The Lampasas Daily Leader (Lampasas, Tex.), Vol. 28, No. 250, Ed. 1 Friday, December 25, 1931 Page: 2 of 4
four pages : ill. ; page 22 x 15 in. Scanned from physical pages.View a full description of this newspaper.
Extracted Text
The following text was automatically extracted from the image on this page using optical character recognition software:
Uncle Sam:
Detective
ssssssSSSSSS^SSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSmSm
By WILLIAM ATHERTON DU PUY
True stories
of the Great-
est Federal
Detective
Agency, the
Bureau of
Information,
U. S. Dep’t
of Justice.
“Roping” the Smugglers of Jamaica
Special Agent Billy Gard sat in the
cafe of Fun Ken, that wealthy Orien-
tal who had pitched his resort among
the ferns of the Blue mountains which
took down upon Kingston, the capital
city of the tropical and flowery island
of Jamaica. Many drowsy afternoons
had he spent here with orange juice
and a siphon at his elbow and the best
of Havanas in his teeth. For Billy, in
the opinion of every man he met in
the islands, with the single exception
of the American consul, was a retired
manufacturer, with money to spend
and time hanging heavily on his
hands. As a matter of fact, his table
at the cafe was chosen because it
.gave him an opportunity to observe
Fun Ken and his satellites, whom he
suspected of being a part of a huge
conspiracy for the smuggling of opium
and Chinamen into the states.
This afternoon he had thus silently
gained a reaffirmation of his belief
that Fun Ken was a part of the or-
ganization with which he had already
associated Wilmer Peterson, whose ac-
quaintance he had been cultivating.
He had seen Peterson alight from the
electric car that passed the door. The
American had gone through the cafe
and out at the back. Fun Ken, who
was at the time presiding at the cash-
ier’s desk, had immediately disap-
peared. Half an hour later Fun Ken
was again on the cashier’s stool and
(Peterson shortly thereafter returned
ito the cafe. This occurrence had been
witnessed for three days in succession
ijy the special agent, who regarded it
as a convincing indication of collusion
between these two men.
Of Peterson’s operations, Gard al-
ready had absolute proof. This he
ffiad gained at Port Antonio, the ship-
ping point for fruit at the other end
k>f the island. He had been sent to
the Caribbean because of the difficulty
the tTnited States was having in pre-
senting the smuggling of both opium
and of Chinamen not legally entitled
to enter the country.
It was suspected that Jamaica was
the base of operations for these smug-
glers, and the government wanted to
understand the case from the inside.
Gard assumed the role of a retired
;glass manufacturer who had time
to lounge the winter away about the
southern seas. For two weeks he had
luxuriated about the Hotel Titchfield,
in Port Antonio, and changed his
•clothes oftener than any Englishman in
the place. There he had noted the
dumps of idle Chinamen who made
headquarters near the wharf, and the
occasional stealthy American who was
particularly in evidence when there
were freighters in the harbor.
Gard soon became a familiar figure
about the hotel lobby and bar room,
where he spent money freely. Like-
wise was his boat to be seen on the
bay for many hours of the day, for
he made rowing his diversion.
“Don’t buy drinks for that bunch,
Mr. Gard,’’ Hogan, the bartender at
the Titchfield, admonished him. “They
are nothing but a lot of smugglers.”
This was his first lead. That night
Gard rowed late on the bay, skirted a
banana boat that lay tied to the wharf
and scrambled up unseen to a side
door of the customs house. To this
door he had a key. He let himself in.
Where the customs house faced the
wharf were large double doors through
which freight might be taken directly
to the boat tied there. The special
agent 'unlocked these doors and made
a crack just large enough for observa-
and for eavesdropping, but still
all as not to attract attention
the outside. Here he waited
light to eleven o’clock,
le stillness of this late hour the
r of the banana boat and Pe-
the smuggler, held a confer-
U «± JL
r;
said the
the
Fl have room for ten men,
flipper.
“I have the men ready to come
ard,” said the smuggler.
And the money?” suggested
an of the seas.
‘The cash is ready; $150 for each
an when he is stowed away. You
ill land them at Mobile.”
‘At Mobile,” assented the captain.
“See me next trip at Kingston,” said
the smuggler. “I leave for that point
In the morning.”
