Democratic Sentinel, Volume 19, Number 31, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 9 August 1895 — THEY CROSS IN BALLOONS. [ARTICLE]

THEY CROSS IN BALLOONS.

The Latest Scheme for Smuggling Chinamen. A Montreal dispatch says: The revenue officers have been astounded by the discovery of the latest scheme of the smugglers of Chinamen for getting the Celestials across the lines into the United States. The scheme is the neatest that has ever been concocted and the authorities are at a loss to know what to do to frustrate it. There is a very large and dever gang of smugglers with headquarters in this city and it is from here that most of the operations are said to start. Recently the actions of the gang were stopped while attempting to smuggle Chinamen by means of a rope stretched across the river in the vicinity of Ogdensburg. Now the gang have directed their abilities to the vicinity of Toronto and Niagara Falls and this time the transportation is by means of balloons. The Celestials are shipped from various points to that vicinity and wait there for favorable conditions for their novel mode of travel. In the dead of night the balloons ascend under the guidance of expert aeronauts, who pilot the way across to some point in New York. Several parties have already been sent and landed safely. Chinamen are met as soon as they arrive in British Columbia and if they wish to go to the United States they are made to sign a contract, agreeing to pay S2OO at so much per week. For this sum they are guaranteed safe transportation across the border. The Chinamen are then brought to Montreal. The large Chinese boarding houses here provide accommodations for them until all is ready. Then" they are sent to the vicinity of the Niagara River. The balloons meanwhile are shipped in sections to the starting point and when everything is ready the men are taken to some out-of-the-way spot, where the ascent is made. If wind conditions are favorable the balloon is safely [carried across the line and a stop made in some unfrequented part of the State.