New-York tribune., 1910-08-24
CUSTOMS MEN GET BUSY
Disprove Charge That Vigilance
Has Been Relaxed.
VARIED GRIST BROUGHT IN
Wife of Jeweller and Her Sister
Relieved of Valuables Worth
Thousands.

The Custom House grist conslsLeo
terdav of a cotton broker from Ne" oI
leans. the wife and sister OF Ne" Vi n
4eve1Ier with bag of diamonds ana
Massachusetts building contractor anu
u-ina maker. whose wife shed bitter tears
1hen arraigned for having failed 10 oe-
.c1ara a LOT of valuable articles. The cotton
broker was William Tween McGinnis- Johh
7 Raczkiewicz. deputy surveyor IN cilai so
when the steamship kronprlnz w liiel''.
was tied TO her pier in Hoboken, believed
that the brokers' trunks contained aoou'
four times the value of goods declared.
Mr. McGinnis protested The examiner
went through the baggage without hluSii
ragard n objections and the result bore
ont the DEPUTY surveyors belief. The dec-
1aration called for 500 The trunks were
sent TO the Appraisers Stores
on the pier where the steamship Grosser
IZurfiirs+ was discharging her passengers
Mr. and Mrs. Alfred Dugrenier' OF Law
renee. Mass, were unable to convince Ln0
INSPECTORS that their declaration was rlsn''
Mr. Dugrenier and his wife went over 10
the Custom House to appear before Spe-
cfal Deputy Surveyor Smyth. Inc ha"-
renee man said that he was contract
ing builder. and made wine, and did not
know that there was anything wrong with
tho declaration. Mrs Dugrenier said she
had purchased nothing in Europe. ana
when pressed 10 rack her memory insisted
again and again that she bought no'hlns
? broad Her husband came to the spec1al
deputy surveyors rescue
There were a woman's coat and SCARF.
each with a foreign label: a gold chaln'
three watches, three scarf pins ana
locket. all of real gold, in Mrs Dugren1er
baggage Mr. Dugrenier went with MS
wife into a room adjoining the place where
the hearings are held He was gone per-
haps fifteen minutes before he returned
his weeping wife walking by his side she
no longer denied having bought the goods
abroad and they were sent to the seizure
room and the case referred TO Collector
Loeb.
There came from the steamship kron-
prinz Wilhelm two women for whom Mr.
Raczkiewicz and his inspectors were walt
ing They We're Mrs. NJ. Stuhlbach, who
said she was the wife of a jeweller Of Pas
sale, n ]. and her sister-in-law, Mrs
Marie ReisCh. A stewardess had discovered
that the woman had a bag of diamonds,
lot of Iockets and chains and other JeWelry
Mrs. stuhIbach and Mrs. Reisch were
with more than usual emphasis that they
had not attempted TO evade paying duty.
They had concealed the jeWelry, valued at
several thousand dollars, about their per-
son to avoid possible theft They were
women. the jewellers wife
said Special Deputy Surveyor Smyth
wouldn't take this explanation al its face
value, ordered the jewelry seized and re-
ferred the disposition of the case to the
Collector.
Collector Loeb, with these cases to dis
pose Of has about fifteen charges Of vio-
lating the federal customs laws to decide.
He could not take them up yesterday, but
will make a beginning to-day If possible.
He said that the big harvest of customs
evasions coming so soon after 1t was said
that the service here had loosened up on
its vigilance disproved that charge pretty
The Collector said that persons who were
not attempting TO evade or viola>r the
laws in other ways would never have diff
ffcuIty in getting ashore with dispatch, but
that those who sought TO cheat the govern
ment would have as much difficulty as
ever In carrying out their plans. He de-
clared there was absolutely no change In
the determination 10 stop smuggling at this