Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1905-09-09
ADEPT IN SMUGGLING
Customs Inspectors Must Be
Constantly on the Alert.
DIAMONDS IN SOAP
LINE STORE CROOKS ON THE
CANADIAN BORDER.
Amateurs and Professionals Together
Manage to Cheat Uncle Sam Of
About 81, 100000 Annually.

Copyright, 1905, by John EIfreth Watkins)
Written for The Star.
Now breaks the dawn of autumn, when
the customs man-he of the blue REFER
and brass buttons-sharpens his never
dulled wits to their keenest edge, for the
summer tourists are returning to their
native heaths in droves Of thousands. A
great ocean greyhound enters harbor, the
wireless signal is flashed and out scuds
the fleet little revenue cutter, which lifts
it's ladder against it's giant sister. A
jackey in blue sailor blouse steadies the
temporary gangplank. up which climbs
the first man on this side of the deep
whom the smuggler has to fear-the
boarding officer. In the main saloon. COM
ing up the bay, he rounds up the passen-
gers, takes their sworn declarations as to
dutiable contents of baggage, and presents
to each a square white card with a blue
pencilled numeral marked upon the face.
But the ordeal of the passenger has only
begun. On the dock he must present his
white card to another customs official and
await his turn until one of the busy corps
of inspectors can find time to dive into
his trunks. Now the smuggler trembles
in his shoes. He must be a clever actor
not to betray by some nervous move
other the hiding place of a gem, a roll of
lace, a compact consignment of opium or
some of those other luxuries which Uncle
Sam taxes numerically high.
The argus-eyed customs inspector is
psychologist. even though tbs dollars to
doughnuts he would not understand the
compliment If you slapped him on his
broad back and told him so. He is an
adept in the psychology of the guilty con-
science, and is his sister, the inspec-
tress. For the most striking case in point
we must turn to her
Unconscious Gesture Betrays Guilt.
inc fla CHI
from Liverpool that a woman just shipped
for America had purchased in London an
unusually large collection of diamonds.
She was spotted" Immediately when her
boat got into port, but a most careful
search of her baggage revealed nothing
beyond the 500 worth of wearing apparel
which, under the law, might be admitted
free. The inspectors looked at her shoes.
They showed no suspicious bulges. In des-
peration they turned her over to the in
spectress of the port, who took her to
private apartment for a special eXamina-
ton" OF came the dainty waist and skirt
of silk. even the white flmy things be
meath, but still the search was futile. Then
the fair passenger was told that She Hsisht
dress and the inSpectreSs sat bF.
Now a psychologist once proved to me,
with some strange instruments, that the
hand will unconsciously seek what the mind
is laboring to disclose. The shrewd inspec-
tress in question suhconsciously knew this
rule. She had not learned 1t in text books
but from a study of the human animal IL
self The passenger, while dressing, was
observed now and then to make peculiar
motion in the direction of her back hair.
Like a flash the searcher seized the clue
She demanded a further search and tnat
the carefully kempt tresses should come
down. The suspected one stood at bay:
Commands in the name of the law awaited
nothing and a personal encounter was
threatened the inspectress sterner brethren
being called to the rescue. The coils or
silken hair at last came down and the fioor
of the apartment received shower OF
twinkling diamonds. Lnder tne Jaw t tle
gems, besides seeing them confiscated to
the government. Had they been uncut no
duty would have been exacted
Makeshift Dresses Of Uncut Silk.
Again there hailed into port two Ameri-
can women from fair Japan. Their
trunks, at superficial glance. contained
nothing above the undutiable wearing APP
parel which the inspector handles as gently
as possible, knowing what twinges are suf-
fered when these fiipperies are crumpled
and disarranged But, as woman pas
senger said the other day, these searchers
of the stern sex know more about Wom-
ems garments than any honest man has
right to know. They can tell you to
scam lust where the feminine attire may
be lawfully tucked or ruftied or shirred;
Just where a bias or chiffon violates all
existing canons and so smacks of the con-
traband."
Well, the inspector confronting the two
wcmen In question knew his little book
lust about that we'll Something about the
fashion of the many garments told him
that they were not put together just as
they should be. Perhaps he had wife at
home. but that is immaterial. AT any rate,
there was tug at loose thread some
where and one of these dainty impossible
frnckc commenced to resolve itself into a
continuous sheet of material. The result
was the disclosure of plot to smuggle
into our fair land yards and yards of linen,
bolts and bolts Of silk and laces all run
together, uncut, into sham, makeshift gar
ments of every kind and pattern, to be cas-
lily smoothed back into the unfinished prod
uct once the gauntlet of the customs in