Thus was gained the first peep into
the methods of the smugglers. Gard
reported to the American consul, who
•sent a message that would result in
the seizure of the banana boat when
it reached Mobile.
The special agent now had the
thread of his work well in hand. His
intentions were to get at the very bot-
tom of the affair, however, and not
merely to apprehend an individual like
Peterson. That gentleman should be
induced to show the way. Peterson
[should be “roped.” That most effec
[tive, yet most difficult task of work-
ing into the confidence of a culprit
jand inducing him to lay his cards on
[the table, should be employed.
It was with this idea in mind that
Gard came down to breakfast early
the next morning, but not so early
that Peterson was not there ahead of
him. He sat opposite his man. The
special agent kept looking at his
watch apprehensively, and finally
asked the man opposite if he knew
what time the train left for Kings-
ton.
“At eight-thirty,” said Peterson
“There is plenty of time. I am going
over on that train myself.”
This opened the conversation, and
placed Gard in Ehe position of having
first indicated his intention of making
the trip. He had said he was going
before he seemed to know that Peter-
son had any such intention. These
small matters are of great importance
in laying the foundation for getting
your man. They talked through the
meal. It was but natural when, at
8:15, Gard appeared with his grip and
started to enter his cab, that he
should ask Peterson, who was just
then ready for departure, to join him.
At the station the smuggler, as a re-
turn favor, advised Gard not to pur-
chase a ticket, as one could ride for
half the fare by handing the cash to
the conductor. Gard, however, de-
clined this opportunity to save money,
for he was looking to the future and
the necessity of establishing himself
in a given light with this stranger.
Peterson asked his companion as to
the hotel to which he was going in
Kingston.
“The Myrtlebank,” 'said Gard.
“It will cost you six dollars a day,”
said the smuggler. “Come with me,
and I will show you as good accommo-
dations for three.”
A detective less experienced in
roping might have considered an op-
portunity to go to this man’s hotel
with him as a piece of good fortune.
Gard declined the invitation.
“No,” he said. “The expense is of
little importance to me. I shall stay
at the Myrtlebank. Won’t you take
dinner with me there tonight?”
Peterson, being what the English
call a “bounder,” was impressed by
his friend’s disregard for money, and
eagerly accepted all his invitations to
share a more expensive hospitality.
So was the atmosphere created for
which the detective was striving.
The two men spent much time to-
gether. They automobiled about the
city and dined at the resort of Fun
Ken, back in the hills. The man who
claimed to be a retired glass manufac-
turer seemed to be a careless sort of
individual, with a disregard of how he
spent his time. He was rather in
different of his associates, it seemed,
and inclined toward those whose lives
were free and easy. He was the last
man in the world to appear to have
any interest in the activities of his
fellows, or to care whether their
means of livelihood was honest or not.
He was the source of a great deal of
satisfaction to Peterson, who was oft-
en embarrassed by inquiries into his
occupation.
And all the time Gard was picking
up the details of the operations of
the smugglers. It was through the
negro boy who waited on him at the
hotel that he learned of an opium
shipment. The boy had overheard the
conversation that gave him the in-
formation, and told of it amusingly in
the cockney English of the Jamaican
negro.
Sing Foo was the moving spirit
from the Chinese end in these smug-
gling operations. He was a more im-
portant man, in fact, 'than was Fun
Ken, who ran the resort on the hill.
Sing Foo was a wealthy merchant
with a large establishment in the cen-
ter of the Kingston Chinatowm. Gard
had been studying his establishment.
The strange thing about it was that
there were constantly two or three
hundred idle Chinamen in its vicin-
ity. The presence of Chinamen not
at work is a condition so peculiar as
to require an explanation. But with
the smuggling theory in the back of
one’s head, it was easy to conceive
that these superfluous Mongolians
were waiting an opportunity to be
shuttled into the United States.
The smuggling of opium and of
Chinamen was known to go hasfci in
hand. Sing Foo, according to the ne-
gro boy, had arranged a shipment of
opium to Philadelphia. A French-
American named Flavot, whom Gard
had met through Peterson, had been
the intermediary. The captain of a
tramp copra trader was to carry it. It
was to be snugly hidden and, when
the steamer docked, nothing was to be
done immediately about it.
