El Paso herald. (El Paso, Tex.) 1901-1931, 1913-06-14
TERY quietly. a number Of
globe trotting Americans were


globe trotting Americans were
homing from Paris. London, and Berlin,
and when was with the United States
secret service. I slipped into New York.
1t happened that from lrate citizens
of wealth and position all over the
country there had been leaking through
to Washington for some time, TO the
secretary Of the treasury and even TO
the president himself himself, some Of
the most outrageous stories OF how
they had been spied on, duped, bled,
shaken down, and systema Ucally black
mailed By some one IN the customs
service.
The stories. so far. had been mostly
OF the same character, too In short
the victims had not all come into court
with clean hands. They had been-tO
put il mildly-disregardi the tariff
They had attempted 10 smuggle, and
had been caught at It, But aside from
that the prOVOcatiOn and the manner
Of their capture had been so raw that I
had made up my mind, almost as soon
as I took up the case TO trust no one
in the customs service until had made
sure Of him.
had slipped into town quietly. Yet
almost before I had had a chance TO
start, I began TO learn how wide was
the underground connection Of the
CRATER NO one IN New Ork SnOuld
have known that / was working on the
case Still, almost Immediately, pow
erful friends of some one In the Gus
toms service began to approach me in
order to shut me off
Big Names Figure in Mystery.
The more 7 thought about IT, the
more il seemed as If the thing perhaps
ramified up to the head of the local
service himself. I determined TO start
my secret Investigation just a little bit
more secret than ever. And the crook,
who didn't know me or my method, al
ter having been warned TO look out,
and having looked out and seen moth
ing. began 10 think that the whole
thing was a fake.
There were some big names in the
government and in society involved in
the case before I got through, and for
that reason, all Of them have been
changed in this story The more i
delved. the more amazed I was TO see
in what a new light il placed them
The HurErave Pearls.
There was. for instance, the cele-
brated case Of the Hargrave pearls In
Paris the year before Mrs. Hargrave
had been looking at one Of the most
dazzling pieces of JeWelry that was
eve made II was a schumacher when
could be subdivided So that a section
Of 1t could be worn as nara Inere
were 300 diamonds in it, hundred en-
erals. and some 80 or 40 pearls, with
one huge drop pearl fully an inch in
length One night she had even worn
il at a dinner in her apartment As
matter Of fact Mansfield had declined
to buy IL for her.
Imagine, now. the scene at the pier
which Mrs Hargrave had returned was
warped into her berth in the North
river. Mrs. Hargrave had very. little
TO declare, she said Mrs. HargraFe was
accosted by an inspector, who acted
very much as If he had heard a piece
OF news about a dazzling stOmacher-
The upshot was that Mrs. Hargrave
was searched They didn't find the
stOmacher, for II was still IN Paris
But they did find pearl necklace and
some other rrinkets composed Of bril-
liants Of marvellous perfection, worth
about SIS. 900. She had concealed them
in her purse. The necklace and other
jewels were seized, and after a good
deal Of litigation the government won
But when I began to investigate the
case, 7 found that there was another
side TO il. 1t all went back 10 one night
in Paris, when a little dinner had taken
place at the apartment of Mrs Har-
grave. & number of admirers had
gathered to do her homage, and, in a
moment of vanity, the woman had dis
PLAYED the stOmaCher that had been
brought UP on approval
1t had quite dazzled the eyes of one
Of the guests Where did you get it2'
he had asked
I've just bought it Don't you think
i is handsOmeE
Trapped by Her Own Dinner Guest.
HIN" ruminated the guest. IF You
try to take this into the United States,
YOU know, the-ah-expense viii be
enormous. Why, you'll have TO pay
60 percent duty on that Even if the
stones were loose you'd have TO pay
10 percent Now, 7 can get that past
for nothing I'm going back on the
same vessel Don't declare IL, and I'll
see that you get through all right"
At Cherbourg the obliging guest