The Press., 1912-08-21
PAYING THE BO5Y.
Custom House Officials Have
 Some Queer Experiences.
PASSING A sEALsKlN COAT.

The Way the Matter Wac Fixed Ur
 With an Appraiser and the Surprise
 That Awaited the Ownor-A Bride, a
 Ring, Husband and a Bluff.
 The general impression is that the life of customs inspector is very dull routine of hardship, but such is not always the case.
 The average person believes there is little romance about the life and un- occasionally 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 Ot the customs man. but it exists never | theless.
 There is a deputy collector now in the custom house of New York whose experiences in several years are really humorous. He is a grave. solemn look ing man, thus bearing out the tra- 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:
 "I had an odd experience the other day. A young man from an office in Wall street had gone to Europe to b. married. In London he bought his wife a ring. He had put it in his dec laration at a value of $1.OOO. He brought his bride to me. and she held out her pretty little pink hand that might examine the ring. It flashed R,rVIU ARo es and sparkles didn't seem quite r'gh so asked to be allowed to examine il more carefully. The bride blushingly pulled the ring off and handed it to me I showed it to an expert appraiser. who promptly declared that it was a fake piece of jewelry worth about $1O
 "I sympathized with the young man truth. oh, yes,' he replied. T know You see, didn't have much none, with me, so bought this for fl 6s. but had to ring in a bluff on my wife. Don't give me away The pool fellow was willing to pay several timeF 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 I boarded a big steamship from Europe I was ap- preached by a man who introduced himself as one who had formerly been collector of one of the most importan! western ports. I 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 confided in me that he had a sealskin coat, bought in Paris for his wife, which he had not includ- ed in his declaration, knowing that sealskins could not be imported. Nev- ertheless, just because we were both members of the same fraternity. he wanted to know If there was not som way in which he could get the coat into the country. ... ...
 q would have been glad to help him. but didn't see how 1t 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 it on the declaration as an imitation sealskin valued at $75. The western man was delighted
 That's what I 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 little golden cone on the table. It con- sisted of twenty dollar gold piece. q ten, i've, a three, a two and half and one. all in gold. He showed the stack over to me. ....
 "'Just souvenir. 8 reminder of your cleverness in getting that seal coat through for me- he said.
 Il refused to take 1t, 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, I asked him how much he had paid for the coat In Paris. He said he had paid $1,O0O. He could hardly believe 1t when told him that we had not falsified the declaration, that the coat was an imi- tation and that $75 was it's outside value. He called belIboy then and there and sent the coat to a furrier to have 1t appraised. The furrler sent back word that he would sell him all he wanted just like it for $65 each."- New York Herald.