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Show A PHIL THE SALT LAKE TRIBITNE, SUNDAY M()RNIN(i. Secrets of ihe Jewel Smugglers A. ... I .U. , Willie AA C. vyunawivini lonaires uurLdi An Old Tode Smurrlinr dam in Soap. mWA Cigar Takan from a "Carriar" Contained $50,000 in Diamond. A to, Jft sbhHb llljjtfia jjjjjjp Amazing Case of the Man with the $100,000 Limp and How Crooks Send "Carriers" Through the Customs with WJkJA Fortunes in Cuitomi Officials Found a Treasure Trove of Pearlt in the Hollow Handla of ThU Walking Stick. business of the States jewelry industry represents one billion dollars a year Meyer D. Rothschild, president American Jewelers' Protective Association. Fifty per cent of the diamonds sold in the United States never go through a customs house George W. American Consul General to Belgium. POT the carriers watch Antwerp, Paris, Amsterdam!" So the word went out to United States Government agents spying on European millionaire jewel smugglers. And then Florente La Motte, young Belgian electrician on a famous ocean liner, visited one Bartnowsky in the room of an Antwerp hotel. Bartnowsky was one of the rich members of the Diamond Club. La Motte came away with a tiny, precious package concealed on his person. The scene changes. Young Mr. Florente La Motte prepares to leave his ship at the New York dock. The night is dark, the ship quiet, the passengers have left hours before. As La Motte make for the gangplank he limps slightly. He does not see George Barron, customs rounds-mar- t, lurking in the shadows until Barron steps out and confronts him. THE Mes-sersmit- . Pi BBBBBB ' Wm ' I? MhF v& L J' i iBBflHJl Y-J- V V) O w Wi,hin Thu Rubber Heel Held Fifteen Flawlett Geme Value, $40,000. The "Carrier" Said Ho Didn't Know How They Precious IS v a Mi SBBBBeBeVSKS. 389bbR 4, 5 .i ' L V . v,.;' 1 '"" "v",-.,.- S' I i WBBBSW' flBKtaw t .mm SBnaW4 iBBBBBBBBBBBBBBW .liaJsttsBlssB. rHd'sK miumkS&Bzzzz. V BBaW VslBBenslBBeBtKr.! tones M:' x - jsanaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaBSjr record on scotching this little gam e. 1Z U : Everyof year the way tourist tnrnssrrs- : sor grows harder. In 1322 th Col lector Customs for- - the Port of New York collected $219,848.10 in frnes, forfeiture and penalties. In 1927 these same etceteras reached the fancy figure of $808,292.25. The reason for this improvement can be traced to an idea of your ancient Uncle Samuel's that was a downright nifty. He simply passed a law offering 25 per cent of all fine and penalty money collected to anyone, anywhere, who would tip off the Government to the probable intention of tourist smugglers. The result i.s that Europe swarms with ama- .... teur sleuths and informers. When old Mrs. Moneybags goes shopping in Paris the news is mysteriously relayed to American customs officials that she has just bought an expensive emerald necklace. If she fails to declare it on reaching New York the result is tragic and costly. When Pola Negri failed to de clare two diamond and emerald-studde- d bracelets and a diamond ring the little mistake cost her around $57,000 $47,000 as the value of the trinkets and $10,000 fine. She had paid for them in Paris, but the Government made her pay for them all over again. When Peggy Hopkins Joyce arrived on the Manretania in 1922she had twJ private detectives guarding her $2,000,000 worth of gens. The customs officers gave Peggy a badharf hour over a diamondand emerald pla'cque valued at $20,000, but the lovely Monde revue star was finally able to prove to them that one of her husbands, SWnley Joyce, bought it for her in pans W lft!9 and paid duty on it then. Ujjc,e Sam 1as an excellent record iA with tourfist smugglers, but the shrewder commercial jewel smugglers sire still a thorn inhis side, Thanks to gangs, they hive become pur o.iriaw millionaires. 