Ep. 5 - Phyllis Dodge - Smuggler Extraordinary

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Episode Transcript

(00:00):
Chapter five, Phyllis Dodge Smuggler Extraordinary. Bill Quinn tossed aside his evening paper
and, cocking his feet upon aconvenient chair, remarked that now that peace
was finally signed, sealed, anddelivered, there ought to be a big
boom in the favorite pastime of theidle rich. Meaning what I inquired,

(00:26):
smuggling, of course, said Quinn, who only retired from secret service when
an injury received an action forced himto do so. Did you ever travel
on a liner when four out ofevery five people on board didn't admit that
they were trying to beat the customsofficials one way or another, And the
only reason the other one didn't followsuit was because he knew enough to keep

(00:50):
his mouth shut. That's how UncleSam's detectives pick up a lot of clues.
The amateur Kirk never realizes that silenceis golden and that oftentimes speech leads
to a heavy fine. Now thatthe freedom of the seas is an accomplished
fact, the whole crew of wouldbe smugglers will doubtless get to work again,

(01:14):
only to be nabbed in port.Inasmuch as ocean travel has gone up
with the rest of the cost ofliving. It'll probably be a sport confined
to the comparatively rich for a coupleof years. Anyhow, it was different
in the old days. Every steamerthat came in was loaded to the eyes,

(01:36):
and you never knew when you aregoing to spot a hidden necklace or
a packet of diamonds that wasn't destinedto pay duty. There were thrills to
the game too, believe me.Why just take the case of Phyllis Dodge.
Missus Dodge, Quinn continued, afterhe had packed his pipe to a

(01:57):
condition where it was reasonably sure remainedlighted for some time, was theoretically at
least a widow. Her full name, as it appeared on many passenger lists
during the early part of nineteen thirteen, was Missus Mortimer C. Dodge of
Cleveland, Ohio. When the customsofficials came in to look into the matter,

(02:21):
they weren't able to find anyone inCleveland who knew her. But then
it's no penal offense to give thepurser a wrong address, or even a
wrong name for that matter. Whilethere may have been doubts about Missus Dodge's
widowhood or whether she had ever beenmarried, for that matter, there could
be none about her beauty in thelanguage of the classics. She was there,

(02:46):
black hair, brown eyes, apeaches and cream complexion that came and
went while you watched it, anda figure that would have made her fortune
in the follies. Joe Gregory saidtoward the trailing her was one of the
easiest things he had ever done toget the whole story of Phyllis and her

(03:07):
extraordinary cleverness. Extraordinary because it wasso perfectly obvious. We'll have to cut
back a few months before she cameon the scene. For some time,
the Treasury Department had been well awarethat a number of precious stones, principally
pearl necklaces, were being smuggled intothe country. Agents abroad the Department maintains

(03:31):
a regular force in Paris, London, Rotterdam and other European points you know,
had reported the sale of the jewels, and they had turned up a
few weeks later in New York orChicago. But the Custom Service never considers
it wise to trace stones back fromtheir owners. On this side, there

(03:53):
are too many ramifications to any wellplanned smuggling scheme, and it is too
easy for someone to claim that hehad found them in a life forgotten chest
in the attic, or some suchstory as that the burden of proof rests
upon the government in a case ofthis kind, and except in the last

(04:14):
extremity, it always tries to followthe chase from the other end to nab
the smuggler in the act and thusbuild up a jury proof case. Reports
of the smuggling cases had been filteredinto the department half a dozen times in
as many months, and the matterfinally got on the chiefs nerves to such
a degree that he determined to thrashit out if it took every man he

(04:39):
had. In practically every case,the procedure was the same, though the
only principles known were different each time. Rotterdam, for example, would report
pearl necklace valued at forty thousand dollarssold today to man named Silverberg, have

(05:00):
reason to believe it is destined forStates, and then would follow a technical
description of the necklace. Anywhere fromsix weeks to three months later, the
necklace would turn up in the possessionof a jeweler who bore a shady reputation.
Sometimes the article wouldn't appear at all, which might have been due to

