Uncle Sam Detective

big task, but you also recognize the limitations of the individual. David with his slingshot had an obvious chance of success. If he could make a scratch shot and land o

up a system for diverting a million of dollars a year from the pocket of Uncle Sam and appropriating the money to itself. For twenty-five years the men of this inner circle had steadily strength

d that influence and put their easy money back of it. Their power grew. It made it possible for them to dictate appointments more important than their own, even to the collectorship itself. It made it possible for them to bring about the removal of any smaller official who seemed t

rom Italy, upon which he expected to pay a duty of $10,000. The cargo was unloaded and weighed by the customs representatives. That night an emissary of the ring called upon the Italian merchant

the spokesman. "We expect

the Government," said Costello. "I hav

ighers suggest. They could as easily have charged you ove

icial corruption and shared the duties thus saved. Costello received most of his goods as part of what were known as "Mediterranean cargoes," chees

ally forced the importers into these deceptions. The customs servi

lliam Loeb, Jr., was collector of the port, and of the same mind. The two men got their heads together and considered ways

men in the service who were corrupt, to get his information in such form that it would be admissible in court as evidence and so strong that it would insure convictions. He was to do all this in the face of the unfriendliness of the service he w

oms cases?" District Attorney S

baseball gam

unloaded out that way," said Stims

in my life. I sit in the nice, warm sun of the bleachers to the rig

riddle of the customs frauds Agent Gard was wor

of the detail of such a business would have asked. He was received tolerantly by the old heads of the customs crowd. Many agents had been to the docks ahead of him and most of these had been experts. If they began to get dangerous, poli

a man who suited the purpose of his plan, and had found him. This man was an Irishman by the name of O'Toole, who was one of the weighers at a certain dock

t him. He had no family, his great enthusiasm was baseball, and his weakness was a certainty of going

vestigation?" O'Toole asked Gard b

ek," said the

anything?" ask

said the sp

ur job to last, don't

athered the idea that O'Toole was not in sympathy with conditions, that he was not a member of the inner circle. Yet an intelligent man serving

day. The idea in this was to determine what information the laborers were able to pick up and whether they could be used as informers. Many of these were Irishmen, as smart as the best of

the inside," said one, "because they are

ney, anyway," insisted ano

ide. He knew that, to get on a basis of sufficient good feeling to bring this about, he must approach O'Toole on the most favorable basis possible. Too much care could not be taken in laying the foundation for his

fore the conditions developed that made just the opening that Gard wanted. The situation worked itself out on Saturday afternoon. The game had gone three innings when a flurry of rain threatened to bring it

O'Toole and the special agent. Both were drenched to the skin. Finally the umpire announced that the game wa

n, "I believe you are a more

drops of water," complained the saturated weigh

barroom and talked of club standings and batting averages

after the fourth drink,

d Gard. "I am

dren to give you an interest in the world, there is nothing to live for. You perform your small duties with a great void in the back of your

eekly fling. It also began to be evident that he was of the order of inebriat

ecome so absorbed in his work that it would fill his whole life. Part

bunch of thieves always at work? Would you like to spend your declining y

thing before the right authority and do a worth

starve," was the reply. "I have seen too many of

cords of Mediterranean cargoes you will find that, during the past ten years, such cargoes have regularly been about twice as heavy when handled by certain weighers as when

. In the meantime the records of weighers were being examined. In a week the figures were complete. They showed these men div

Stimson wanted to see him that night at the Federal building, that the district attorney was u

ut this is not now true. I have taken up your case with the Secretary of the Treasury himself. That official asks me to inform you that, in case you aid us in cleaning up this situation, your place wi

ngton at his back. The value of all he had learned in eleven years at the scales was made to supplement the lack of customs experience on the part of the special agent. His acquaintance with the customs force in the p

many of these he had personal knowledge. With their methods he was entirely familiar and was able to point

of the sugar scandals, the checker had a steel spring like a corset stay that he thrust into the mechanism of the scale and retarded it, thus resulting in a showing of short weight. But in the case of the Mediterranean cargoes the fraud w

orking about the scales, was able to see the amount that the beam registered at given times. He could easily remember the big numbers, those that represented the thousands of pounds, until he had a chance to s

selected who would be given chances to tell all about their knowledge of the frauds. These men would be given immunity. Thus would a few of the guilty

his money, whether he could be trapped on the outside. When the Government needed the co

wo and you passed them. That night a messenger was sent to Costello with a statement of the short weight he had

itness. Under the circumstances do you not think it would be advisable for you to go with me

were convicted and sent to the penitentiary. Many hundreds of thousands of dollars in duties that had been avoided were assessed against and paid by importers. The Government was l

ost complicated task. The work of Special Agent Gard is but a fragment of it, but