The sun. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1833-1916, 1915-05-23

United States customs service
" tells Of a wealthy widow who,
about to be detected in the
act Of smuggling diamonds, encased
the precious stones In Jumps Of fat
and fed them to a pug dog. All Of the
special inspectors repeat this story
with perfectly straight faces and no
body ever believed II. Another tale
describes a distinguished foreigner
who concealed two pints Of diamonds
in the hollow part Of a thick BAMBOO
cane. The third and most son
BILE Of the trinity Of stories that never
happened concerns a mythical youth
who filled the tires Of a bicycle with
priceless pearls.
But the seemingly improbable
sometimes happens. I know because
I was an actor in one interesting
drama. The time was two years ago.
the place Philadelphia and the prin-
cipal character a charming young
woman.
We had information that she con-
templated smuggling one or more
rare diamonds into the country of
her birth. / was delegated to meet
her and to see hat the Government
lost none OF its lawful revenue. She
assured me with a c%onfding smile
that she had nothing Of a dutiable
nature in her trunk. Nevertheless /
insisted upon q search, and the thor
oughness with which I went about
the work made her understand that
she was under suspicion.
The duel was on from hat moment.
oItoht NnstrontfAn If tha nynnHA
was the only sign she gave, but I
recognized II as readily as II II had
been a spoken challenge. When I
opened her trunk I found or the very
top a nicely bound copy OF Dickens's
Great Expectations"
'Ill take that, II you please" she
said smllingly.
I handed 1t to her. and while /
went through her trunk she sat on q
coil of rope on the pier and placidly
read the book. I went through her
baggage with a fine tooth comb. al
the saying Is, and found nothing. She
carried a little wrist bag and after
my Waterloo with the trunk !
brusquely asked her to let me ses
the bag. She contemplated a crack in
the floor and said quietly:
rs 1t necessary"
Absolutely" I replied. preparing
for q scene.
But there was none. She quietly
unfastened the cord from her arm
and passed the bag yer to me and
resumed her reading. It contained
the usual trifles dear to the feminine
heart, but no gems and nothing dut,a-
BILE. As I returned the bag to her
there was again that almost imper-
cept!ble contraction Of the eyelid,
which seemed to say You think
you're smart, but I'm more than q
match for you"
rs that all?" was what she really
did say.
Yes" I answered grudgingly. $50
far as I know that's ALL"
She arose to leave the wharf and rs
she did SO the copy Of Great Expec-
tations'' slipped from under her arm
and fell on the floor. I stopped to
pick 1t up for her and al I did 30
noticed something peculiar about the
book. I looked II over and opened
some Of the pages.
They revealed nothing out of the
ordinary. I passed 1t in the direction
Of its owner. She reached for II and
at that momen the doubt that a
been in my mind formed into a definite
suspicion. I opened the book again
and discovered that the leaves In the
middle Of the volume had been
glued together. I smiled--a smile Of
triumph-and she dropped her eyes
as one who acknowledged defeat.
~Please come to the office with me-"
/ said.
She followed me and when we
reached the room where the Deputy
Collector Of Customs sat in state the
book was pried open and there In the
centre where the paper had been cut
out to make a cavity We found q
brilliant sunburst.
Did the young woman collapse and
acknowledge her fault? Not much!
She even reported me to the Collector
for %discourtesy and made a hard fight
to recover the diamonds. But in the
end they were confiscated and she was
compelled to pay a fine besides.
The Keck case began when the
Secretary of the Treasury received a
cablegram from the confidential agent
Of the United States Government
stationed In Paris stating that a gem
merchant had purchased an unusually
large number of white stones In the
French capital, and that part Of them
had been given to the captain of a
tramp steamer with instructions to
hand them to a confederate of the
diamond dealer on the arrival Of the
craft in Philadelphia. This part OF
the consignment was securely sealed
in a box and the skipper OF the ship.
Of course. was ignorant Of the danger
GUS enterprise in which he was en-
gagged. The moment he docked his
vessel an alert looking young man
boarded the boat and said briskly:
"Ill have the package that you
promised to deliver for Mr.. Keck, II
you please"
But who are you. and what author-
ity have you for making such a re-