The midland journal. (Rising Sun, Md.) 1885-1947, 1912-07-19
AYING THE DUTY.
Custom House Officials Have
Some Queer Experiences.
PASSING A sEALsKIN COAT.

The Way the Matter Was Fixed Up
With an Appraiser and the Surprise
That Awaited the owner--A Bride, a
Ring, Husband and Bluff.
The general impression is that the
life Of q customs inspector is very
dull routine of hardship, but such Isl
not always the case.
The average person believes there Is
a little romance about the life and un-
Questionably the tang OF the sea, but it
almost never occurs to him that It is
one Of the funniest businesses In the
world. The element Of humor never
enters into the general appreciation Of
the customs man, but It 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 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 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 d ring. He had put,it in his dec
laration at value Of $1,000. He
brought bis bride to me, and she held
ont her pretty little pink hand that /
might examine the ring. It flashed
and sparkled beautifully. but the fash
es ana sparkles didn't seem quite right,
50 asked to be allowed to examine it
more carefully. The bride blushingly
'pulled the ring of and handed it to me.
showed it to an expert appraiser,
who promptly declared that it was
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 Ell S.,
but / had to ring In 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 1t 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
a big steamship from Europe / was APP
preached by man who introduced
himself as one who had formerly been
collector of one Of the most important
western ports. I 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 all 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
membeAs Of the same fraternity, he
wanted to know If there was not some
way in which he could get the coat
into the country.
II would have been glad to help him.
but didn't see how it could be done.
However. told him would put the
question up to the appraiser at the
pier and IL the matter could be ar
ranged I would ak it up. The APP
praiser looked the coat over and told
me to put It on the declaration as an
imitation sealskin valued at SIS The
western man was delighted
. That's what call clever, he said.
"A few days later got a letter from
this man asking me to call upon him.
at 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 q
little golden cone on the table. It con-
sisted of twenty dollar gold piece, a
ten, five, three, a two and a half
and one, all in gold. He showed the
stack over to me-
just souvenir, q reminder Of
your cleyerness In getting that seal
coat through for me- he said.
II refused to take It. but he tried to
press 1t on me and told me to give 1t
to the appraiser. but refused Later,
when his family left Us. asked him
how much he had paid for the coat in
Paris. He said he had paid $1,000
He could hardly believe it when told
him that we had not falsified the
declaration. that the coat was an Iml-
tation and that $75 was its outside
value. He called bellboy then and
there and sent the coat to furrier to
have It appraised. The furrier sent
back word that he would sell him ali
he wanted just like it for $65 each.',--
New York Herald