WOMEN SMUGGLERS.

Hawke's Bay Times, Volume 19, Issue 1455, 15 October 1872, Page 2

WOMEN SMUGGLERS.

Women (says an American, contemporary) are frequently smugglers of fiu<* laces, but rarely of jewels. Somevaluable jewels were, however, recently seized, having been found quilted intoan underskirt. A quiet looking Fran, recently landed from Bremen, had a double quilted petticoat filled with Shetland shawls, caps, and stockings. Another had a quantity of the finest silk bindings, two valuable watches, two silk dress patterns, two dozen silver spoon?, a dozen silver forks, and eight pieces of silk galloon quilted into a skirt of serge. A companion had seventy-three bundles of sewing silk and twenty nine pairs of kid gloves secreted on her person —scarcely concealed, however, as the foolish Fraulcin had tied strong cords about her hips, and the smuggled articles were sus* pended in such a way that she was scarcely able to reach the dock. The muff is a very oidinary cover for smuggled laces. An Englishwoman had the cotton removed from her muff, and its place filled with valuable laces. The muff was strapped to her person, where it stood for embonpoint. In one petticoat of this lady were found gloves in quantity ; in the facings in her dross, cigars*; and in the voluminous gathers of a second petticoat were meerschaum pipes in sections. A Frenchwoman, extra van tly dressed, and moving about suspiciously, was invited into the room of an Inspectress recently. Her petticoat proved to be nine yards of superior black velvet, one selvedge being gathered into a waistband, which also held a dress-pa item of Ponson silk. The facing of the velvet petticoat, which was put on with the nicest care, was well padded with Oh an til ly laces, cunningly i un together;. and the r »ffle on the-bQltom of this imperial undergarment consisted of five row* of rich Chantilly flouncing, caught together, quite likely in the hope that it would be taken for one piece. An immense seizure of English open-faced watches has recently been made upon the person of a well-appearing American woman, who had them neatly encased in the tucks of a heavy flannel petticoat. Sometimes the German women seek to evade the tariff dues in the most awkward manner, as witness the stupidity of hanging nine watch chains about one's neck, with a valuable watch at the end of each chain. Fran Stnmf said she had been told that watches were worn by the passengers, and the officers did not take them. A desper-ace-looking woman, coming on one of the English steamers lately, on being examined exhibited an amusing spectacle, with a silver cake basket lashed to each hi}), and two huge dress patterns festooned as " filling," there and thereabouts. On being detected, this woman, in a terrible rage, drew a knife on the Inspectress. Some of the smuggling expedients arc of couise extremely amusing. A spirituelle little Fienchwoman had on her husband's red flannel drawers, and these were tied in puffs here and there. On being " unpacked," there came forth a Bohemian glass toilet set, two dozen saltcellars, three dozen silver spoons, three, dozen silver forks, several little articles of bijouterie in bronze and crystal, and some fine Swiss wood carvings, all of which were put up in the softest tissue paper an.i paper shaving*, that they might not strike against each other. When the lictlo body was unloaded, no one laughed more heartily than she.