Year: 1875

Inspector on Duty


; There are about !, ,320 men attached tC
4 the New York Custom House. Their du
a ties are various and complex. The writel
E was once told by clerk in United State:
arsenal that if the Government purchased
; q paper of taeks, the word ''tacks'' had
TO be written in the Government books
twenty-four times before a single one ol
, them could be driven. a like degree OF
: system" is carried out in collecting du-
ties. - Friends wrote to me-" said Gus
tom House officer the other day, :" to find
out how TO get goods out of the Custom
, House that are detained, perhaps, for
some tritling Irregular V, but L don't
know any thing about it. My business is
! to sign my name to these bits of paper"
The man who goes into the Gro wded cir
Gle formed by the high desks beneath the
! dome of the massive granite building on
Wall Street, and suppOseS he has seen the
Custom House, is greatly mistaken.
Larger quarters than those are needed for
Uncle Sans army of place-holders in the
metropolis. The first place to visit. il
one desires TO understand the workings OF
the Custom House, is the Barge Office.
This branch of the service formerly occu-
pied the building situated at the foot Of
Whitehall Street, near the Battery, cross
between lighthouse and a seamen's beth
el. A year or so ago it was abadoned and
sold for kindling wood. The department
is now located in State Street. One may
always see in the Barge Office from ten TO
thirty men dressed generally in heavy riv-
ermen's costume, but exhibiting the faces
and manners of politicians. Each one OF
them has done yeoman's service for the
party in his district They come from
all parts of the State and country. Each
has some powerful patron whose recon-
mendation has placed him in his position
and keeps him there.


A certain number are detailed at regu-
lar intervals, and occupy themselves about
the house as best they can until called out
for duty. These are the inspectors
Their life is monOtonous, or would be to
ordinary men. They, however, talk flu
entity (it has been their trade), tell stories
well, and do not seem to be greatly worn
down by their enforced idleness.


At night a number of them always re-
main in the building, where hunks are
prepared for them. At any time they
may be summoned to 90 out in tug and
board a vessel. Often cutter with sever
al of these officers on board stops down at
Quarantine. and when a vessel from for
eign port appears she is boarded by an in
spector and the Quarantine officer. Gen
orally, however. the State officers are al
lowed to get through with their duties
before the Govern ment officers make their
appearance.


When a steamer is boarded in the har-
Dor. the inspector climbs the tug general
ly without much ceremony, and frequent
ly with only friendly lift of the hand as
Re mounts over the side. He then goes iii
rectly to the captains room. He is not
instructed to do this, but he always does
it. The reason is that if he should refuse
to accept the captains hospitalities (al-
ways of the very finest brands and select
ed with peculiar care), the captain might
think he was very stiff and intractable and
wanted to parade his virtue. When he re-
turns from the cabin he pulls roll OF red
tape from his pocket and proceeds te seal
the matches. That is to say, he tacks one
end of piece of tape to the deck on one
side of each of the hatchways, and then
drawing it tightly over the broad hatch
covers fastens it in a similar manner on
then candle or lamp is procured and the
tackled ends are covered with sealing-wax
He then relights his cigar lone of the cap
tain'S best) with the candle, and blows
the latter out.


Next, if the vessel has an American
register, he must call the crew. By
law each American vessel must bring back
to port every sailor that was shipped in
her from an American port; or, falling in
this, the captain must report his death
desertiOn, reshipment on another vessel
or other cause of his non-appearance.
Such statements by captain must be cor
robOrated by his log. If they are not, the
irregularity must be reported. When
this is done the inspector again retires to
the captains room for a brief season.
When he again appears on deck he has a
fresh cigar. He is now ready to disappear
over the side of the ship. If the vessel is
to be taken into dock Immediately, hoYev-
er, he stays aboard.


When a vessel, say transatlantic steam
er, arrives at her dock, the first thing to
be done is to discharge her passengers.
This is often done on the vessel itself, but
more frequently on the dock, where there
are small buildings erected for the pur-
pose. As the passengers pass down the
gang-plank they are narrowly watched by
Custom House detectives, and if there be
any one suspected of smuggling, either
from his manner. his character as known
to the detectives. or from the arrangement
or appearance of his clothes, he is thor
oughly searched.


No true gentleman will ever stand near
a fellow-passenger's baggage while it is
being examined. 1t would not be proper
to appear to see what another person has
in his trunk. If any of the sailors or dock
hands seem to be over-CuriOus, they run
the risk of being rather rudely dismissed
by the inspector. If the inspector should
happen to expose some dutiable article, it
is enough that he alone should know it.


All kinds OF devices are often brought
to light. Elegantly dressed passengers,
and often persons of good standing in So
ciety, find themselves in strange predica-
ments as the result of these searches. The
only safe rule, say the inspectors, is to
search every piece of baggage thoroughly.
This, however, is seldom done. The Off
GERS grow to be confident in their judg-
me9t of human nature, and often the
search is merely formal. Women are en-
ployed to search women, and they have
the reputation of being more thorough
than their brother detectives. These wo-
men are often marked characters. Con-
trary 10 ones expectations, the best wO-
men searchers come from the South, and
not from the s.erner atmosphere of New
England. This is said to be owing TO a
kind of business ability inherited from the
French ancestry of many Southern fami
lies, especially in Louisiana and Mary
land. In France nearly all of the smaller
shops are conducted by women. Some OF
the female inspectors are very ladylike in
appearance and fashionably dressed. The
majority, however, affect the severe in
style. The ordinary type is dressed in
gray or other sober colors, with meager-
ly trimmed jockey hat, and is from forty
to fifty years old. She has business man
ner, and there is emphatically no nonsense
about her. She will compel lady to take
out her false teeth with the most malicious
nonchalaDee. In this privilege of minute
examination of another woman's dress
and personal makeup she is the subject
of envy by her whole sex.


She has Cftentimes, however, met with
women even sharper than herself. The
professional female smuggler is being TO
be admired from distance. She brings
to bear all the virtues and vices of her sex
to accomplish her purpose. She utiliZes
whatever there is womanly in herself and
acquires all the strength of purpose and
assurance ofa man. The reputation of her
sex for modesty, for unworldliness, and
for fainting at the mere thought of suspl-
cion: the peculiar formation of her dress,