WOMAN SMUGGLER.

Marlborough Express, Volume XLVI, Issue 115, 13 May 1912, Page 3

WOMAN SMUGGLER.

INGENIOUS METHOD OF PASS ING TIiIiI : OUS.TOMS. Mrs Blanche M. Carson, a widow, who in August last stalled frq.ni h;r home, 925, Gough Street, San ■'Francisco, on a lonesome journey, aiound the world, was held by the Customs men on- her arrival at Hoboken by the North German Lloyd liner Geo:^e Washington, and on her own aJxnissioh that she had attempted to smuggle about £4000 worth of pearls and other gems bought in India, she was arrested and held, iii* £400 bail by United States Commissioner Carpenter for examination. Mrs Carsoti'had declared a package of unstrung pearls,, which pay a duty of 10 per cent., but had undervalued theni so grossly that Acting DeputySurveyor Isaac Harris and Inspector Alexander E. Meyer decided that she was not telling the . truth about the price she paid for. them, which she declared was 2500 rupees, or about £140. The appraiser called by Mr Harris estimated the value of the pearls to be about £1500. The pearls were taken from Mrs Carson, and she was asked to appear at the Custom House and explain. She engaged a lawyer, Harrison Osborne, formerly solicitor to Collector Stranahau, and rather startled Surveyor George Henry, Special DeputySurveyor George J. Smyth, and Assistant Solicitor Edward Barness by her frankness,' which they say never has been surpassed in the history of women .smugglers. She not only admitted she had undervalued her pearls but said that she liad in her suite in the Hotel Wolcott many more pearls, and that' she also had; sewed in the lming of her hat diamond earrings worth several thousand dollars. Mrs 'Carson, told her story in a matter of, fact manner. It was; :remarked by" h?r"inquisitor's .later, that sh« might have got away with the ■diamond-earrings and the rest of the p>arls if she had not become conscience smitten.;' That was the reason she gaye1 for owning up to ; everything. She could not, she declared/ feel happy again until she had given up everything that she had attempted to smuggle through the Customs lilies. Her only excuses for trying to evade paying duty was' that she had heard the duty would be "excessive" and that she'did not'feel justified in putting up the money. Acting Deputy Surveyor Harris and a woman inspector went to the 'Hotel.'Wolcott with Mrs Carson, and she opened lier trunks and turned over all the jewellery, including tho

earrings^ that she,.had sewed in the lining of her Jiat. She was fornlerly;.' arrested, and her' attorney arranged to get bail for her. She was 7 taken before Commissioner Carpenter, and • the examination was deferred. '

All" the jewellery was taken to the seizure room of - the public stores. The Customs men said the total home value, that is the foreign value plus the dutyy would be not less than £4000. * , .