Presently a large negro wearing a
linen ulster would come aboard under
the pretext of doing some sort of work
about the ship. This negro was to be
shown the opium. He would carry it
out a few boxes at a time.
Gard cabled his home office the de-
tails of this deal in opium introduc-
tion. He advised that nothing be done
until the negro went aboard, actually
carried out the stuff and was followed
to his principal. There was a slip in
Philadelphia, however; the captain
got suspicious and the opium was
thrown into the river.
Two months passed in this way.
All the time Gard and Peterson were
becoming more intimate. One day the
supposed retired glass manufacturer
confessed to the smuggler that he had
once made some easy money by back-
ing some men who had a system of
beating the poolrooms. This, he said,
was in Vicksburg, Miss. The pool-
rooms in that city got their returns
on the Memphis races on a loop that
was relayed out of New Orleans.
That is, the results were telegraphed
from Memphis to New Orleans and
from there relayed to the smaller cit-
ies on a telegraphic loop. This caused
a delay of about four minutes. The
men whom Gard had backed had es-
tablished communication by telephone
between Memphis and Vicksburg and
got the returns in time to put down
bets ahead of the receipt of the pool-
room’s information. Thus they made
the cleanup.
This not merely paved the way to
similar confidences on the part of
Peterson, but gave him to understand
that Gard’s morals were none too puri-
tanical, and that he might be induced
to back other questionable enterprises.
Peterson evidently thought this
matter over thoroughly before acting,
for it was three days before he
touched on the subject. Then he
said:
“I could show a man of your sort an
investment that would pay him a hun-
dred per cent every month, if he were
looking for a chance to make money.”
“Well, I am not looking for such a
chance,” said Gard, “but if one should
drop into my lap I might tie a string
to it.”
“Do you know anything about the
opium business?” asked the smug-
gler.
“Not a thing,” said Gard.
“Well, a can of opium can be bought
for five dollars in Jamaica, and sold
for twenty-seven fifty in Philadelphia.”
“That’s a pretty good profit,” said
the special agent; “but a man would
schooner and a cargo of opium if you
were shown that my scheme would
work?” asked the smuggler.
“I would,” said Gard. “But you
must remember that I am a business
man who has made his stake by strict-
ly business methods. I must be
shown.”
This was the first step toward the
formation of a smuggling syndicate
that labored along in its preparation
for birth and died tragically.
Gard here insisted on proving to Pe-
terson his commercial reliability and
financial standing. He had long be-
fore prepared the papers for just such
an occasion. He had credentials, and
letters of credit, and certificates of de-
posit and bank books without end.
The smuggler had had no idea of the
wealth of the man he had been culti-
vating. The backing was without end,
if he but won this man’s confidence.
So he took the financier in tow, with
the idea of first showing him the
source of supply of opium and of Chi-
namen. In the presence of Gard he
got quotations on opium from Sing
Foo and from Fun Ken at five dollars
for a can the size of a pot of salmon.
It was shown tVit there was opium
to be had practically without end.
And the Chinamen themselves! He
was told that there were always five
hundred of them in Jamaica, ready to
make the run into the states. When
these were gone there were as many
more on the way. In fact, there was
all China to draw from. Every China-
man who came was a member of an
association. That membership was
to cost him six hundred dollars. He
need not pay in advance, as such men
as Sing Foo stood back of the associa-
tion and furnished the capital. When-
ever a Chinaman got into the United
States he went to work. He was able
to earn at least twelve dollars a week.
Half of this went to the association,
until the six hundred dollar fee was
paid. The association was willing to
spend a total of four hundred dollars
to get a ChiDaman into the country.
Its minimum profit was two hundred
dollars a man. The stream flowed
constantly. Were not Sing Foo and
Fun Ken the richest Chinamen in the
Caribbean?
mm\
W//A
'W
w
C\|
A
NEW YORK, THE SMUGGLERS CALLED ON DR. YEN, ONE OF
THE IMPORTANT MEN IN CHINATOWN.
have to get more than two or three
boxes past for it to amount to any-
thing.”
“If you had a trim little schooner
and someone to show you how to get
her past the authorities, and she was
loaded with opium to the gunwales,
you would not have to make a trip
everjUiother week to keep in cigarette
money, would you?”
“Obviously not,” assented the “capi-
talist.”
