Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1903-03-14

and not his cats paws. let the stun Be
brought in at a southern port. Once more
all attempts to self IT were blocked by the
vigilance of the detectives, who had kept
trace of all the movements of the cocaine,
and then the thief. despairing og ever real
izing on his ill-gotten gains In America,
shipped the drug to Paris, whence Il had
first come, and sold IL there.
But he reaped no profit. Instead HIS ex-
penses for freightage TO Brazil and Europe
made him an actual cash loss of $50 by the
transaction.
Still in one way the thief outwitted his
pursuers. While they became reasonably
certain that they knew him, he, In turn
kept them from being cocksure. and. as a
result, the officers were afraid TO make an
arrest and a case was never made out
against him
Why the Sleuths Are Always Yankees
The customs detectives abroad are YAM
KEGS, every one. Foreign detectives are
not employed by the Treasury Department,
for the simple reason that they cannot be
trusted. At one time Uncle Sam had some
foreign sleuths In his service. but they
proved to be hand In glove with crooked
importers and smuggiers. When this was
found out the system was made strictly
Yankee in character.
One OF the clever games OF the Ameri-
can detective abroad Is to turn sTnuggler
himself. with the connivance of his
periors, in order to catch the crooks. Just
a
somewhat similar trick at ports where
goods are being entered at gross underval-
uations.
Contrary to popular opinion, scarcely any
smuggling Of jewels Is attempted by Amer
lean houses. Foreign dealers usually en-
gage in this work and trust to agents to
dispose OF the precious stones In the best
way that they can. This Is not always an
easy task for the more reputable domestic
firms demand a history of the jewels before
agreeing to purchase them. OF late years
the American iapidary. has been more eau
tious than ever before. with the result that
attempts to get In diamonds and other
stones duty free are becoming more and
more rare 1t woutd seem that this field
Is now limited to rich Americans who bring
back necklaces and other trinkets for their
wives and daughters and. hating to pay
heavy importation tolls. are led to try to
beat their government out of the money
due it.
His Trouble for His Pains.
The customs officials tell a good story OF
a South American who, not knowing that
uncut precious stones are duty free. went
to the trouble Of smuggling in a lot of
them. Then he engaged fellow country
man in New York to dispose Of them,
agreeing to pay him SO for the task.
Instead Of playing fair with his employer.
the agent at once FASTENED to the customs
house and sought out an official.
Il can tell you of a man." he confided.
who has Smuggled in some emeralds and
has employed me to sell them. If you will
give me $50 I'll tell you who he is and
where you can arrest him"
"Emeralds, eh?" Queried the official; "cut
or uncut?"
Uncut replied the informer maybe a
hundred of them
The official laughed.
MY dear SIR he said. 'go back to your
employer and tell him that he has useless
ly smuggled in his emeralds, for when they
are uncut, as in this case, the law lets them
in duty free. .r...
The Smuggler's Small Reward.
But while attempts to smuggle in many
other articles of merchandise have largely
been given up, there is no apparent cessa-
ton in the effort to get in tobacco and
liquor. These are staples with the army of
10000 smugglers, who, despite their strenu-
Gus scheming. average considerably less
than a quarter of a dollar a day apiece for
their trouble and labor.