Evening Star Newspaper, September 13, 1931, Page 75

s o Bopwacisns TH SUNDAY STAR, WASHINGTON, D. C., SEPTEMBER 13, 1931. — — Revelations of a U. S. Customs Inspector Diamonds in Perfumery, Emeralds in Toothpaste and Pearls tn a ];1'/)/(’,‘/11.\'[ a Few of the Ingenious Ways 1 ith I hich Foreign T'ravelers Seck to Smuggle in Precious Glems Without Payment //fl)uf)' to - Uncle Sam. AS TOLD TO GEORGE BARTON. HE lot of a customs inspector, like that of the policeman, is not a happy one. With stern superiors on one side and irritable passengers on the other, he is constantly in a predica- ment. Under the law he must make an examination of the baggage of returning tourists. If he does it in a perfunctory way and permits a traveling American to smuggle in things for the folks at home, he is lauded to the skies; if he makes a rigid scrutiny, he is denounced as a lineal descendant of Benedict Arnold. I was very new in the service when the deputy surveyor on the wharf handed me a set of keys with instructions to examine the belongings of a fairly eminent politician. The near-states- man stood there smilingly as I lifted the lid of his trunk. His things were all there in order. But on the top of them, like the “welcome™ on a doormat, was a brand-new $5 bill. I was not too green to understand the meaning of it, but fresh from having taken the oath of office, I picked it up and handed it to him “Something you overlooked, no doubt,” I re- marked as blandly as I knew how. Did I make a thorough examination of that trunk? You can tell the world I did, and when I had finished he was red-faced and perspiring and had a memorandum in his hand calling for the payment of $700 for duty on goods he had failed to declare. I was called seven kinds of a sea cook, of course, and he would have got my scalp if he could, but fortunately I had entered the service by way of a competitive civil service examination. N another occasion one of my buddies was called on to examine the baggage of an obviously wealthy man who had the face of a thug and the manners of a bootlegger. He opened his wallet, pulled out a $20 bill and, tearing it exactly in half, handed one of the pieces to the astonished inspector. “Now, buddy,” he cried, slapping the guard on the back, “if you make a good job of this you'll get the other half of this yellowback.” He did make a good job of it, but it was not the kind the get-rich-quick passenger expected. 1t set him back several hundred dollars, and when the inspector refused to give him back the half of that mutilated banknote and in- sisted on turning it in to the deputy surveyor, the profanity would have sickened a pirate. It is hard to make some returning tourists understand that the acceptance of a tip may cost a man his job. I thought of that the day one of them handed one of my associates a $5 bill after he had concluded an examination of his things. The inspector returned it with thanks. But the well meaning one persisted and thrust the bill in the coat pocket of the man'’s uniform and huriied off the dock. Not so bad, you may say. But the Treasury Department had spotters on the dock that day, and when the inspector pulled the bill out of his pocket to look at it, his name was being put on a little list by a special agont who was watch- ing things from the side of the dock. What was the result? The inspector was one of 40 who lost their jobs on that Black Friday which will be rccalled by many of the men in the service. The charge was accepting a bribe, and no amount of explanations would make the de- partment at Washington think otherwise. But these instances only relate to the four- flushers of the grcat family of smugglers. The bigger ones have more interest. There was, for instance, a prominent French gentleman resid- ing in the United States who came in with his wife a few years ago. He made out a declara- tion in which he said that all of their dutiable stuff amounted to less than $200. But, unfor- tunately for him, the customs authorities had received a cablegram from Paris saying he had purchased expensive jewelry in one of the2 leading stores of the French Capital. Among the things he declared were two fairly large- sized bottles of perfume. He thought every- thing was lovely, but just as he was abcut to leave the dock an official tapped him on the shoulder and said he was wanted at the little office near the end of the wharf. There a woman inspectress searched the wife. The re- sult was startling. Under the heavy collar of her beautiful French waist they found a $10,000 necklace. The two bottles of perfume were subjected to a special examination. When they were held up to the light they each disclosed some foreign substance. It proved to be two rare