Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1903-03-14
ARMY OF SMUGGLERS
Always Looking for a Chance
to Cheat Uncle Sam.
STRENUOUS SCHEMING
BUT AFTER ALL THEIR RE-
WARDS ARE VERY SMALL.
Activity at San Francisco-Bringing
in Sumatra Tobacco-Examples
Of Detective Work.
STRENUOUS SCHEMING
Written for The Evening Star.

Written for The Evening Star.
For mere yearly pittance, averaging
less than 800 apiece, ten thousand men are
daily daring prison walls for the sake of
smuggling imports past the customs Off
Gals of the United States
This army Of smugglers, according to the
prominent Washington official who fur
nished the data. is made up of sailormen.
who are largely employed to bring the
goods to ports; small boatmen, who meet
the ships when in sight of port and pick
up the tarpaulin- covered cases thrown
overheard; fences in all the more i'm
portant ports of entry, and many tobacco
and liquor dealer, both on this and the
other side of the Atlantic, whose lines Of
goods are those chiefly smuggled.
These men engage in smuggling pure and
simple They have nothing to do with get
ting undervalued goods through the GUS
tom houses. They match their wits
against those Of the customs officials for
every cent there is in the game, and they
scorn anything less.
But as exposed as are our thousands of
miles of seaboard, the best that these
smugglers can do, in numerical strength
half as large as Uncle Sans standing
army Of a few years ago. Is to beat the
government out of considerably less than
one-half of one per cent of the total amount
of duties annually levied and collected.
Small as this 81 900 900 seems when COM
pared with the $24O,0OO,OO0 duties on Sl,ooo,-
600, 600 worth of imports, that sum Is event
ually diminished one-fourth by the unceas-
ing detective vigilance of the customs de-
partment so that If the net profits or
smuggling--some $3.50 coo in all-were equal
ly divided among the smuggiers, not a
mothers son of them would get so much
as 500 for his perilous work.
The Chief Smuggling Port.
The smuggler has to blame Uncle Sans
fine system of customs espionage. both
here and abroad. for making his Illicit call
ing more hazardous the longer he sticks
to 1T. Indeed, so closely watched Is the
port of New York these days-hitherto the
fertile field of the smuggler-that even the
boldest customs evader thinks twice before
attempting to do business there. AS
result much of the smuggling trade has
been transferred within the past year 10
San Francisco, and that port bids fair to
establish smuggling records that will admit
of fair comparison with New Yorks.
Until recently the smuggling in of Su-
matra tobacco from Holland was carried
on almost wholly at New York. Now,
however, owing to numerous detections
arrests and convictions in that city, the
smugglers of Sumatra are opera ting
through San Francisco.
This tobacco is shipped in what are called
"hands." The leaves, each shaped much
the other and tied together at that portion
of the leaf which corresponds to the wrists,
in punches weighing about two pounds or
one klo. This constitutes hand.
The Dutch sailormen, who are employed
to smuggle them, secrete the hands
somewhere about the ship, often In bags
beneath the contents of the coal bunkers,
and when their vessel makes port they
await their chance, wrap the "hands"
around their bodies and then slip ashore
and dispose of them to one of the many
fences with whom they are acquainted
The fence is generally a sailormans
saloonkeeper. The money he pays out for
the smuggled goods he can usually count
upon getting back over his bar. But some
times the Sailormen grow tired of this sort
of game and turn on the Fence" as in
stance the following case:
How Tobacco is Struggled.
A dozen sailormen OF a certain ship
brought over about $500 worth Of Sumatra
tobacco in the coal bunkers. This they
wrapped around their bodies little at
time for several nights and carried to
fence" On the night that the last Of the
tobacco was sold to the "fence'-about SlOC
worth-a group of sailors ged to Sc
cure the mans ear and hold his attention
in his barroom while their fellows Sneaked
upstairs and discovered the tobacco stored
in dingy room over the saloon. They
lost no time i'm climbing through the tran
som and robbing the purchaser. Then they
took the tobacco to a rival fence" and re
sold it there.
This little story came to the knowledge
of the customs detectives when, short
time after 1t happened they arrested the
fence" from whom the tobacco was stolen,
and the prisoner, he related his misfor-
tune, increased the merriment of his cap
tors by his copious tears of grief over the
loss of his money and the ingratitude of the
Dutchmen
The rowboat men, who pick up the cases
Of goods thrown overheard in the lower
harbor. sometimes dispose of their spoils
to fences, but more often they land them
at out-of-the-way places and surreptitously
ship them to dealers in different parts of
the country. In this way they are more
certain of outwitting the detectives.
How the Detectives Work.
put to rout. The case of a man who tried
to dispose of fourteen boxes of cocaine
aptly illustrates their activity.
iiAe' boxes-about 4x2x1h inches in dimen-
sions-were stolen while they were in the
appraisers stores in New York city. As
soon as they were missed the druggists Of
the metropolis were warned not to receive
any cocaine coming from any unusual
source, and thus the thiefs chance to dis
pose of the drug In this way was blocked.
Finding his efforts to get rid of the cocaine
unavailing. the man decided to ship it to
Rio Janeiro, Brazil, and dispose of it there.
Here again his plans were spoiled for,
short time. before the cocaine arrived in
port the Brazilian market had been glutted
with the drug and the fourteen boxes could
not be sold at any price. 1t was. therefore,
reshipped to this country and the customs
officials, hoping to apprehend the real thief