(05:21):
the fact that they weren't brought intothis country, or that the receivers had
altered them beyond recognition. However,the European advices pointed to the latter supposition,
which didn't soothe the Chief's nerves theleast bit. Finally, along in
the middle of the spring of nineteenthirteen, there came a cable from Paris

(05:45):
announcing the sale of the famous EchiumEmerald, a gorgeous stone that you couldn't
help recognizing once you got the description. The purchaser was reported to be an
American named Williamson. He paid cashfor it, so his references and his
antecedents were not investigated at the time. Sure Enough, it wasn't two months

(06:10):
later when a report came in fromChicago that a pork made millionaire had added
to his collection a stone which talliedto the description of the Echium Emerald.
Shall we go after it? Fromthis end? Chief inquired one of the
men on the job in Washington.We can make the man who bought it

(06:30):
tell us where he got it,and then sweat the rest of the game
out of the go betweens, Yes, snorted the Chief, and be laughed
out of court. On some trumpedup story framed by a well paid lawyer.
Not a chance. I'm going toland those birds and land them with
the goods. We can't afford totake any chances with this crowd. They've

(06:56):
evidently got money and brains, acombination that you've got to stay awake nights
to beat. No, we'll nailem in New York just as they're bringing
the stones in. Send a wireto Gregory to get on the job at
once and tell New York to turnloose every man they've got, though they've

(07:16):
been working on this case long enough, heaven knows. The next morning,
when Gregory and his society manner strolledinto the custom House in New York,
he found the place buzzing. Evidently, the instructions from Washington had been such
as to make the entire force fearfor their jobs unless the smuggling combination was

(07:40):
broken up quickly. It didn't takeJoe very long to get the details.
They weren't many, and he immediatelydiscarded the idea of possible collusion between the
buyers of the stones abroad. Itlooked to be a certainty on the face
of it, But once you haddiscovered that what good did it, do

(08:01):
you? It wasn't possible to jaila man just because he bought some jewels
in Europe. And besides, theorders from Washington were very clear that the
case was to be handled strictly fromthis side. At least the final arrest
was to be made on American soilto avoid extradition complications and the like.

(08:24):
So when Joe got all the facts, they simply were that some valuable jewels
had been purchased in Europe and hadturned up in America without going through the
formality of visiting the custom house anywherefrom six weeks to three months later.
Not much to work on, grumbledGregory. And I suppose, as usual

(08:48):
that the chief will be as peevishas hades if we don't nab the guilty
party within the week. It's morethan possible, admitted one of the men
who had handled the case. Gregorystudied the dates in which the jewels had
been purchased and those on which theyhad been located in this country for a
few moments in silence, then getme copies of the passenger lists of every

(09:16):
steamer that has docked here in thepast year, he directed. Of course,
it's possible that these things might havebeen landed at Boston or Philadelphia,
but New York's the most likely port. When the lists had been secured,
Gregory stuffed them into his suit caseand started for the door. Where are

(09:37):
you going, inquired McMahon, theman in charge of the New York office
up to the Adirondacks for a fewdays. Gregory replied, what's the idea?
Think the stuff is being brought overby airplane and landed inland. Liners

(09:58):
don't dock upstate, you know?No, said Gregory, but that's where
I'm going to dock until I candigest this stuff. And he tapped his
suit case. Somewhere in this bunchof booklets, there's a clue to this
case, and it's up to meto spot it. Goodbye. Five days

(10:20):
later, when he sauntered back intothe New York office, the suit case
was surprisingly light. Apparently every oneof the passenger lists had vanished. As
a matter of fact, they hadbeen boiled down to three names, which
were carefully inscribed in Joe's notebook.Did you pick up any jewels and the

(10:43):
catskills? Was the question that greetedhim when he entered. Wasn't in the
cat's skills, he growled, wentup to a camp in the Adirondacks,
colder in blazes. Any more stuffturn up? No, but a wire
came from Washington just after you leftto watch out for a hundred thousand dollars

(11:05):
string of pearls sold at a privateauction in London last week to an American
named I don't care what his namewas. Gregory cut in. What was
the date they were sold? Thesixteenth? Gregory glanced at the calendar,

