cash and took away the collection.
More than a year afterWard my friend
was tastonished to learn that he had
sold several valuable landscape pieces
BY distinguished French artist to d
Well-known western millionaire, and
was negotiating for the sale Of FIVE or
SIX Others He set some investigation
/ on foot, and eventually satisfied him
self that the shabby danbs which he
had taken out of the custom house
were really doubles that is to say,
! they were Ealnahle nieinras over
which inferior canyasses had been
stretched. It was pretty sllrewd
jscheme, for, BY pretending to be nm
| able to pay duty, the Pole diverted any
suspicion that may have existed, and
dragged the honest dealer into the af-
fair as his unconscious sponsor After
that discovery it was easy TO under
stand his nervousness while the paint
ings were in storage. / believe he got
rid Of the entire lot. Y
| z