The Salt Lake herald. [volume] (Salt Lake City [Utah]) 1870-1909, 1909-05-28
INGENUITY OF SMUGGLERS
BY FREDERIC j, HAskIN

i BY FREDER
When TIE Sugar Trust succeeds in
eEading the payment Of something like
sz,e0oo0O in tariff duties. it is natural
that public attention should be directed
TO the practice OF smuggling, which is as
old as tariffs on imports, and which ap-
pears to have reached its greatest perfec-
ton in the United States. By tampering
with the scales at the New York custom
house. the sugar trust succeeded in get
ing into the country, from 1901 to 1901,
duty-tFee, merchandise On which there
| should nave oeen paid a tariff amounting
I 70 million and a quarter of dollars.
The government claims that on account
/ OF the device known as the Seventeen
I holes and the iron hook" it was de-
( frauded on shipments Of sugar reaching
I as far back as 1897, thus making the total
unpaid duties reach two millions and up
[ wards The trust has made restitution
I or million and a quarter after suit and
/ criminal prosecutions are to follow.
III the inventive faculty applied 10 dis
\ covering methods of eva6ing customs du-
! ties had been employed devisng useful
I appliances for the benefit of man. the in
dustrial and scientific progress Of the
/ race would have been far greater. Wom-
| en- are born smugglers. The proverbisl
| mystery which surrounds the dress of
/ woman, In sc far as the masculine mind
! Is concerned. would make it possible for
/ her 10 carry out every plan she laid TO
/ evade the customs officers with dia-
] AlASNlNSH JEWtltA ullQ AuNESs were II AAVt
/ that female inspectors are employed at
/ all the leading ports II is hard to make
/ a man understand that smuggling IS
/ criminal and the customs people say
I that it is impossible TO bring the mind
/ and conscience of a woman to realiza-
| ton Of this fact
/ The officials relate a story told by
minister Of the Disciples church. who had
/ a charge i'm a Maine town. He resided
with one Of his parishiOners. a widow,
/ who remarked 10 him one day that she
was going across the border to town
I in Canada to purchase winter outfits for
/ her children. The minister CHANGED to
meet her as she returned and, as she did
not carry any packages. was surprised 10
hear her say that she had bought the chill
dren's clothing. His parlshiOner there
upon proceeded to show him her under
I skirt in which there were dozen peck
cts, of goOdly size, containing suits Tor
all the children, and other things be
sides. The clergyman demonstrated with
his landladv for violating the law. 1T is
q man-made law" she replied. God al
I lows widows to buy where they can BUY
I the cheapest
man trotted down the gang-plank of
steamer at the New York docks. He was
[ a gOod-nstured looking chap and several
customs inspectors who freduented the
/ the races made bold to ask him to be al
lowed to touch his hump I'm order that
they might have good luck at the track
the following day. The anger and ner-
NOuSltSS ulSplaNGQ DN the nNttS man
aroused the suspicious Of the officers. and
they proceeded to search the afflicted
stranger. Indeed. they removed the
hump. which was found to consist OF
/ three porous plasters. beneath which was
a tissue paper package containing several
hundred articles Of jawelryi valued at
thousands of dollars. The officers were
never able to decide whether the bowls
Of the smuggler while the hump was be
ing removed were due in greater part To
Chagrin or physical pain. This man had
made twenty-seven smuggling trips across
the Atlantic. sometimes employing one
method Of evading the law and sometimes
another.
1t was charged that he had shipped the
body Of his old mother from Europe, with
the coffin containing much iewe1ry on
which duty should have been paid. but he
Indignantly denied the charge. He said
that it WAS the body Of his brother which
he had shipped. and confessed that he
had placed on the dead mans fingers
forty-two rings which would have borne
thousands Of dollars OF revenue had the
customs people found them.
One Of the most celebrated smuggters
with whom the customs officials have had
to deal was a man named Lascar, VINO,
uu to a few years ago, made the evasion
Of customs laws his profession. His chief
accomnlice was woman. who Would
meet him at Montreal when he came over
l from Liverpool with snluggied diamonds.
She too. wore q petticoat of many peck
cts. and IN these she would secrete the
Of the inspectors at the border Isasar
srnuggled hundreds Of thousands Of dol
lars worth Of diamonds. first and last.
! selling them. it was proved. to eminenuy
respectable dealers in New York.
He did not always EMPLOY a woman as
accomplice On one occasion. while on
deck Of a steamer from Liverpool to New
York. he encountered a nursemaid who
was giving a baby an airing He affected
to be much attracted to the child. and the
dav before the steamer reached New
the steamer had landed its passengers, a
customs inspector observed Lasar ex-
changing the babv's rattle for another
An examination OF the toy which Lasar
had taken from the child showed that its
rattle was produced by many thousands
OF dollars worth of diamonds.
On one trip across on Montreal stea M
CT Tasar formed the acquaintance OF
bridal couple from New York. and by the
time they had reached Montreal their &C
ouafntance had ripened sufficiently to
permit him to request the couple to de-
liver certain packages to man IN New
York whose address he gave He as
sured the pair the articles were OF little
value and not dutiable. but impressed
upon them the Importance Of not allow
ing the customs inspectors at the border
to see them. as to do so might occasion
deIav and embarrassment. The result
was the pair were taken into custody,
owing probably 10 their guilty appear
auce and the groom actually languished
in iaiI for about a month before he could
establish the fact that he was only
smugglers victim and not guilty prin-
ciDal.
Some years ago the customs officers at