(11:26):
and to day is the twenty second, he mused, What boats are due
in the next three days? TheCretic docks this afternoon, and the Tasmania
ought to get in tomorrow. That'llbe all until the end of the week,
right, snapped Gregory. Don't leta soul off the critic until I've

(11:52):
had a look at her passenger list. It's too late to go down the
harbor now, But not a person'sto get off that ship until I've had
a chance to look him over.Also cable for a copy of the Tasmanias
passenger list, hurry it up.Less than ten minutes after he had slipped

(12:13):
on board the critic, However,Gregory gave the signal, which permitted the
gangplank to be lowered and the passengersto proceed as usual, except for the
fact that the luggage of everyone andthe person of not a few were searched
with more than the average carefulness,but not a trace of the pearls was

(12:35):
found, as Joe had anticipated acareful inspection of the passenger list, and
a few moments with the purser hadconvinced him that none of his three suspects
were on board. Shortly after hereturned to the office, the list of
the Tasmanias passengers began to come overthe cables. Less than half a page

(12:58):
had been received when Gregory uttered asudden exclamation, reached for his note book,
compared a name in it with onewhich appeared on the cabled report,
and indulged in the luxury of adeep throated chuckle. Gregg's got a nibble
somewhere, commented one of the bystanders. Yes, admitted his companion, but

(13:22):
land in the fish is a differentmatter whoever's on the other end of that
line. As a mighty cagy individual. But though he undoubtedly overheard the remark,
Gregory didn't seem to be the leastbit worried. In fact, his
hat was at a more rakish anglethan usual, and his cane fairly whistled

(13:45):
through the air as he wandered atthe avenue half an hour later. The
next the customs Force heard of himwas when he boarded the quarantine boat the
next morning. Clambering on the linera little later, with all the skill
of a pilot. You have apassenger on board by the name of Dodge,
he informed the purser, after hehad shown his badge. Missus Mortimer

(14:11):
c. Dodge. What do youknow about her? Not a thing in
the world, said the purser,except that she is a most beautiful and
apparently attractive woman. Crossed with usonce before twice. Corrected, Gregory came

(14:31):
over in January and went right back. That's right, said the purser,
So she did. I'd forgotten that, But beyond that fact, there isn't
anything that I can add. Seemedto be familiar with anyone on board,
not particularly mixes with the younger marriedset, and I've noticed her on Dick

(14:56):
with the Mortons quite frequently, popbeing met them on her return trip last
winter. They were along then,if I remember rightly, thanks, said
the customs operative. You needn't mentionanything about my inquiries, of course,
and he mixed with the throng ofnewspaper reporters who were picking up news in

(15:20):
various sections of the big vessel.When the Tasmania docked, Gregory was the
first one off search Missus Mortimer cDodge to the skin. He directed the
matron take down her hair, tapthe heels of her shoes, and go
through all the usual stunts. Butbe as gentle as you can about it.

(15:43):
Say that we've received word that someuncut diamonds, not pearls, mind
you, are concealed on the Tasmania, and that orders have been given to
go over everybody thoroughly pass the wordalong the line to give out the same
information so she won't be suspicious.I don't think you'll find anything, but

(16:06):
you never can tell. At thatJoe was right. The matron didn't locate
a blessed thing out of the way. Missus Dodge had brought in a few
dutiable trinkets, but they were alldown on her declaration, and within the
hour she was headed uptown in ataxi, accompanied by a maid who had

(16:26):
met her as she stepped out ofthe Custom's office. Not far behind them
trailed another taxi top up, andGregory's eyes glued to the window behind the
chauffeur. The first machine finally drewup at the aster and Missus Dodge and
the maid went in, followed bya pile of luggage which had been searched

(16:49):
until it was moral certainty that nota needle would have been concealed in it.
Gregory waited until they were out ofsight, and then followed. In
answer to his inquiries at the desk, he learned that Missus Dodge had stopped
at the hotel several times before,and the house detective assured him that there

(17:11):
was nothing suspicious about her conduct.How about the maid, inquired Gregory.
Don't know a thing about her either, except that she is the same one
she had before. Pretty little thingtoo, though not as good looking as
her mistress. For the next threedays, Joe hung around the hotel or

