Rensselaer Republican, Volume 13, Number 4, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 15 October 1880 — Cogar Smuggling. [ARTICLE]

Cogar Smuggling.

• Tbe New Yock UVAmmmjb: “For many regn r >usinew. Million* were brought t» in package* of 1000 or more, covered with oil skin. Often them packages are dropped overboard in the lower bay or at quarantine, and see picked op by confederates in small boats, brought np to the city and disposed oL In other cases they are kept on ship-board, concealed in places where no one would be apt to look for them, and carried ashore In small quantities as opportunity aArded. Experience ha* tangbt th«> cnafcam i—aeiM where to i«* a week paasea *!»«*■ seizures of smuggled cigars are not made. A short time ago cigars woe found in ana of the bread-tabs of a Havana steamer, where they had been placed by the cook and covered with dough. They had been found under the boilers, hidden away under maaaea of eoal in the coal-bunkers, and cowered'with a bulky cargo. A small shed or wooden bin, was found in a coal-bunker not long ago, and in this was 10,000 cigars, packed in a small compass. If too closely watched by the inspecters, the crew will take back the cigars and take their chances of smuggling them ashore on a subsequent voyage. Bay oil, which pays a duty of SO cents par ounce, is also a favorite article for smuggling. The duty is almost prohibitory, and even if a small amount can he brought in undetected, it pays handsomely. It is put up in 22-ounce bottles, and these can be handily stowed sway and taken ashore one at a time Smuggling is not confined to this end of the route, however. Tbe Spanish authorities impose a duty of per pound on opium, and the means adopted to evade the custom officers at Havana are very ingenious. Small quantities in tin boxes are packed in tubs and barrels of butter. Cans of opium are packed in lam rolls of wall paper, which is duty free. They are hidden in barrels of potatoes, and in other articles where they are likely to escape detection.