'JQ' j iJ0f 'HbBBBbI aW&$ W A Notoriout Smuggler, Lieb Ritterman, Who Wat Arretted Near the Canadian Border with $250,000 Worth of Jewelry Concealed in a Can of Talcum Powder. "Why do you limp?" asks Barron softly. The youthful electrician turns startled eyes on his questioner. "I my feet hurt.' "Ah, your feet hurt. Yes?" Barron simply waits, studying the effect of his insinuating words. Astonishment has vanished from La Motte's face. He is trying to brazen it out, but fear lurks in his eyea. When they search him a few moments later they' find $100,000 worth of cut' diamonds Tri tiny compartments cleverly contrived in .the heels and toes of his diamonds shoes. Some of the sharp-edge- d had slipped into the body of one shoe, hence the limp. The gems are in neat parcels marked La Motte, the "Clara" and "Sabina." smuggler, turns Government informer, and the customs sleuths allow him to deliver his treasure at the home of two women in New York. The tenor-stricke- n women also consent to turn informer. The phone rings at the home of one of them. "Have you a package marked 'Clara'?" "Yes." "Ill call for it." The sleuths wait and nab an American Jeweler. Again the phone rings, and inmarked quiry i. made for the package "SabinaT" Another jeweler is arrested. The Government confiscates the gems and smash goes an Antwerp diamond ring! Bartnowsky, the ring's master mind, rushes over to Canada. He foolishly crosses the border at Rouses Print N. Y., La is arrested and released on bail. Motte, the carrier, has "spilled" everything to the police. Bartnowsky stands to lose hundreds of thousands of dollars in gems that came to America in other "shipments." That and the stigma of arrest are toohueh for Bartnowsky he kills himself. Uncle. That is commercial smuggling. Sam's intelligence men were fortunate in $&eL s''"'(YWJ&t JiMhSJi i V ss pSCy Hopkins Joyce, Rich and Lovely Revue Star, Whose Belonging! Were Subjected to an nvestigation by Customs Officialt When She Arrived from Europe with 6ottly Gems. But She Pegy Proved' Wat Not a ''Sm ussier." breaking this Antwerp ring, so the methods of operation were revealed. But in cases out of fifty, say the Govforty-nin- e ernment experts, the smugglers get their stuff safely past the customs guard lines. They succeed because jewels are small and easy to conceal and because the Government force U too small to cope ' wtif " . the situation. Startling facta on the commercial smuggling of jewels were given at a recent hearing in Washington, D. C, before of the Committee on a Ways and Means of the House of Representatives by Meyer Rothschild, president of the American Jewelers' Protective Association; George W. Messersmith, Amer-ria- n Consul General to Belgium, and Philip Elting, Collector of Customs at the Port of New York. These experts said that one "carrier" can conceal a million dollars' worth of gems on his person quite easily; that in six years only six seizures have been made of diamond smugglers by Government guards; that four of these tenures were made by one guard. . They told of diamonds concealed in the linings of toats, in shoes, in letters mailed without any protection from Antwerp to different cities in the v United States. Consul General Messersmith explained how an American dealer was shadowed in Antwerp'as he purchased $500,000 worth of diamonds. Yet not one invoice on the gems was certified in Europe. They all reached the United States via carriers. The American jeweler himself brought in nothing and could S not be touched. He gambled on the honesty of the carriers in order to save the 20 per cent tax the Government charges on unset gems. That is commercial smuggling, but there is another kind tourist smuggling." The tourist smuggler is' generally rich and frequently foolish. Uncle Sam has an excellent WBmm PIBsHss(Hbs 'SBtaialBialBialBialBialB JBaHsllsssls: :nisiBXs ll -- ai rtv S v- - TAJ t - , w... ,w Selection from the Startling Testimony of Meyer D Rothtchild, President of the American Jewelers' Protective Association, Before the Subcommittee of the Committee oa Ways and Means of tbe House of Representatives. Pola Negri Hat) to Pay Uncle Sam Around $57,000 When She Failed to Declare Jewels Purchased in Europe. Pole's "Mistake" Concerned Gems She Meant to Wear Herself Class Her With the "C and Dees Net I Carrier." |