Watertown weekly leader. [volume] (Watertown, Jefferson County, Wis.) 1906-1908, 1907-09-13
OFFICERS TAKE
FAIR SMUGGLERS.
Big Seizure of Women and Fine Gowns
at the New York Steam
er Docks

NEW YORK, Sept. 9.-The liner La
Savoie brought in Sunday the biggest
consignment of undeclareu trunks, called
i'll the vernacular of the customs officials
"sleepers," ever shipped from Havre by
dressmakerS banded together To cheat
Uncle Sam out of Us customs duties
Thirty of the trunks were taken to the
public stores seizure rooms for closer ex-
animation than could b. given to them
on the pier. 1t is estimated they contain
$4,000 to $4,000 of dutiabIe material
The roundup of the dres>u.;,kers
caused excitement on the pier, anu there
were exchanges of strong language be
tween inspectors and the women whose
goods had been seized. Y tall and OK
tremely plump young woman, who calls
herself Nine. Hughes. protested so Wig
orouSly against personal search that the
surveyor III charge of the searching force
decided that some of her plumpness was
fictitious, and he ordered an inspectreSS
to take her back aboard the ship and lind
out what she had under her dress. Nine
Hughes said at the bottom OF the gang
plank, with a show of heat, that on her
honor as a lady she had nothing under
her clothing except that which belonged
there.
Plump Woman Gets Thin Quick.
The inspectrcss, however, unwound
from Al!ne. Hughes person about $500
worth of lace and drcsSmakers material.
Size had gone up the gangplank. as the
surveyor remarked, looking like load
OF hay She came down resembling Il
bean pole.
Nine. Hughes trouble put the other
suspected dreSSmakcrs in a state of con
sternation, and they went away without
making any effort to get the ''Sleepers'
off the pier.
The dressmakers Oh the La Savoie did
not know that after it had sailed from
Hayre the customs officers had inaugu-
rated new rule to prevent "SleeperS
from coming into the port uninspectcd.
The rule is that every inspector shall
accompany the baggage that he examines
to the gate leading to the sect. and the
inspectors OH duty ut the gate shall per-
NIT no baggage to pass simply on its la
bel. This was what tiabbergaStcd the
smugglers.
Lady's Maid a Sr1uggler, Too.
Another dressmaker who got into Sc
rious difficulty was Nine. Kilgannon. She
failed to enumerate Il number of trunks
which contained gowns and other dress
makers materials. There were no for
eign labels on the gowns, although they
appeared to be brand new, and Nine
Kilgannon said they were of domestic
manufacture. She had gotten into cab
ana was driving away when the lnSpec-
tors gave chase following her about a
block at top speed before they got t!.e
cabman to stop. She was brought back
to the ship and subjected to personal
search and all the labels that had been
cut from the gowns in her trunk wa;e
found concealed under her clothing. Al
her trunks were seized.
Mile. Dautren, said to be the maid of
a wealthy New York woman. had de-
clared only 4 small amount of personal
effects, but had in her possession also a
large canvas covered trunk filled to the
top with Partisan gowns and dress
goods.
The end of the trunk which usually
has the owners initials OH it was com
pleteIy concealed with hotel pastors The
inspectors removed these pastors and
found the initials which Indicted that
the trunk belonged to another person
than Mile. Dautren. The young woman
was met at the pier by Holland house
porter.