“And you may have noticed all these
idle Chinamen about Sing Foo’s
place,” continued the smuggler.
“Somebody is going to get one hun-
dred and fifty dollars apiece for run-
ning those fellows into the states.
They are crossing in a steady stream
and getting past. It is but around the
corner of Cuba and hundred inlets
inviting. Twenty of the Chinks can
live in a space as big as a dog’s
house, and they feed themselves. It’s
clear profit. The little schooner could
carry a score or so of them every
trip.”
“It looks like a good proposition on
paper,” said Gard. “If it could be
demonstrated, it would easily get a
backer. But the trouble with all such
schemes is that they are good on pa-
per, but they can’t be actually shown
upon the basis that a business man
with money demands.”
“But this one can be shown,” urged
the smuggler.
“That is the way you fellows with
fancy schemes always talk,” argued
Gard. "You can make all the money
in the world if you only had the back-
ing. Then a man with the money
comes along and says ‘show me ’ You
always fall down on the showing.”
“Would you put up the price of a
The supposed financier declared him-
self satisfied of the abundance of the
supply of these objects for profitable
smuggling. But he wanted to see
some of the money actually made.
Whereupon Peterson and Flavot
agreed that he should have a complete
demonstration.
There was then a Norwegian bark
in port, and her captain had agreed
to take aboard twelve Orientals. He
was bound for Norfolk. Peterson
and Flavot had made arrangements
with him, and Sing Foo was ready
with his men. In the dead of night
Gard accompanied the two Americans
as they pushed off two well-laden
boats from the foot of a deserted
street in Kingston. He saw the men
go aboard. He went deep into the
bow of the ship with them and saw
them nailed up in a nook behind a
wall that seemed to be the end of the
vessel. He saw a Chinaman who had
come aboard as the representative of
Sing Foo pass the captain eighteen
American one hundred dollar . bills.
He went back to Chinatown with Pe-
terson and Flavot and saw them draw
their bonus of fifty dollars for each
Chinaman that had thus been dis-
posed of.
The capitalist declared himself con-
vinced so far as the Chinamen were
concerned. How could he be shown
profits in opium?
“Opium,” said Peterson, “is the one
sure way of making easy money. If
you are ready for a little run back to
the states, I will show you all the de-
tails.”
The special agent assured the smug-
gler that he would be as pleased in
making a run back to the mainland as
in loafing in the Hotel Myrtlebank,
if there were amusement in it and a
chance to make some money in an in-
teresting way.
Two days later the three men were
aboard a fruit and passenger steamer
at Port Antonio, bound for Philadel-
phia. Beneath the mattress of each
man’s bunk were twenty cans of
opium.
“All you have to do,” elaborated the
smuggler, “is to open up your bag-
gage for inspection as you approach
the port. The inspectors go through
it but never do such a thing as look
beneath the mattress. When they
have gone you take the opium out
from its hiding pl^ce and put it into
your baggage, which had already been
inspected. Then it goes ashore.”
“But,” insisted the special agent, “is
not your stuff examined again on the
wharf?”
“This system would not work,” Pe-
terson explained, “if you were landing
at New York. There the baggage is
examined in the staterooms and again
on the pier, as the passengers coAie
ashore. But in Philadelphia there is
but the one examination, which takes
place in the stateroom.”
“But is there not a pretty good
chance that the inspector may some-
time look under the mattress?” Gard
asked.
“There is the barest possibility,” as-
sented the smuggler. “We have been
taking it in this way for years, and it
has never been found. But if it is
discovered, we have but to look inno-
cent. It cannot be proven that we are
responsible for its presence. It might
be the steward.”’
The three came into Philadelphia,
and passed the customs officials as the
smugglers had prophesied, without a
hitch. They went to their hotel, and
there found themselves each the pos-
sessor of twenty cans of opium, for
which they had paid five dollars and
for which, Peterson said, they were to
receive $27.50. This was the part of
the transaction that was yet to be
demonstrated.
“We will do but a little business in
Philadelphia,” said Peterson, “just to
show that it can be done.”
They took ten cans of the opium to
a Chinaman in Arch street, with
whom Peterson was acquainted. Yes,
this man would buy opium. The price
for the same grade was the same as
before, $27.50. He could use all he
could get. He would be glad to take
ten cans. The profit on these ten cans
was $225.
