Democratic Sentinel, Volume 7, Number 25, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 20 July 1883 — Tricks of Diamond Smugglers. [ARTICLE]

Tricks of Diamond Smugglers.

The recent sale of smuggled diamonds was the largest in the Custom .House record, and shows the audacity with which this fraud is practiced. The method is very ingenious, and the system has been so well arranged that our officials have been compelled to employ spies in foreign ports, who telegraph the departure of suspected persons. As soon as the latter arrive they are taken to the searcher bureau in the Custom House, where, if necessary, they are stripped to the skin. The clothing is also searched, even to* the seam, and sometimes the heel of the boots are removed to see if they are not hollow. Even the hair is combed, and a wig (if one be worn ) is throughly examined. In one it stance a passenger by one of the Cunard steamers had SIO,OOO worth of precious stones concealed in the lining of his boots, which were discovered and confiscated. The man was a dealer in these articles, and was determined to continue in the traffic. In a short time he went again to i London and soon returned. On this occasion he Was closely searched, but nothing was found. As soon as he was released, he went back to the steamer and carried off a large quantity of diamonds he had secreted in his room. Some time age the authorities received notice of the departure of a notorious diamond smuggler from Europe for this port. On his arrival he was taken to the searchers’ bureau and thoran invoice of eighteen precious stones, and his clothes were examined, each garment by itself. The officers were gratified to discover the precise number mentioned in the invoice, and allowed the man to depart. When he went home he removed a plaster from his back, in the ridges of which he had concealed the true diamonds, those discovered being merely imitation, placed there in order to deceive. The ingenuity with which these frauds have been practiced has aroused still closer search and one of the results is the seizure of the last-mentioned invoice'.— New York letter.