The Eureka sentinel. [volume] (Eureka, Nev.) 1902-current, 1909-05-15

with intent to defraud the government
OF its legitimate revenues was first
brought to light when three trunks ON
the steamer Gothland. marked so that
they appeared to be part of the bag
gage of Miss Nellie Grant. were seized
by customs officers at New York. Miss
Grant, who Is a granddaughter of the
late General Ulysses s. Grant and who
was named In honor of her aunt. Mrs.
Nellie Grant Sartoris. the sunshine Of
the White House In the Grant regime
there thirty years ago. was returning
to her home In San Diego. Cal, from
a tour abroad and on landing in New
York made the usual declaration be-
fore an inspector of customs to secure
free admittance Of her baggage. Sus-
picious circumstances led to examina-
tion of the trunks In question. and
when inquiry about their contents was
made Of Miss Grant and her aunt.
Mrs. John z. Mason, who accompanied
her. 1t developed the fact that the ar
ticles In them were not theirs at all.
The customs officer said:
These two ladies are entirely inno-
cent of smuggling. If the trunks had
been allowed entry they would have
been intercepted and taken by some
one ostensibly for those ladies, but
hands of dealers In rich imported
laces."
1t Is seldom that such a goodly Sc
lection from the Rue de la Paix is
transferred to the custody of Uncle
Sam, and he has been somewhat both
cred by the problem of what to do
with it. There were FIVE trunk loads In
all. but they were trunk loads beyond
the ordinary.
To begin with, there were 250 prin-
cess gowns and more than ninety CO.'S
tunes of different kinds. shirt waists,
lace and other articles to the number
Of 176. A dozen or more evening
gowns and unmade gowns additional
also proved tempting There were
gloves, handkerchiefs. doilies, canoes,
belts. towels, pieces of embroidered
cloth. pieces of unmade dress goods,
boleros. lace spreads. dozens Of coats.
silk scarfs, ornaments and trimmings.
Since discovery of the attempt at
smuggling In this case further investi-
CATION has led the custom house off,
cials to declare that the syndicate has
probably smuggled in S10.0OO,000
worth Of goods. thus defrauding the
government out Of millions Of dollars
In customs duty.
II is said that the New York inspect
ors have now secured evidence of
an understanding existing between
group OF dressmakers in Paris ana
another group of dressmakers in this
country. Each group has central
head, which. for lack of better term,
the custom house people now speak Of
as commissioner" The Paris COM
missioner would communicate with the
commissioner In New York, and the
New York commissioner in turn would
communicate with the dressmakers Of
his clientele. Probably some Of these
would be located as far west as Chica-
60 or Minneapolis; but. according to
an impression that prevails among
customs men, the majority Of these
patrons are located right in NV York.
The clients of the New York commits
sioner having indicated to him their
needs or the probable size Of their
orders. he In turn would communicate
with the commissioner in Paris and
inform him of the amount and quality
Of smuggled goods he could handle.
The Paris commissioner would then
buy the goods required and take the
initial steps looking to their success
full smuggling.
One Of the accompanying illustra-
tions shows q section Of the seizure
room Of the United States appraisers
stores In New York, where bedding,
trunks. etc. containing valuable silks.
shawls, laces and other dutiable arti-
cles are piled high when the customs
inspectors eager eye has detected
something wrong about their appear
ance. The other picture is of a basket
containing smuggled packages of Su-
matra tobacco which were brought In
under the coats of steamship en-
ployees, the latter not being quite
clever enough to escape detection.