(17:36):
followed the lady from the Tasmania wherevershe went. Something in the back of
his head. Call it intuition ora hunch, or whatever you please,
but it's the feeling that a goodoperative gets when he's on the right trail
told him that he was warm,as the kids say. Appearances seemed to

(17:57):
deny that fact. Missus Dodge wentonly to the most natural places, a
few visits to the stores, acouple too fashionable modesties and milliners, and
some drives through the park, alwaysaccompanied by her maid, and always in
the most sedate and open manner.But on the evening of the third day,

(18:22):
the house detective tipped Joe off thathis prey was leaving in the morning.
Guess she's gone back to Europe,reported The houseman gave orders to have
a taxi ready at nine, andher trunks taken down to the docks before
them. Better get busy if youwant to land her. I'm not ready

(18:45):
for that just yet, Gregory admittedwith a scowl. When missus Dodge's taxi
drove off the following morning, Joewasn't far away, and, acting on
orders which he had delivered over thephone, no less than half a dozen
operatives watched the lady and the maidvery closely. When they reached the dock,

(19:08):
not a thing came of it,however, Both of them went to
the stateroom, which had been reserved, and the maid remained to help with
the unpacking. Until the all ashorethat's going ashore was bellowed through the boat.
Then she left and stood in thepier until the ship had cleared the
dock. It beats me, mutteredGregory, but I'm willing to gamble my

(19:33):
job that I'm right. And thatnight he wired to Washington to keep a
close lookout for the London pearls,adding that he felt certain they would turn
up before long. In that case, muttered the chief at the other end
of the wire, Why in Heaven'sname didn't he get them when they came

(19:56):
in? Sure enough, not afortn I had passed before Saint Louis reported
that a string of pearls perfectly matchedanswering to the description of the missing jewels,
had been offered for sale there throughprivate channels. The first reaction was
a telegram to Gregory that fairly burnedthe wires short. But to the point

(20:21):
either the man who smuggled that necklaceor your job in ten days, it
read, and Gregory replied, giveme three weeks and you'll have one or
the other. Meanwhile, he hadbeen far from inactive, still playing his
hunch that Phyllis Dodge had something todo with a smuggling game. He had

(20:45):
put in time cultivating the only personon this side that appeared to know her,
the maid. It was far froma thankless task for Alice. She
spelled it with a y, waspretty and knew it. Furthermore, she
appeared to be entirely out of herelement in a cheap room on twenty fourth

(21:06):
Street. Most of the time shespent in wandering up the avenue, and
it was there that Gregory made heracquaintance through the expedient of bumping her bag
out of her hands and restoring itwith one of his courtly bows. The
next minute he was strolling alongside remarkingin the beauty of the weather. But

(21:29):
although he soon got to know Alicewell enough to take her to the theater
and to the cabaret, it didn'tseem to get him anywhere. She was
perfectly frank about her position. Saidshe was a hairdresser by trade, and
that she acted as lady's maid toa Missus Dodge, who spent the better
part of her time abroad. Infact, she said, Missus Dodge is

(21:56):
only here three or four days everytwo months or so, and she pays
you for your time in between.Oh yes, Alice replied, she's more
than generous. I should say shewas, Gregory thought to himself, but
he considered it best to change thesubject. During the days that followed,

(22:21):
Joe exerted every ounce of his personalityin order to make the best possible impression.
Posing as a man who had mademoney in the West, he took
Alice everywhere and treated her royally.Finally, when he considered the time ripe,
he injected a little love into theequation and hinted that he thought it

(22:42):
was about time to settle down,and that he appeared to have found the
proper person to settle with. Butthere for the first time, Alice balked.
She didn't refuse him, but shestated in so many words that she
had a place that suited her forthe time being, and that until the

(23:03):
fall at least, she preferred tokeep on with it. That suits me
all right, declared Gregory. Takeyour time about it. Meanwhile, we'll
continue to be good friends and trailaround together. Eh certainly, said Alice,
that is until Tuesday. Tuesday,inquired Joe. What's coming off Tuesday?

