The sun. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1833-1916, 1907-07-17
SMUGGLING IMMIGRANTS In
THREE CiUGHT SAY THAT FORTY
LANDED FR0M THE ESTONIA.

woman In Mans Clothes Tries n From the
saratov with q Pass as One OF the Crew
Man Did Escape ON such n Pass -Onc
skipper Indicted, One to BE questioned.
The Commissioner of immigration. Rob-
ert Watchorp. has been keeping a sharp
watch on the Russian steamship lines FOR
the last two weeks. He got Wind Of n rumor
that there exists at Libau. on the Baltic.
a conspiracy to smugglc undesirable immi-
grants into the port of New York. Thu
rumor had It that hotel keepers Of I.ibau
and officers of Russian steamships we're
working together to make money out of
the immigrants and violate the imhnigra-
ton laws Of Uncle Sam.
" immigration inspectors. one Of whom
speaks Russian. were at the Grand Central
Station two days after the arrival Of the
Russian steamship Estonia on July 3. The
linguist heard three men boastipg in Rus
sian that they had entered the country
without troubling Ellis Island. He arrested
the two and took them before Mr.. Watchorn.
All had trachoma, a contagious disease
of the eyes that debars immigrants.
One of the prisoners confessed that lie
had paid a hotel Keeps in I.ibau $25 to start
illill ou tN way ~ .tlIltil'd' ~ boitl
keeper introduced him to one of The crew
of the Fstonia. who collected SIS more
from the immigrant. On his arrival at the
dock of the Russian EaSt Asiatic line in
Brooklyn the Immigrant says Inc paid
sI2.50 more to another Of the ships COM
'pany. Then he got a pass permitting one
Of the ships crew 10 go ashore. The watch
man on the pier let him out under the i'm
precision that he was a Russ ian sailor on
shore leave. Forty altogether. lac said.
go, TO liberty in This way and took trains
for tE,- West at the Grand Central Station.
The case wa, presented to the UnitedStateA
District Attorney for this nsighborhood
and Capt Neuman of the Estonia was in
dicted for violating the Federal law that
makes IL a crime, punishable by a line of
not more han 81 900, a year In prison. or
both. TO assist an alien into the country.
The Russian Volunteer Fleets steamship
Saratov. in on Saturday from I.ibau. was
under special surveillance. One Of the i'm
migration bureaus watchers saw a man
lowering himself by "A rope from the ships
side TO the pier at l IS O'clock OF Sunday
morning. This man was arrested and taken
to Ellis Island. He said he had slowed
away at Libau and declared that he had not
Leen helped by the ships officers and had
not paid them any money. TIN ships
captain had asserted on her arrival that
she had no aboard The
prisoner said he was Jan Gedmin, native
Of KovnO, Russia, and a jew. He bas
trachoma,
Early on Monday morning, before day
light, two persons ia mems clothes came
dow the rang plank Of the Saratov. Each
had a shore leave pass apparently signed
by the skipper. The file leader locke ed like
a sailorman, but the file closer seemed TO he
a woman. The Waterman let the man 60.
but detained the other and took the liberty
of lifting her hat. revealing q large bunch
Of hair coiled on the top of the head.
The Waterman sent the woman back
aboard ship and notified the Ellis Island
inspector IN duty. She was landed later
with other alien passengers and asked 10
confess. h said that zone Of the officers
Of the ship was concerned in her effort to
enter the country illegally. She is Paulina
Flaks Of st. Petersburg. She said she
wen from her home there ~ Rotterdam six
months ago and became a cook in a Dutch
family. She had made IN effort TO get 70
New York. but had been turned back be-
cause she had-and has trachoma. She
spoke Of her disease to her employer and he
advised her TO stow away On the Ssratov.
which touched at Rotterdam after leaving
Lbsu. She mingled with the immigrants,
she said, and WAS not detected. She con-
cealed herself in one Of the ships cabins
all day Sunday, and with the assistance Of
the male immigrant who got away as "a
sailor she made an effort TO leave the ship
ON Monday morning, knowing that she
would be held up at Ellis Island later If SHE
attempted to get in that way. as her name
was not on the ships manifest. She said
that she didn't know the man who had pro-
vided her with men g clothing, and who also
had sore eyes. and that she had not paid any
money to anybody. The skipper of the
Saratov will be aske by the United States
District Attorney to explain things,