UNDER THE PETTICOAT.

Taranaki Daily News, 10 September 1921, Page 6

UNDER THE PETTICOAT.

WHEN THE STRING WAS PULLED.

SYDNEY CUSTOMS AND A. WOMAN.

Ono day not so long ago the Sydnor Customs officials received a mysterio-. ’phone message. A woman’s voice told them to be on the qui vive in a few days’ time, when an Eastern steamer was due. They were to look out for a red-headed, very stylishly dressed woman, who would go aboard after the passengers had disappeared. The informant would not give her name, and rang off. The Customs officials, engaged in their constant fight with opium smugglers — and not too successful a fight, for great quantities of the drug have recently got into the country somehow —neglect no slightest clue. An official was on special watch for the red-haired woman on the day indicated. Sure enough, when the passengers were disembarked, the lady appeared, and strolled up the gangway. She spoke to some of the stewards, and then wandered downstairs, with the Customs man in close attendance. She slipped into a cabin, and he concealed himself right alongside. He could then have pounced, but he wanted to catch her with the goods. After some time, she came out quickly, glanced around, and hurried upstairs. The Customs man was only two hops behind.

The Customs man overdid it. In his anxiety not to be beaten, he got too close, and the lady became suspicious. She walked on quickly, and then turned round suddenly. Her shadow foolishly tried to duck back. The lady thereupon dropped all pretence, and bolted for the deck. The Customs man gave furious chase. When he got on deck she was just at the top of the gangway. She saw him coming. She paused, thrust a hand inside her plaquet and pulled a string. Thus released, a. heavily-weighted underskirt dropped round her feet. She jumped clear, and ran down the gangway. The officer stopped to gather up the" skirt, with its scores of little* pockets filled with opium. Then he went after the lady. She had completely disappeared. Later it was learned that she maintained a luxurious little flat at Potts Point, and that she had 100 men friends —including many sailors. She controlled smuggling schemes in a big way—and might still have been pursuing her prosperous career had she not tried to “vamp” the husband of a woman who knew something about her, and used the telephone to some effect.