Forest City press. (Forest City, Potter County, D.T. [S.D.]) 1883-19??, 1913-10-31
BY w. ]. BURNS.

G~hernourg the obliging guest boarded
.ns liner, as he said he would. He ais
ieIt- 1t at New York. He did not take
eilne 10 say goOdby to his Bohemian ac-
Hualntance. He was too busy whisper
ing 10 an inspector whom he knew and
llau pegged into his system" Say, do
you see that tall woman owe there?
ell she has some valuable jewelry
mat she hasn't declared. There's a
schumacher l know of. worth a good
many thousands"
Fancy the feelings of Mrs. Hargrave
Mhen she found that she was con-
ifon.ed and trapped 10y her own guest.
VI course, even though. she had been
eausnt red handed. as it were, she
TAXED. The little affair was repeted to
sne banker Who had sent the stomacher
PACK ana had paid for the pearls. He
eook the mater up with the govern
'leht. The result was a complaint.
l nae discovered two facts: A certain
man IN the customs service had sug-
Eereasted the smuggling, in the first place.
ma certain man had profited by the
secure, had received a large sum as
ms part of the 'Moiety'' when the gov
prevailed in the courts in the
case that he had fixed up"
unearthed the story Of Mr.. Jacob
son. a wealthy and retired merchant Of
Indianapolis. 1 went out to see Mr..
DDS Now. AS the government
Knew the case, Jacobson had made q
arg number of purchases of small
presents abroad for his friends and
Iamily. He probably had no intention
OF smuggling as a serious matter. The
iact was that he honestly felt that. as
iong as ne was going to give the things
away. he had a sort OF right not to
declare them. OF course he had no
such right. but people have a way of
Oece1Vlng themselves.
Wnen Jacobson landed. a most mys-
terious tip had gone forth, it seemed.
The inspectors found the presents.
Process Of Shsarina a SmuaaIsr.
Then began the process OF shearing
MIN. They told hin he would be ar
rested, indicted and sent to the peni-
!entlary. He was arrested. Some one
IN the customs service kept right after
MIN all h time. jacobson hired law
yers VINO were very kindly suggested to
nlm. All of strings were pulled
and big fees were extracted from him.
Inc man was scared almost to death,
ands before he got out of it, it had
cost him 100000. The case had been
carried to h United States district at
torney In Trenton. and, just at the OPP
perfume time to keep the case alive for
going to the grand jury.
NOW, why did you do it?' I asked.
what ever put the notion into your
head?"
Well" he answered. ST met a fellow
on the boat coming over, and I got to
talking with him. He seemed like a nice
sort of chap, and told me I was a fool
to declare the things-said he could fix
1T all right. Say, do you know, I think
he roped me in? I think 1 saw him in
the custom house n day when there
was some kind of hearing on. 1t was a
franleup."
II shouldn't be surprised 1 assent
co: VIII you make an AFFIDAVIT to that
1t was late at night and the man
promised to do it next day as soon as
he could get a lawyer.
But the next day something had hap
pened. The mans mouth was sealed.
Powerful Influences, swift and secret,
had scented my trail and had succeed
ed In squelching the case.
BY this time T had begun to learn
whom l could trust and whom 1 could
not in the customs house. There was
a ycung lawyer in the law division
whom we will call O'Connor. He was
pretty. nearly the only man 1 had
come in contact with SO far, who tried
to do the right thing. Others 1 found
later who aided him. But all were
marked for the slaughter as soon as 1T
appeared evident to the CRATER that
they We're aiding the government. Only
an accidental change in the admin
straticn at Washington saved the young
lawyer from being thrown u by the
artistic method of a%bolishing his office
entirely! Even then, he was forced out
later.
"shut Up Or Get Out"
O'Connor had had his suspicious for
years of what was going on. I had
taken a fancy TO him n began to ask
questions. preparatory to coming out
into my open investigation. But the
young lawyer couldn't talk without the
the superior. Bluffing, this man shout
ed to O'Connor: IF o know anything
say It." He meant to be understood as
shut up OF get out"
But the young lawyer had nerve. A
few hours later he was pouring a string
of amazing stories into my ear.
I was beginning to get acquainted
was only a question Of time when I
would catch him right" It wasn't
very long before I learned of q very
prominent New Yorker named Burke.
who had gone abroad the previous
summer. On the way across, there had,
happened to be on the same boat q
young lady, Miss Florette Duval. whom
Burke nj and with whom he was
very friendly. Indeed. when Burke re-
turned. 1t also happened that Miss Du-
val was on the same boat. More than
that, 1t happened that a watchful pair
of eyes a been leveled at the pair.
both on the ocean and while they were
abroad.
They landed. and there was the u.s.
ual making of declarations and the
search at the pier. In this case, how
ever. nothing of a dutiable nature was
found.
peared from the wharf when a special
employe of the customs service rushed
up to Burke's apartment in New York.
I demand to know where those three
extra trunks are. You know what I