Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1910-03-20


the example of those who are caught and heav-
lily penaized tends to make the others afraid to
be dishonest. if not voluntarily honest
James S. Garrison, Surveyor of the Port of
the question. He maintains that ninety per
cent. of transatlantic travellers are honest and
should not be classed as thieves and swindlers
without specific justification.
A Clever Modiste
DEPUTY SURVEYOR McKEON spent two
weeks last summer getting evidence against
young woman buyer for New York modiste.
Her nervousness after landing impressed Nc
Keen and he asked her many questions. Well
prepared with plausible answers, she lied con-
sistently and might have baffled detection had
she not dropped love letter on the pier. The
amatory epistle contained few references
which belied one of her answers; but did not
hint that she had gone abroad to buy gowns for
the trade
McKeon had no evidence that would bring
conviction in federal court The fair buyer
said she lived in Boston and had sailed from
that port, In one trunk she had fifteen hundred
dollars worth of gowns bearing the labels of
local house from which she said she had bought
them year before. Soiled shields were sewn
in the sleeves to give the appearance of wear.
and had McKeon been an official of less
perience he might have let her go. Her case
wavered in the balance; but McKeon took
chance and held the trunk with the gowns.
The young woman had another trunk, how
ever containing nothing dutiable, and it passed
inspection. A man was assigned to watch it
at the Grand Central Station, where it was sent
ostensibly en- route to Boston. 1t lay there
three days and then was carted to Orange, New
Jersey. McKeon went to Orange traced the
trunk. and found that the young woman was
living in New York. He located her. but she
had engaged lawyer who was present when
Mckeon called on her, and on advice of counsel
she declined to answer questions. Meanwhile
Mckeon learned that she had been accom-
panied to and from Europe by another woman
whom he also located
Both women were subpoenaed before the
United States Grand Jury and on the witness
stand the companion broke down under cross
examination and confessed that they were
buyers for New York house and purchased
the gowns in Paris. A month after her arrival
at New York the fair recipient of the love letter
paid total of thirty-three hundred dollars in
duties and penalty. When she got through
with the customs officials the gowns, which she
might have brought in from Paris honestly at
a total expense of twenty-four hundred dollars
had cost her fifty-seven hundred
The Girl with Diamond Heels
THE girl with the diamond heels is story of
smuggling which has been told SO often and
SO differently on steamship piers that its origi-
nal version is somewhat clouded. A young and
handsome woman made it known that she was
troubled with insomnia. Unable to sleep well
on land, she sought the soothing influence of
to induce slumber denied her ashore She
travelled back and forth on different steamships
for year, spending month or two in town
after each voyage. and might have continued
trips indefinitely had it not been for broken
cleat in gangplank.
After this fashionable invalid had made two
or three excursions to London and Paris several
diamond houses in Maiden Lane complained
that certain dealer selling gems far below
the legitimate wholesale price. He was shad-
owed for months. but the inspectors could find
nothing irregular in his business. He con-
tinued to sell at low prices, until the girl afflicted
with insomnia tripped one day on gangplank
As she pitched forward the heel of her left
shoe was wrenched from the vamp. Forgetting
her bruises. she reached for the heel: but the
whee, of hand truck crushed it and from the
hollow center rolled package of unset dia-
monds. She was searched. but no more dia-
monds were found on her. except in the heel of
the other shoe. Five pairs of shoes in her bag
gage were ripped to shreds: but the heels of
only three shoes contained gems. Within
week it was found that the girl with the dia-
mond heels had been smuggling for the man
who sold below price. Her simple little trip on
the gangplank had encompassed both her own
and the diamond dealers downfall