“We could have sold him a hundred
cans as easily, with ten times the
profit,” said Peterson.
In New York the smugglers called
upon a Doctor Yen, in Pell street, one
of the ifiiportant men in Chinatown.
He stated that he was able to buy
opium at $27.50. The smugglers in-
sisted on $30. After much haggling
20 cans were sold at $28.50. Here was
a profit of $470.
But Doctor Yen was to be counseled
on a much more important matter.
He was to be told of the proposal to
purchase a boat for the opium traffic.
He was to be asked to guarantee th&
purchase of large amounts of opium.
The old Chinaman became greatly
excited. He ran to his safe and came
back with $10,000 in currency. He
was willing to put up this money for
its value in opium at $27.50 a can as
soon as delivered. When that was
gone there would be other money. He
alone would make the owners of the
boat rich.
In Boston was the actual headquar-
ters of Peterson and Flavot. A Jew
by the name of Ferren was their finan-
cial backer. It was Ferren who had
put them into the business. When
Ferren was told of the proposed en-
terprise he would not at first listen to
it. He would have to be shown that
this Mr. Gard was on the level.
There were too many eyes watching
for opium.
Peterson told of the credentials, and
finally succeeded in convincing him
that Gard was what he purported to
be and, gaining confidence as the plan
developed, the Jew finally became en-
thusiastic. In the end he vied with
Doctor Yen in his anxiety to purchase
unlimited opium.
Gradually Gard granted that he was
convinced of the feasibility of the
scheme, if he were shown the possi-
bility of getting the schooner into the
states. It was at this point that he
was introduced to one Captain Bailey,
who had, some years before, figured in
a very sensational attempt at the in-
troduction of Chinamen from Canada
and their landing at New Haven.
Bailey had been caught, had served a
term in prison, and, since his libera-
tion, was running a fish stand in Bos-
ton market.
But Bailey knew all the coves in the
Atlantic and the gulf into which a
boat might put. He knew every
dock wl}.ere she might tie up, and the
time that must pass thereafter before
it would be safe to put his men
ashore. Operating from Jamaica there
was none of the danger into which he
had run in bringing Orientals from
Canada.
Eventually the papers were drawn,
setting forth conditions under which
all these men entered into a partner-
ship in this smuggling venture. Gard,
Ferren, Peterson, Flavot and Bailey
had all signed, and Gard had gone to
New York to get the signature of Doe
tor Yen. The district attorney’s office
in Boston was prepared for the arrests
when the papers should finally be
signed. When Doctor Yen affixed his
signature Gard signaled an associate
across the narrow street in Chinatown.
He sent the flash to Boston and the
trap was sprung.
So were all the inside facts of this
most aggravating system of smuggling
revealed. With these facts in hand,
the government had little difficulty in
breaking up a system that had been
So, also, was one of the most com-
plete and successful cases of roping
that any of the government agents
had ever attempted carried to a suc-
cessful termination.
Peterson and Flavot were convicted
and sent to prison. The other men
were eventually liberated, because it
<ould not be shown that they had act-
ually committed the crime of smug-
gling. Their complicity in a conspir-
acy to smuggle at some time in the
future did not sufficiently impress the
jury as to result in a conviction. But
the acquitted men will be so closely
watched that their opportunities for
wrongdoing will, in the future, be few.
SOLDIER SPIRIT IN JAPAN
Beys Are Taught, From the Earliest
Age, Every Sort of Military
Drill Exercise.
“The warlike spirit is instilled into
Japanese boys from mere babyhood,
the first presents to' them being toy
Samurai, armor, etc.” So says Gon-
jioske Komai, a distinguished Jap-
anese writer, now in England for the
period of the war. Continuing, in the
London Times, he writes of these
boys: “They have their own special
manlike festivities on May 5. These
are enlivened by ags and by Samurai
warriors, each bearing the celebrated
ancient crest of the boy’s family. And
in their gardens are fixed long bamboo
poles, on which are hoisted carp made
of cloth of paper, shimmering in gold
and silver, dappled and scarlet, as
symbols of warlike fortitude and read-
iness to endure adverse fate with the
calmness of those brave fish.
