Democratic messenger. [volume] (Snow Hill, Md.) 1869-1973, 1909-04-24
TRICKS IN SMUGGLING
The Way Uncle Sam Is Swindled
Through the Mails.
WATCHES IN WEDDING CAKE.

Gieeful Girl Who Could Not Hold
Her Tongue-Gloves That Came One
at Time and corsets In Sections.
Too few people think It a crime TO
swindle the customs. For that reason
many bright and brainy persons think
hard how to get goods from abroad
without paying toll to Uncle Sam. As
most Of the successful operators III
this line are women. who have more
time TO think about such things than
men. II can be imagined that the GUS
toms officers have TO be eternally alert
to protect the government
Tie avenues through the steamship
passenger route are pretty carefully
guarded. and as comparatively few
people go abroad the great mass of
dwcllers In this protected land are de-
barred from sharing in the humorous
little game Of hide the diamond or
smuggle the silk. But there is an
other avenue that Is being used enthusi-
astically by the anti-duty aggregation.
II Is the United States mail.
With the immense volume Of foreign
mail delivered to this country 1t Is
manifestly Impossible to open and ex.
anime every package that seems to
contain newspapers or merely bulky
letter to see whether or not some duti-
able article Is concealed therein. So
far as It Is possible, however. 1t Is
done. and the addressee has to go to
the postofiice and pay duty on the
amount at which the dutiable article
Is appraised.
The custom house experts at the
postofiice have their hands full check
mating the clever moves Of those who
IRE constantly devising new ways to
disguise dutiable things as innocent
looking parcels.
1--WE used to pass cakes through
without question" said one Of the ex-
aminers. ut seemed too bad to lay
hands on q Christmas pudding sent by
relatives IN England to some exile In
this country. II also disturbed the SEN
timental side of customs officer to
demolish section of wedding cake
that had been sent from the old home
In Germany to Fritz In America. So
we let these sacred things pass
through. But one day we had an
awakening. One of the customs men
heard that neighbor had obtained a
new watch from abroad. It had come
through duty free. and the gleeful girl
who was wearing II could not keep
quiet about the clever way the post
Office had been deluded. 1t seems the
watch had been baked right into the
cake and had come through without
discovery. Now. this forced us to take
some step to prevent a repetition Of
such smartness. and ever after that
we held Oh to all cakes or buildings
that came In packages through the
mail. A letter Is sent to the person to
whom the package is addressed. and
this person lit is almost always wo-
mani has to come to the postofilce and
cut the cake or slice the pudding right
In front OF the customs officer. Do we
catch Tartar occasionally? Well. you
may take II for granted that any one
who would try this trick is Tartar.
to begin with. and so we don't get Off
without a scene when the cutting time
comes.
"a trick that fooled us for a time
was the sending through the mail Of
one glove a trine creased to give the
idea that It was merely worn glove
that had been left In Europe by tour
list With the glove would come a let
ter to that effect. You went away
without one Of your gloves etc. OF
course we passed It through unsuspect.
ingly. But we got so many Of these
that II began to look suspicious. So
we held on to one Of them. and by the
next mail there came another glove
from the same address to the same
person. The glove was the fellow to
the other. Then we got another left
hand glove and later the right hand
glove to match II. The trick was sim
pie and admirable in its simplicity.
Gloves were being sent through In
quantities. one at time.
"But the queerest trick we exposed
the other day. A woman was accumu-
iating a large stock Of fancy corsets
without troubling about the duty that
should have been paid on them. The
trick was to send half n corset through
the mail. We knew Of no rule about
paying duty on half corset 1t ap-
peared to us TO be mere remnant or
the up to date woman's attire and not
important enough to consider as duti-
able.
$50 we passed the half corset along
and thought no more Of 1t. But half
corsets began to drop In with all too
great frequency. 1t looked as though
corset remnants had suddenly attained
considerable Importance In some ones
estiHation. So one Of the men put II
up to his wife, and she took some
thing less than fraction of second
to puncture the scheme. The half cor
set was useless In itself. but when the
other half arrived there was French
corset ready for wearing.
1--WE find fine silks done up In pack
ages of herbs. watches. diamond rings
and bracelets concealed In the leaves