The Lambertville record. [volume] (Lambertville, N.J.) 1872-1968, 1918-07-04
The Nemesis of the Sugar Samplers
OBSERVATION-DISCLOSURES
BY WILLIAM ATHERTON DU PUY
Copyright by W. G. Chapman

a romance on sugar ships the same
having background of fact"
THAT is splendid" exclaimed Miss
Gottrell, because it does so easily a
thing that looks so hard. 1t does not
spoil an illusion at all. 1t is wonder
fully clever"
1t was in this way that Special
Agent Gard got an opportunity to go
most carefully over the docks, through
the warehouses, into the ships of the
Continental Refining company. 1t was
in this way that he was enabled to
ask many questions that might have
aroused suspicion had he been there
in any other guise than that of writ
ing man. 1t was in this way that he
was able to observe rather carefully
every process of the transfer of car
go of sugar through the custom
house at which the federal government
takes its toll.
All the time the special agent was
looking for a clew-was bringing an
incisive mind to bear upon the prob
lem of the course the sugar took and
the possibility of fraud at each step.
He spent days observing the methods
of the weighers. He watched every
detail of the transfer of cargo from
ship to warehouse. He loafed about
the sheds where the samples were
taken-a process in which he took
vast interest.
Here the samplers, government en-
ployees, ran their little hollow tubes
through the mesh of the sacks that
contained sugar. The tubes went in
empty but came out full of that which
was within. This constituted the sam
pie for a given sack Each sample
was made into a little package, care
fully labeled, and went to the govern
menr laboratory to be tested. The
duty On tho sugar coming in was
charged according to the degree of
purity of these samples.
1t was here that Billy Gard picked
up his first clue. He noticed a Pc
culiarity about the methods used by
the samplers in inserting their tubes
into the sacks. They we're always run
along the side of the sack and never
plunged into its very heart, Tobin
the little consumptive, sampled in this
peculiar way, as did the hammer
handed Hansen of the every-ready
scoWl. Yet it would be easier to take
the sample out of the middle of the
bag. Why did the samplers skim
near the edge?
Gard took this question to the gov
eminent laboratory, but found no
ready answer to it. He procured a
typical sack of sugar and from it took
two samples--one from the very heart
and one from the outside rim. These
he had tested in the laboratory. That
from the middle of the bag showed a
degree Of purity per cent higher
than that from the outside. The i'm
purity, the report stated, was in the
form of water.
Technical men were set to work to
determine through many experiments
the difference in the grade of the su-
gar in different parts of the bag.
Finally it was established that raw
sugar has a tendency to take up mois-
ture, and that that portion of it which
is exposed does so. The sugar near
the outside came in contact with the
air which contained moisture, while
that on the insiIe did not The
refiners were, of course, aware Of
this tendency. But the important con-
clusion from the viewpoint of Billy
Gard was that the government sam
piers were doing their work in such
a way as to favor the importers. Here
might be a leak that was very i'm
portant
William H. Gard, special writer, that
day disappeared from the sugar docks
and was never seen again. Simultane-
ously with his disappearance the sa-
loon of Jean F1avot, not block and
a half distant, acquired new custom
err in the person of roughly dressed
young laborer who did not drink as
heavily as some of his fellows, but was
none the less willing to buy for others.
But what was vastly more in his favor
in the eyes of Flavot than even liber-
atty was the fact that he spoke
French. Mon Dieu, these rough Amer
leans who knew not of the blandish-
ments of absinthe and drank only the
whisky! The resort keeper and the
newcomer held them in common con-
tempt.
The special agent had selected the
resort of Jean Flavot as basis of
operations because it was the place
most frequented by the samplers. He
wanted, in the first place, to find out
if these men had more money to spend
than honest men of their salaries
should have. The individual who
makes Illicit money usually spends it
lavishly and it should therefore be
easy to determine if the samplers
~ere being paid to be crooked. And
Gard, after two weeks of convivial as
ISOLATION with them, was rather thrown
back upon himself when he found that
their carousals were always within
their means and that money was
scarce among them. They were evil
IDENTIFY not being bribed.