The sun. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1833-1916, 1903-09-13
stand | noticed as she passed hat her skirt

stand, noticed as she passed hat her Ak rt
hung little peculiarly.
/ That woman has a rather thin face
and yet her hody seems 10 be remarkably
! well developed. / said to myself
| Il tapped her on the shoulder
! Come with you to be scare he'd! she
exclaimed. Oh, nonsense She smiled
and was real pleasant about it. i will con-
fess o you. she went on. that have some-
, thing hidden under my skirt. They are
just few feathers for "A little boa for my
neck really not hing al all. WAS very
! foolish 10 try 10 hide them. ! will pay the
! duty, of course. They are -
' she began to describe the few lit -
feathers, hur told her | would have o see
for myself
These would make quite a good-sizecl
boa for your neck, l should think | re-
marked as turned her skirt inside out ard
found it lined and refined wit h the hundreds
of bealn lfnl feathers. We contiscat ed every
one of hem, and received a quart or OF he
proceeds of he sale.
on III" deck of one of the big steamers not
long ago when | was pushed against a
woman. got sort OF Il Jab from some
thing and uttered a little exclamation. The
woman glanced around at me.
-" ! hope it didn't hurt YOU she said.
The truth is, she went on in a half whisper,
i m dong little gglinR nothing
much, but do you know, I'm scared half to
death You don't think there is any danger
OF their catching me-, do your | don't see
how they can, I've go' the things SO clevery
arranged
1T was too bad to meet this burst of
confidence with the cold announcement
that | was of the Custom House and it was
my duty to search her. But | did it and
found al almost complete tea set of silver
strung around her waist. 1t was the spout
Of the teapot that had jabbed me.
AS ! gently united the string upon which
the silver hung the poor woman began
to cry and said hat they We're for a wedding
present She was not a shopkeeper. as
are most of the women we catch trying
to dodge the customs laws.
me latter, in my opinion, are not greater
smugglers than women Of fashion. We
detect them oftener, chiefly because we
know those who make regular trips abroad
and frequently have tips from the other
side rs to just what they've bought. These
are often supplied by rivals.
"One dressmaker. who may or may not
he smuggler herself. will write to the
Custom House that Mrs. -. who is sailing
on certain steamer, is bringing over so
many yards of fine lace. for instance. and
that it would be well for us to look out for
her OH the pier. We do.
I'VE lack this particular avenue of in
formation us TO the purchases abroad of
women of fashion, and unless they give
some strong evidence Of trying to smuggie
we don't SUBJ ect them 70 a search the
working principle Of the department being
that II Is better To miss number of snug
, gers than TO humiliate one innocent woman
We have to he very careful about this,
you know, or the voice Of the public would
be- raised in indignation.
"Such being the case 7 have no doubt
that women come of steamers every dav
with dutiable goods concealed about them
VI ~ I~Gr Iliif
a great deal Of stuff
we received from abroad, not long ago,
some private information about a woman
whose husband Is a man of position in an
interior city. The ship they were coming
on belonged to one of tn" lines look after,
so | was told 20 watch for her.
We'll, Just ns soon as the vessel was
docked. I hurried aboard and had the
stewardess point her out to me- She looked
as pretty and blooming AZ you pleas" and
was waving enthusiastically to some friends
on the pier when / stepped up and asked
her if she would please come back to her
stateroom with me for a moment.
"She seemed surprised and annoyed,
but not at all nervous when told her who
| was. She went to the stateroom with
me, and had her take off her outer gar
ments. being as polite A. possible all the
time. BECAUSE | was by no means sure that
she had anything hidden
This must be disasteful worl; for n
woman Of sensiblity.' she said IT is, Of
course, frightfutlv humiliating to me, but
you are making it as easy for me as You
can, and thank YOU for it. My husband
is in politics. you know, and has a great
deal of influence. I'm going to speak To
him about YOU, He can easily find YOU
work with the Government that will be
good deal more congenial to woman of
your refinement, Now may | put nv
81 - asked In or will
sweet and gracious smile.
"'ln JUST a second answered, pleasantly.
Il put my fingers down irsd" her corsets
on one side, and drew out a leather box.
On the other side I did the same thing,
with the same result.
Never before in my life did | see 4
womans face and manner change as hers
did She cried out
-" How dar" You TAX" those things,
They're mine mine
Ssh" tried To snatch them away. and
even tried TO hit ne. And then. would
you believe it, she actually ran out of the
staterOoln, Just AS she VAS. and into the
saloon. where her husband was talking TO
the captain and some of the other officers
on, she was pretty spectacle. She
shouted that size had been robbed, that 7
was miserable wretch and all sorts =
things.
Her husband hustled hsr back ms 0uicn,
as h" could Fortunately, almost every
body had left the ship, and the story never
got ont There were "A good many thou
sands Of dollars worth of rings and pins
and pearls III those two boxes Her nus
band said h. thought ia" had declared
them.
In contrast to tins ease was hat Of a
young German girl IL the second cabin.
Sf> had wound yard after yar! Of muslin
about her body. and III every possible place
she had concealed It'll" trnkelS The
stun mad" quite Il pile on The floor, but the
whole lot wasn't worth s.
THE poor girl was IN tears, She said,
in broken English, thai -l" wds IpId that
they didn't charge YOU for anything you
carried with yOl that way. She wa, really
ignorant ! could ~" that, - | sand 10 the
INSPECTOR who had fir, noticed her
Mr.. ..-- | don't THINK It would add
any - your GLORY, ur 10 mine, To report
tins seizure amt ] imagine tine Government
can stand the lurs ! suggest that We Jet
tn" girl AXE her stun and 60
! II shut nay eyes h" answered, when
she goes of the d0rii
i told her 10 wrap her goods up and
he gone 1 could sec hat bnr was relieved,
but still had something on her mind ! |
asked her what IL Wa
i hat only two dollar she said
We'll, we'll answered that won't |
carry you very far ~ New York.
! hat only two dollar for You
j laughed, and finally accepted "A lutte |
brass rosary worth about ~ cents ! |
have u yet
Hundreds II interesting cases Of women |
who have heen caught smuggling could be |
mentioned Ny experience has been that |