The Richmond palladium and sun-telegram. [volume] (Richmond, Ind.) 1907-1939, 1908-07-12
CUSTOMS INSPECTORS CLAIM WOMEN ARE
THE WORST SMUGGLERS THEY ENCOUNTER
Women Excitement Attached
Government Out Dollars Bit of Old Lace from Europe
Interesting Anecdotes From the Collection Bureau.

spectress gets appointment through
civil service examination.
One of the inspectresses, who would
not allow her name to be used, chat
ted with a Sunday Press reporter the
other day about her work and told OF
some of the methods smugglers adopt
in concealing dutiable goods
I'VE soon learn how to spot a SNUG
gler," she said. ut would be hard to
tell how we do it, but I suppose it's in
the same way that a trained detective
knows a thief when he sees him. There
Is no particular sign that gives a
smuggler away. There is simply
something about her that tells us she
will do to watch. You get so used to
her kind that you can pick her out in
crowd. It's something like the way
an expert jeweler can instantly select
genuine diamond from a heap of
false stones, when the average person
couldn't tell one from the other.
"Of course there are smugglers who
can't preserve an innocent expression.
in spite of themselves their eyes will
wander around in search of those she
suspects are watching her. She shows
by her manner that she Is aware of the
fact that some one has her under OBJ
and shifty and hence soon comes I'M
der our notice.
"One of the first things that attracts
our attention is a disproportion in a
woman'S figure. In these days OF
close fitting clothes and tight skirts it
is very hard to conveal anything about
the person so it won't show some
where. A woman who marches off a
ship with an unusual fullness about
her skirts. an airregular waistline, a
peculiar carriage of the body or a
marked discomfort in her walking u.s.
ually becomes an object of suspicion
right away. She is put under surveil-
lance and a close watch is kept on her
movements. Sooner or later. unless
has an unusually good nerve, she be-
trays herself Enthusiastically. One of us
| reports the facts to the Deputy Sur
veyor on duty at the pier. We tell
him what we have noticed and If he is
impressed he orders that the woman
be searched. We approach her very
quietly and speak to her very gently,
otherwise. as has sometimes happened.
her overweight nerves would give
away, and she would make a dreadful
scene. We take her very quietly to a
stateroom on board ship and there
search her thoroughly. First we ask
her to take her hair down. She usu-
ally makes all sorts of excuses and
protests, but down her hair has to
come. If she is carrying jewels, they
very often fall out as soon as she loos-
ems her combs. Jewels are not always
hidden in the hair. however. They
are concealed in hats. Innings and trim
mings, sewed up in dress shields, hid
den in tiny pockets, sewel inside the
corset and even tucked between the
toes. Lace is usually inside the hat
lining, concealed in the muff or sewed
inside the skirt, and women have been
discovered who had their bodies
wound round and round with hundreds
Of yards of very fine and expensive
lace.
1T was easier to conceal goods of
this kind some months ago, when the
straight front corset and the hustle
were worn than it is now. l remem.
Der woman who became known to
us as quite a regular traveller on ocean
steamers. We learned she was dress.
maker and though we watched her we
could get no real evidence against her
! At last she stepped off a steamer here
after trip abroad with figure that
seemed strangely plump. We search.
ed her and found $1,000 worth of lace
in her hustle. On her next trip it was
really remarkable how much simmer
she had grown.
You see the most absurd things
Women regularly arrive in midsum
mer with heavy furs on which they
claim as personal apparel. There was
woman we detained once who had
an unusually heavy skirt. We made
her take it off and found that she had
cut fur coat into two pieces and
sewn them on the inside of the skirt
She swore until the last moment that
it was a fur-lined petticoat which she
habitually wore. and this was in mid
summer.
There are seldom less than a dog
en- women who get off every steamer
wearing heavy furs no matter what
the time of the year. They take oath