Idaho County free press. [volume] (Grangeville, Idaho Territory) 1886-current, 1912-04-18
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 tire Owner-A Bride, .
Ring. a Husband and Bluff.

Rinq. Husband and q Blur.
| The general impression is that the
| life of customs inspector is a very
dull routine of hardship. but such is
not always the ease.
The average person believes there is
II little romauce about the life and un-
questionable the tang of the sea, but II
almost never occurs to him that it is
tue Of the funniest businesses in the
world. The element Of humOr never
enters into the <. neral appreciation OF
the customs man. but 1t exists never
theless.
There il u deputy collector now in
the custom house of New York whose
experiences in several years are really
humorous. He IN a 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:
II had an old 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 ring. He had put 1t in his dec
laration at a value of $1,000 He
brought his bride to me. and she held
out her pretty little pink hand that
might eXan.inp the ring. 1t flashed
and sparkled beautifully. but the flash
es and sparkles didn't seem quite right,
so asked to be allowed to examine it
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 So
II sympathized with the young man,
and when got chance told him the
truth. oh. yes.' he replied. 4 know
You see. didn't have much money
with me. so I bought this for Fl 6s..
but ! had to ring in a bluff on my
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 laughabie experience. but
more serious for the passenger. hap
pened not long ago. When boarded
a big steamship from Europe was APP
proached by man who introduced
himself as one who had formerly been
collector of one Of the most important
western ports. knew him very we'll
by reputation. He was returning from
abroad with his family. He explained
that he was very wealthy and did not
want to evade paying all the duty nee
essary, but he confidei in me that he
had sealSllin 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
members of the same fraternity, he
wanted to know If there was not some
way in which he could get the coat
irto the country.
u would have been glad to help him.
but didn't see how Ii could be done.
However,. told him | would put the
question up to the appraiser at the
pier and If the matter could be ar
ranged would fix it up The ap-
praiser looked the coat over and told
me to put 1t on the declaration as an
imitation sealskin valued at $75. The
western man was delighted
THAT'S what call clever he said
"A few days later | got letter from
this man asking me to call upon him
1t 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 a
little golden cone on the table. 1t con-
sisted of twenty dollar gold piece. a
EN-. five. three. two and a half
md one. all in gold He showed the
stack over tc me-
Just souvenir. reminder Of
our cleverness in getting that seal
oat through for me. he said.
Il refused to take it. but he tried to
'ress 1t on me and told me to give It
the appraiser. but refused. Later.
When his family left us. asked him
ow much he had paid for the coat In
'aris He said he had paid $1,000.
lie could hardly believe 1t when told
i'm that we had not fasitied the
eclaratiOn. that the coat was an imi- |
alton and that SIS was its outside
aIue. He called bellboy then and
here and sent the coat to a furrier to
ave 1t appraised. The furrier sent
aek word that he would sell him all
@ wanted just like it for $65 each.',.
ew York Herald.