solitaire diamonds of great value, The necklace and the diamonds were confiscated, of course, and th= gentleman was lucky to escape with an additionzl fine of $5,000. HEN there was the case of “the lady of lavendar and old lace.” She was a fashion- able dressmaker, and, when she came down the gangway to the wharf I noticed that sh: was quite bulky for a woman of her height and build. After her trunks and bags had been ex- smined, the word was passed to the woman searcher to take this rather corpulent lady into tha private rcom for a personal interview. “If need be,” said the deputy who gave the order, “strip her to the skin.” They didn't strip her to the skin, because that wasn't necessary; but they did go far enough to prova that she was one of the most brazen smugglers they had ever encountered. Wrapped around her waist, beneath hir dress, were dozens and dozens of yards of the 1ich- est and rarest Irish laces. Pinned to her petti- coat was a fine, fleecy lace robe, the cost of which would have made a dent in the wallet of even a millionaire. And about it all was the odor of lavender. While they were unwinding the lace around her waist they had her spin- ning like a top. Both of her “bishop's sleeves” were filled with valuable goods. Was this amazing woman confused? Not in the least. On the contrary, she was highly in- dignant over the way she was ‘“being treated” and threatened to report the officers to the Treasury Department. But she didn't. In the end she paid a heavy fine and went about her business. . “Esther is sick and should go back to Europe,” was the wording of a mysterious cablegram that came across the ocean early in the present year. Back of it was one of the most sensational attempts to defraud the Govern- ment that have yet come to the attention of the Treasury Department. Strictly speaking, it was not a matter that came within the ) province of the castoms Inspectors. It had to do with the higher-ups, but no story on smuggling would be complete without it. The first inkling came when jewelers found that Swiss watches were being sold in this country at an impossibly low price. The Jewelers’ As- sociation got into action and made formal complaint. They insisted that something was wrong, and they were right. The Government has its special agents in most of the capitals of Europe, and one of these was sent to Biel, Switzerland. There hc discovered the inevitable “woman in the casc.” She proved to be young and attractive and businesslike. The agent spoke not only English but German and French, and he was not unat- tractive, either. Soon he won her confidence. Shrewd as she was, she was not superior to thegwiles of the sterner sex. And she was only 21. Few girls of that age refuse to believe all that is said to them. The agent discovered the cable code that was being used. Thus, when the message was received reading. “Esther is sick and should go back to Ex=~pe” it meant that as soon as the shipment of Swiss watches and Swiss watch movements reached this country it should be sent back. It was & warning that the customs officials here were suspicious and on the lookout for fraud. “Fsther” and “Uncle” figured frequently in the messages. “Esther” meant shipments, and “Uncle” meant customs brokers on this side of the ocean. It was a dramatic moment when a high official suddenly halted a shipment of earthen- ware which was about to be taken from the pier. The lid was lifted and a few layers of crockery removed from the top of the ease. What they beheld made the searchers gasp for breath. The cases were filled with Swiss watches and Swiss watch movements. It was a million- dollar conspiracy. URNING from this to the story of the Chi- cago diamond merchant, we go from the sublime to the ridiculous. The authorities had been tipped off to the fact that he had bought two valuable emeralds and two equally valuable diamonds while he was in Paris. When he arrived in this country his baggage was carefully examined and it corre- sponded precisely with his declaration. But the emeralds and the diamonds did not appear in either one or the other. So the customs - men took the gentleman into his cabin and went through him, as the saying goes, with a fine-tooth comb. But there was no sign of the gems. The inspector disliked to give up. These tips are rarely wrong. So a second search was made, and this time his personal belong- ings were scrutinized with unusual carc. He had a shaving outfit, razor, brush and cream, but they were perfectly normal. There was a bottle of bay rum, but that didn't even“con- flict with the well known eighteenthr amend- ment. Finally they came to two large tubes of toothpaste. As the searther picked thesc Contiuued on Fiftes)'h Page