The Montgomery advertiser. [volume] (Montgomery, Ala.) 1885-1982, 1909-05-28
Ingenuity of Sn1ugglers

smuggled diamonds. She, too. wore a
retticoat Of many pockets. and In these
she would secrcte the packages of
stones and run the gauntlet Of the in
spectors at the border. I.asar snug
gled hundreds Of thousands OF dollars
worth OF diamonds. FIRST and last. SELL
ing them, 1t was proved. to eminently
respectable dealers In New York.
He did not always employ woman
as accomplice. On one occasion. while
on the deck Of steamer from Liver
pool t. New York, he encountered
nurse maid who was giving baby an
airing. He affected TO be much attract
ed to the child. and the day before the
steamer reached New York. gave the
baby a rattle. But when the steamer
had landed its passengers, customs
inspector observed Lasar exchanging
the baby's rattle for another. An ex-
animation OF the toy which Lasar had
taken from the child showed that its
rattle was produced by many thous-
ands of dollars worth of diamonds.
On one trir, across on Montreal
steamer Lasar formed the acquaintance
of a bric-.l couple from New York. and
by the time they had reached Montreal
their acquaintance had ripened sum-
ciently to permit him to request the
ooupel to deliver certain packages to a
man in New York whose address he
gave. He assured the pair that the
articles were of little value and not
dutiable, but impressed up0 them the
Importance of not allowing the
customs inspectors at the bor-
der to see them, as to do
so might occasion delay and embarrass-
ment. The result was the pair were
taken into custody, owing probably to
their guilty appearance, and the groom
actually languished in Jail for about q
month before he could establish the
fact that he was only smuggler's VIC
tim and not a guilty principal.
Some years ago the customs officers
at New York received tip to the ef
feet that certain man and his wife
were en- route to New York with dia-
monds. The pair were questioned
closely by the inspectors when
the steamer landed. but 1t was I'M
possible to elicit anything like q con-
fession, Finally. the two were separ-
ated. and in a few minutes the wife
was told her husband had confessed
that she had the diamonds. She broke
into tears, removed her hat, took the
pins from her hair coiledS on her head.
and when the mass dropped down there
lay revealed a channels bag which was
found to contain diamonds of great
value. S
Laces bear a heavy duty and many at
tempts are made to smuggle them. Not
long ago q woman who reached New
York on a steamer from France, was
found to have her body and legs
swathed in the most costly laces-hun-
dreds of yards OF them. She said she
put on the laces to protect herself
against the cold! New York dress
makers are much given to the habit of
coming back from Paris wearing so
many garments beneath their street
Skn ~
things have all the portliness of mid
die age. 4
A Chicago man who was searched
by customs officers at New York was
found to have in his shoes forty-two
gold chains. 112 diamonds, and forty
three pearls-a total value of 100000.
Another man, when searched, was found
to have something like $4,000 worth of
diamonds concealed in the pockets on
the inside of the leg of his sock. Gar
ters of his own design had given way.
and the diamonds, being allowed to de-
scend into his shoe, made him limp in
a manner that aroused the suspicious of
the officials.
Cassie Chadwick. the woman whose
operations In "fim-fiam finance" at
tracted universal attention a few days
ago, is said to have smuggled 100000
worth of diamonds and jewelry through
the custom house at New York. Once
she was detected. but was allowed to
make restitution of the duties She
always made her trips abroad in COM
pany with her son and daughter. She
is said to have sold her goods to dealers
in Pittsburg and Cleveland.
Smuggling In bulk, that Is, the meth
cd of landing an entire cargo at some
obscure spot. and getting II thence into
the commerce OF the country, is no
longer practiced, according to the ofl-
cials. The revenue cutter service en-
ployed by practically every country
with seacoast has put stop TO this
method of beating the customs. 1t was
a much more picturesque method of
smuggling, and has furnished the SUBJ
ject of much stirring fiction. While it
is not possible to have a revenue cutter
to guard every possible landing place
where a smuggler might choose, the
little vessels are on the move so con-
stantly. and are so nearly ubiquitous.
that II Is impossible for the srnuggler
to tell whether one of the craft IL not
watching the very spot he may have
decided on as the one at which to land
his contraband.
Smuggling men has become a more
or less general practice since the en-
actment of the Chinese exclusion law
Many Cinnamon have paid as high as
$4,000 to be transported across the Can
adam or Mexican border into the Unit
ed States. The standard price is said to
be $50. The usual way in which, 1t Is
accomplished Is for the smuggler gen.
orally an ex-railroad man. to make up
a party of Celestials and store them in
a freight car standing in the yards at
Vancouver or some Mexican town. The
customs seal on the staple holding the
car doors together-the smuggiers al
ways make use OF a car which has been
sealed-is left intact, although the sta
pie is removed. frequently by taking off
the nuts which hold it. this being done
in some manner not fully understood.
1t occurs sometimes that the Cinnamon
have 70 remain in their close quarters
for days, and 1t has happened more than
once that a dead Chinaman has been
found when the car was finally opened.
Airships may revolutionize- snug
Cling, but the officials do not greatly
fear the use of the air as a field for
violation of the customs laws. 1--WE
shall have airships by the time the
smugglers get Them" remarked an OFF,
cial recently. I'VE can patrol the air
as well as the land If it becomes nee.
essary."
Copyright. 1909. by Frederic J
Haskin.)