The Cooperstown courier. (Cooperstown, Griggs Co., N.D.) 1902-1913, 1905-02-09

the plaster and Of course found the
gems arranged In pretty pattern work
beneath It. And. tell you. he must
have suffered with his burden, because
the stones were cut, and each OF them
had made hole in his back.
"And that is the story Of our takine
at least $4,000 worth Of beautifully
cut stones from our willy friend"
The old man paused again and again,
looked at the end Of his now unlighted
cigar, and slowly he drew a match
from his pocket and lighted it. AZ he
puffed away he said:
But that isn't quite all. Here's the
best part Of the story. We took the
jewels, wrapped them carefully in q
handkerchief and went away, very
proud Of the sagacity Of the agent in
France and Of the ease with which we
had carried out our part Of the pro-
gramme. We took the jewels to the
custom house, and-pun-and-pufr-
when they were examined-puft-it was
neutrality-suspicious. they were-puft
glass"
The narrator cooked his eye at us
and replied: Eyes, glass. And that willy
person with the plaster had sent us
the cablegram himself and brought in
a trunkful Of things. because we had
not looked at all carefully through his
baggage. Now, what in the world
could any one do when he was up
against crook like that one?
'Now. doesn't that give you some
idea Of the people with whom we have
to deal? There are lots of crooks just
as clever as that one, and they're lying
awake nights studying out devices by
which to get ahead of the customs au-
thorities. 1t wasn't 80 very long ago
that we discovered very pretty little
scheme by which the government had
been losing thousands Of dollars Of du-
ties. 1t was in the importation Of rare
and costly laces from France, and it's
somewhat unpleasant.
"A rather careful tab had been kept
upon the lace branch Of the smuggling
business, but It was found that many
thousands Of dollars worth Of valuable
pieces were coming in under the very
noses Of the officials. And at last the
method was found out by the horrible
process Of opening a dead body which
had been shipped to this country to q
small town in the west. Concealed in
the body was hermetically sealed can
lister, and inside this were found pieces
Of lace worth at least $4,000. You
zee, the smugglers, AZ we afterward
discovered, had several times purchas-
ed the bodies Of the dead in Paris, pay
ing 80 francs for them, and within
them had placed tin canisters contain
ing the laces. The bodies were regu-
larly shipped with death certificates
and all complete and consigned to OBJ
scure persons in out of the way places
in this country, ostensibly the bodies
Of relatives who had passed away
abroad and were being sent home for
burial in the family plot. 1t was
scarcely reasonable to suspect that
smuggling would be attempted in such
way, and indeed it was long time
before the authorities got track of it.
Smuggling is peculiar thing he
continued meditatively," and it appeals
particularly to women. There are
many women-at least there were-who
used to give the customs authorities no
end of trouble. They were ingenious,
too, and whenever we found a woman
we already suspected the possessor
Of small dog our suspicious were
greatly strengthened. 1t is fact that
these women used to make use of the
dogs to bring dutiable things into the
country. Diamonds and the like were
not infrequently found attached to the
collar of a pet, and there is story
that one woman had an extra hide on
her small dog, covering it's back and
also many yards Of lace. Hollow toilet
articles, brushes and looking glasses
with false backs, even toothbrushes
with the handles followed out. have
been f0und."-New York Post.