Edgefield advertiser. [volume] (Edgefield, S.C.) 1836-current, 1902-12-17
HOME OF SMUGGLERS.
THE ISLANDS, ST. PIERRE AND
MIQyELON, THEIR PARADISE.

States, Canada and Newfoundland, ana
Makes Fortunes for Its Members.
Quite recently a Canadian revenue
cruiser chased a suspicious-looklng
schooner along the Cape Breton shore
and next morning the whole coast was
found to be strewn with casks OF ln'
toxicating liquors, writes the st. johns
IN. F.) correspondent of the chicago
News. There had come from the
schooner, which was st. Pierre SNUG
gler and was making for a landing
place when chased by the cruiser, so
to escape conviction she threw the
contraband cargo overheard.
In this incident is embodied, as IL
were, one of the most serious phases
Of the famous French shore question.
The islands of st. Pierre and Miquelon
constitute the greatest smuggling CEN
tire in the world today. The organlza-
ton to defeat the revenue laws Oh the
United States, Canada and Newfouno-
land is perfect and far-reaching. Nom
inally, ST. Pierre is the headquarters
or shelter port for the 10, 900 fishermen
who come across from France each
year to trawl for Goldfish on the Gran
Banks; but really'i it is the great dis
tributing point for hundreds of thou
sands OF dollars worth of valuable
commodities which are illicitly intro
duced into the neighboring countries
by way of all the seaports between
New York and Quebec. Opium, fine
perfumes, costly wines and liquors,
French silks and similar goods are
smuggled into New England by the
United States fishing vessels which
touch at ST. Pierre on their way home
from the fishing banks.
Cheap brandies and light wines are
carried up the st. Lawrence and dis
tributed among all the French-Cana-
dian villages on the coast line of Que
bee province. Tobacco, sugar, liquors
and fishing gear are traded with the
Newfoundland fishermen for bait or
for help in handling the cod, and the
extent of the illegitimate traffic with
the English-speaking countries is enor-
nous. There arc merchants in st.
Pierre, reputed fishery outfitters, who
are millionaires, but they have made
their fortunes out of smuggling and
not by their recognized pursuit. The
fishery from st. Pierre does not pay
of itself nowadays; it is the smuggling
which gives the trader his profits.
st. Pierre stands for the whole group
-Miquelon, Langley and the other is
lets. The town which fronts the only
harbor, holds 80 percent of the total
population. Four hundred craft of
different rigs hail from it, ostensibly
fishing vessels. Probably 80 are snug
glers. st. Pierre is the haven for
which every defaulter in North Amer
lea makes. The laws are lax and no.
body ,Jorries over black sheep more
Or less. Agents of other powers are
not encouraged there. The French
government will not permit British
consul on the islet; an agent of the
Newfoundland administration was
hunted out CT the place at the risk of
his life; Canada is unable to secure
recognition for a commercial agent; a
former American consular aid became
ring-leader in the smuggling scan
lalssand used his official papers and
seals to assist in ,perpetrating huge
frauds upon his own government. A
man with any fine sense of business
honor is distinctly not wanted among
the contrabands of St. Pierre.
Until few years ago there was
regular smuggling syndicate" operat-
ing between st. Johns and st. Pierre.
1t had members in the Miquelon as
sembly and in the Newfoundland leg
islature. It's forte was smuggling "St.
Peters rum" and plug tobacco into
our island, the saloon keepers at st.
Johns were SO plentifully stocked with
this liquor that legitimate imports al
most ceased. Strange tobacco was
vended in every hamlet and nobody
knew how it. got there. One of the
most thriving sections of the New
foundland coast, with 10000 prosper
Gus residents, did not pay enough rev.
enues to meet the cost of the customs
staff maintained there
Eventually suspicion became GER
tainty, the authorities organized cru
sade and most momentous happenings
ensued. The whole scandal was ex-
posed in the courts, and the veneer
of respectability was torn from many
4 participator in these dishonest prac-
tices. CONSERVATION reigned among
the offenders and several had to fly
the country. The back of the syndi-
cate was broken and it was COM
PEELED to abandon organized opera
tions in Newfoundland.
1t continues, however, to maintain
a most effective traffic with Canada
and the United States. Newfound-
land enjoys the advantage that st.
Pierre lies only 10 miles off its south
ern coast and its revenue cruisers
can wait in the offing and watch every
vessel that enters or leaves; but nei-
ther Canada nor the United States is
so fayored and to cope with the snug
Cling IS therefore more difficult for
them. 49, The smuggler chiefs at St.
Pierre purchase worthless old schoon-
ers Tor the st. Lawrence trade. These
are loaded with liquors, with sprink
ling of Goldfish on top. Each vessel
/. has two suits of sails, of mixed kind,
) by means of which the watchful Cana
dian cruisers are deceived. The
schooner may today, on leaving st.
Pierre, show two masts with white
sails. Tomorrow, in the Gull of ST.
Lawrence, she may display black
( and brown sail. A day later, off the
Gaspe coast, her whole spread of can