Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1919-06-08
Running Down the Cleverest Crooks

I Running Dc
(continued from First pasa)
eagle eyes Of the ever alert representa-
tivss Of the law.
Non-transparent cold cream Jars
proved to be an effective way to send
opium from Canada to various American
cities. Neatly printed cold cream labels
were pasted on each jar and were pack
cd In nice little wooden boxes with the
regulation cold cream printing on each
end.
Tho return Of hundreds Of race horses
from Juarez, just across the Rio Grande
from Ell Paso, has always afforded .
prolific source of smuggling. Tia dope
il hidden in straw and hay and various
other places in the trappings Of the
racers
The major portion Of the smuggling
into this country rs from Lower Cali
fornia, q Mexican state that nature has
separated a long distance from the other
sections Of that country. The boundary
between the state Of California and
Lower California In sparsely sektled.
Pack mules and autos are uaed almost
exclusively in this section. Ths drugs
are either brought direct from the far
east by vessels or shipped in openly.
The second largest quantity h SNUG
gied from Canada. The border line be-
tween the United States and Canada
being more than 5000 miles in length, 1t
is impossible for the revenue depart
ment to guard every foot Of It with It's
present force.
After these contraband drugs are s,sc-
cessfuily smusgied into this country tho
next and most difficult prohlem. Of
course. Ia to peddIe them to the hum
dreds OF thousands Of miserable dope
dends. Equally as much thought and
profound study are devoted to means Of
peddling to the victims as are given to
ways and means Of smuggling across
the borders
A handsome, demure, refined ap-
pearing and attractively gowned
young lady in q western city hit
upon a perfectly natural way Of fur
nishing the muchly desired stuff to
her many customers. She had accu-
mulated neat fortune and had pur-
chased home in the fashionable
section Of the city before the ON
GERS were able to fathom the extreme
simpleness Of her activities. 1t was
her custom every afternoon to 1eis-
urely saunter down the main shop
ping street, gazing admiringly at the
then MUNICH a peanut that she ex-
tracted from her handbag. Now and
then she would be pleasantly greet
ed by man or woman who, to all
appearances, was an old-time friend.
The polite and obvious procedure. of
course. was for her to hold up the
handbag and ask the friend to share
the peanuts.
In court it was discovered there
was a partition in the handbag, one
side containing real peanuts that she
ate herself, while the other side con-
tanned dope-flled peanuts. Her even
ings had been assiduously devoted
to the work of carefully splitting
open peanuts with a sharp knife and
substituting pills for the nuts.
Peddling dope in hollow walking
sticks has become so common that all
officers in every section of the coun-
try now look with suspicion on every
man who sports a cane.
Half a dozen or more stamps on q
nice fat letter have been frequently
found to have a quantity Of powdered
drugs snugly hidden beneath them.
Gorgeous post cards, with raised
decorations, made of silk or feathers,
and with such messages as ITO
Mother Dear" have always been a ia
vorite method of shipping powdered
drugs.
The husband and wife who used
pie in transferring a goodly quantity
Of opium to one of their customers,
must have been brought up in New
England. They constructed a pie of
delicious looking brown crust but
instead of stufing it with juicy
mince meat or golden pumpkin, they
filled the interior with villainous
looking black dope.
An expensive gold watch, with dia-
mond adornments, was utilized by an
ingenious specimen of the hustling