The Hawaiian gazette. [volume] (Honolulu [Oahu, Hawaii]) 1865-1918, 1911-12-26
EOLLEGTOR FINDS
INSTlMPED OPIUM
customs inspectors Seize Two
HUNDRED and Fifty Tins Of
Contfaband Drug.
tFrom Sunday : AdvertlseI.l

(From Sundays Advertiaes.)
Guided. largely BY that sixth sense
he customhouso inspector develops
after 4 lime IN UnGo Sans employ,
Doputy Collector Msdeirou, and other
,leuths Ofithe department yesterday
morning -Selzed nearly Sl5,OOO worth Of
umuegled opium. II was the biggest
Hnd Of the kind in many, many moons
and Collector stackabie and his men
are corroepOndingly elated. The col
leetor II generous, however, and gives
much Of the credit to his deputies Ne
deirOs and Taylor.
The seizure was made shortly before
noon, the drug having been discovered
after n long search, in a consignment
of fiSh, brought in from San Franchise
by the Oceanic liner Sierra. While
Collector Stackable would not vouch-
safe any information regarding the
subject IL is whispered In other quar-
tiers that the find viii 60 q long way
4 toward breaking up what lis beginning
to be considered an organized band OF
smugRlefs Of the narcotic.
For months now the deputy collectors
and inspectors attached to the local
custom house have been watching the
incoming steamers from the coast, fred
by the ambition TO smash If possible
the ring they believed was shipping the
drug into Honolulu with almost every
ship from San Francisco. Collector
5tackable desiring to get on the ground
early appointed Deputy Collector Me
deiros to special duty in connection with
the shipment believed to have been sent
down here on the Sierra.
Nothing But NOsea
Fhei officials had nothing but their
noses and that well developed sixth
sense to guide them. It is true that
a letter from the secret service people
in san Francisco had warned them that
there was the possibility that the drug
would come down on the Oceanic liner,
but the letter came on the Sierra and
was not in the collector s Office until
after the inspectors were hard on the
Job of locating the opium.
With Deputy Collector Taylor and
inspectors Cameron, Short and Reeves,
Medeiros get busy as soon as the Sierra
pulled into her berth at the Oceanic
wharf. All day Friday he and those
with him worked trying to find some
clue to the drug, but in vain. -Medeiros
came down bright and early yesterday
morning and got to work Ggain. This
time he began checking off every pack
age that came up from the matches Of
the big liner. 1t was believed that the
drug had been sent down packed il
barrels of. dried FISH and no less thar
fifty-nine barrels OF fish did Medeiroi
and his fellow workers open in theil
search. Finally they lighted upon tn,
fact that seventeen packages in one
consignment, part of which consisted Of
ten barrels of dried fish, had beer
missed in some way and Medeiros ani
Reeves and Taylor started still hunt
for them, Once found the rest wal
easy4r
Find In Barrels
.Insthe first barrel opened there wa
fonndathirty Tins of the stuff. Instant
~ ithe rest of the consignment wa
rushed over to the customs warehous,
baelcsof the collector s offices and ther,
with hammer and Ratchet the worker
got busy. Collector Stackable himself
superintendent the operations.
Barrel after barrel was opened ant
each gave up its secret without protest
In addition to the stuff packed in tn,
barrels three fve-pound coffee tins wer
found, each containing quantity o
ensce, woTth from five to ten dollar
pound. With opium at $3.50 til
and ensee at an average of $3.50
pound the total value of the han
amounts to about $4,000 in round fig
ures.
Speaking of the find the collector sal
to a representative of The Advertiser
yesterday:
''That find is in way the china
to tho labor of many months. It be
gan when ! found out last summon tina
the price of opium in San Francise
was materially lower than the stuff vii
fetch here. That was the first hint tina
smuggling from the Coast might be syl
Dramatically carried on in eOastwise vel
sells. Since that time, as eyeFybod
knoWA, We have had ample corroboi
alton of that suspicion. Almost ever
steamer that comes in from San Fran
cisco brinRs opium, but they Will no
do'so much longer II the captures mad
by my men continue Give tho boys IN
credit. They have worked like Trojan
ahd wish that there was some way 0
giving Thorn substantial reward
The fYults Of one Of Collector statl
able's seiznfes came into his ofilce yel
terday with the receipt from the [
=. district court Of 62207.s4 fine an
costs paid by Normap b. Smith, ares
I'd In gan Francisco on adviees wire
BY the collector 20 the OFFICIALS Of tbs
city, The payment OF this money Int
the treasury departmental Golfers wind
up that case. There are several eihel
pendipR.