“These customs have been observed
in Japan for centuries, and naturally
we Japanese feel very proud if we
have more boys than girls in our fam-
ily. The festive opportunities are
seized by us to make presents to our
friends whenever they rejoice at the
birth of a boy.
“Apart from these boys’ festivities
we celebrate on the same day the
great anniversary of the famous ‘Yasu-
kuni Jinsha’ shrine in Tokio, where
all the spirits of our officers, soldiers
and sailors are deified and worshiped.
For, as the reader may easily recall^
we Japanese are great - worshipers of
our ancestors, to whom we really owe
our present existence and who are
embodied in and represented by our
illustrious Mikado.”
At the age of seven boys enter the
elementary schools and at the com-
pletion of their six-year course, at the
age of thirteen or fourteen they are
entitled to enter the middle school
course, during which they have to un-
dergo the military drill exercises, the
favorite national games of wrestling,
fencing, and jiu jitsu all being op-
tional. Some cannot afford to enter
this course. Others go on to college
and university. “At the age of twen-
ty, whether rich or poor, high or low,
priest or no priest, comes the ques-
tion of conscription,” says the writer,
whose treatment of this subject of
universal service is affected by the
current discussions in England, for
he says that it is not regarded by the
Japanese as a heavy duty, but as a
glorious privilege.
“Prior to the restoration in Japan,”
he says, “military service was regard-
ed as the honored privilege of the
Samurai class and prized as such.
The Samurai were our hereditary
warriors and enjoyed a monopoly of
all fighting. The system continued
until the abolition of feudalism in
the country in 1868.” Conscription
proper, he says, was really introduced
in 1872, and provided in principle for
the obligatory service of all men, mar-
ried and single, from eighteen to forty.
'But in practice the state’s right was
never executed, even during the Chi-
no-Japan war, in 1894-5, or in the Rus-
sian war in 1904-5. Then 1,250,000
men were mobilized in Manchuria
alone. Universal service, the writer
says, is individually prized by the
Japanese as an opportunity to each
and every one to become a Samurai
and to be allowed to fight for his fa-
ther and mother. “It never occurs
to us,” he writes, “to call it com-
pulsion. We regard it as a personal
shame or disgrace if we are rejected
through physical unfitness for the
army. We do not hasten to get mar-
ried before we join the army. There
is no such thing as ‘separation allow-
ances,’ etc., in Japan.”
But as Japanese are increasing at
the rate of 750,000 a year, there fre-
quently happens to be an enormous
excess of candidates for military serv-
ice and in such cases exemptions are
decided by lot. Apart from this the
only exemptions permitted are of only
sons of aged parents more than sixty
years old whose maintenance depends
on them, and a number of liberal con-
cessions made to students and those
employed on special missions. The
latter are allowed to postpone their
term of military service until they
finish their course of study.
Manlike Teeth of Ancient Ape.
Prof. A. G. Thacher, an eminent
British geologist, in an article in Sci-
ence Progress, mentions the recent
discovery of the jaw of an ape which
has teeth more closely resembling hu-
man teeth than do those of the chim-
panzee and ourang-outang, man’s near-
est relatives in the animal world.
In these animals, and in all other
living species of the apo, the cuspids
are much larger and longer than in
man. But in this ancient ape, which
lived, according to geologists, hundreds
of thousands of years ago, the cuspids
were small, like those of man. This
is regarded as an indication that the
development of the cuspid teeth of
apes resulted from the necessity for
their use in tearing off husks of nut*
causing a lot of trouble for a decade, i and for like purposes..
Upcoming Pages
Here’s what’s next.
Search Inside
This issue can be searched. Note: Results may vary based on the legibility of text within the document.
Tools / Downloads
Get a copy of this page or view the extracted text.
Citing and Sharing
Basic information for referencing this web page. We also provide extended guidance on usage rights, references, copying or embedding.
Reference the current page of this Newspaper.
The Lampasas Daily Leader (Lampasas, Tex.), Vol. 28, No. 250, Ed. 1 Friday, December 25, 1931, newspaper, December 25, 1931; Lampasas, Texas. (https://texashistory.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metapth905392/m1/2/: accessed July 17, 2024), University of North Texas Libraries, The Portal to Texas History, https://texashistory.unt.edu; crediting Lampasas Public Library.