The Barre daily times. (Barre, Vt.) 1897-1959, 1912-10-14
PAYING the DUTY.
Custom House Officials Have
Some Queer Experiences.
PASSING A SEALSKIN COAT.
Tho Way the Matter Was Fixed Up
With an Appraiser and the Surprise
That Awaited tho owner--A Bride, q
Rjna, a Husband and . Bluff.


That Awaited tho ownor--A Bride,
RING. a Husband and Bluff.
The general impression is that tn,
life of customs inspector is IA very
dull routine Of hardship, but such IL
not always the case
| The average person believes there IL
little romance about the life and un
questionably the tang Of the sea. but II
almost never occurs to him that IL Is
one OF the funniest businesses In the
world. The element of humor never
enters into the general appreciation OF
the customs man. but 1t exists never
theless.
There Is deputy collector now In
the custom house of New York whose
experiences In several years are really
humorous. He is q grave. solemn LOOK
ing man. thus bearing out the ira
ditions, but that does not prevent him
from enjoying the odd incidents that
bob up In his line OF duty. Speaking
Of them, he said;
81 had an odd experience the other
day. A young man from an Office In
Wall street had gone to Europe to be
married. In London he bought his
wife a ring. He had put 1t in his dec
laration at value of $1,000. lie
brought bis bride to me, and she held
out her pretty little pink hand that l
might examine the ring. 1t flashed
and sparkled beautifully. but the fash.
es and sparkles didn't seem quite right,
so / asked to be allowed to examine II
more carefully. The bride blushingly
pulled the ring Off and handed 1t to me.
showed it to an expert appraiser.
who promptly declared that 1t was a
fake piece of jewelry worth about $40.
II sympathized with the young man,
and when got chance told him the
truth oh. yes, he replied. i know.
You see. didn't have much money
with me. so bought this for FL 6s..
wife. Don't give me away The poor
fellow was willing to pay several times
the value of the ring to make his bluff
good. but we fixed It up for him with
out his bride knowing the truth.
Another laughable experience. but
more serious for the passenger. hap
pened not long ago When | boarded
big steamship from Europe was ap
preached by a man who Introduced
himself as one who had formerly been
collector of one of the most important
western ports | knew him very well
by reputation He was returning from
abroad with his family. He explained
that he was very wealthy and did not
want to evade paying oil the duty nee
essary, but he confided in me that he
had sealskin coat, bought in Paris |
for his wife, which he had not includ-
ed In his declaration, knowing that |
sealskins could not be imported. New /
ertheless, just because we were both |
Of the same fraternity. he
wanted to know If there was not some
way In which he could get the coat
into the country.
81 would have been glad to help him.
II /
However, told him l would put the
question up to the appraiser at the
pier and IL the matter could be ar
ranged would fix 1t up. The APP
oraiser looked the coat over and told
ne to put 1t on the declaration as an
sealskin valued at S75. The
western man was delighted.
That's what call clever he said.
"a few days later got letter from
his man asking me to call upon him
It one of the most fashionable uptown
hotels. went to see him and had
luncheon with him and his family.
When luncheon was over he made
title golden cone on the table 1t con.
listed Of twenty dollar gold piece.
en-, FIVE. a three, a two and half
nd one, all In gold. He showed the
tack over to me.
Just souvenir. a reminder of
our cleverness In getting that seal
oat through for me- be said.
II refused to take 1t. but he tried to
ress 1t on me and told me TO give II
, the appraiser. but refused. Later.
hen his family left Us. asked him
ow much he had paid for the coat In
arts. He said he had paid $1,000.
lie could hardly believe It when told
i'm that we had not falsified the
that the coat was an iml.
ltion and that $50 was Its outside
alue. he called a bellboy then and
here and sent the coat to furrier to
ave 1t appraised The furrier sent
ack word that he would sell him all
E wanted Just like 1t for SOS each."-
ew York Herald.