(23:33):
Missus Dodge will arrive on the Atlantic, was the reply. And I'll
have to be with her for threedays. At least three days, commenced
to Gregory and halted himself. Itwasn't wise to show too much interest.
But that night he called the chiefon long distance and inquired if there had

(23:56):
been any recent reports of suspicious jewelsale abroad. Yes, came the voice
from Washington. Pearls again, looseones this time, and your three weeks
grace is up at noon Saturday.The click that followed as the receiver hung

(24:17):
up was finality itself. The sameprocedure, altered in a few minor details,
was followed. When missus Dodge landedagain. She was searched to the
skin again, her luggage was goneover with microscopic care, and again nothing

(24:37):
was found. This time she stayedat the Knickerbocker, but Alice was with
her as usual. Deprived of hisusual company and left to his own devices,
Gregory took a long walk up thedrive and tried to thrash out.
The problem comes over on a differentboat most every trip, he thought,

(25:02):
so that eliminates collusion with any ofthe crew. Doesn't stay at the same
hotel two times running, so there'snothing there, has the same maid and
always returns then it was that motoristson Riverside Drive were treated to the sight
of a young and extremely prepossessing man, dressed in the height of fashion,

(25:26):
throwing his hat in the air anduttering a yell that could be heard for
blocks, after which he disappeared hurriedlyin the direction of the nearest drug store.
A hasty search through the phone bookgave him the number he wanted,
the offices of the Black Star Line. Is mister McPherson, the purser of

(25:49):
the Atlantic there, he inquired.Then, Hello, mister McPherson, this
is Gregory Customs Division. You rememberme, don't you worked on the Maitland
diamond case with you two years ago. Wonder if you could tell me something
I want to know? Is missusMortimer c Dodge book to go back with

(26:14):
you tomorrow? She is? What'sthe number of her stateroom? And ah,
what was the number of the roomshe had? Coming over? I
thank you. If the motorists whomGregory had startled on the drive had seen
him emerge from the phone booth,they would have marveled at the look of

(26:34):
keen, satisfaction and relief that wasspread over his face. The cat that
swallowed the canary was tired of lifecompared with Joe at that moment. Next
morning, the customs operatives were rathersurprised to see Gregory stroll down to the
Atlantic Doc about ten o'clock. Thoughtyou were somewhere uptown in the chief's at

(27:00):
case, said one of them.So I was, answered Joe, but
that's practically cleaned up. With that, he went aboard and no one saw
him until just before the all ashorecall. Then he took up his place
beside the gang plank, with threeother men placed near by in case of

(27:22):
accident. Follow my lead, hedirected, I'll speak to the girl.
Two of you stick here to makecertain that she doesn't get away, and
you bill beat it on board.Then and tell the captain that the boat's
not to clear until we give theword. We won't delay him more than

(27:44):
ten minutes at the outside. WhenAlice came down the gang plank a few
minutes later, in the midst ofpeople who had been saying goodbye to friends
and relatives, she spotted Joe waitingfor her and started to move hurriedly away.
Gregory caught up with her before shehad gone a dozen feet. Good

(28:07):
morning, Alice, he said,thought i'd come down to meet you.
What have you got in the bagthere, indicating her maid's handbag. Not
not a thing, said the girl, flushing. Just then the matron joined
the party as previously arranged, andJoe's tone took on its official hardness.

(28:32):
Hurry up and search her. Wedon't want to keep the boat any longer
than we have to. Less thana minute later, the matron thrust her
head out of the door long enoughto report, we found him. The
pearls She had him in the frontof her dress. Gregory was up the
gangplank in a single bound. Amoment later he was knocking at the door

(28:56):
of missus dodges stateroom. The instantthe knob turned, he was inside,
informing Phyllis that she was under arreston a charge of bringing jewels into the
United States without the formality of payingduty. Of course, the lady protested,
but the Atlantic sailed less than tenminutes behind scheduled time without her Promptly.

(29:23):
At twelve, the phone on thedesk of the chief of the Custom's
Division in Washington buzzed noisily. Gregoryspeaking, came through the receiver. My
time's up, and I've got theparty you want, claims to be from
Cleveland and sails under the name ofMissus Mortimer C. Dodge. First name

(29:45):
Phyllis. She's confessed and promises toturn state's evidence if we'll go light with
her. That, added Quinn,was the finish of Missus Dodge so far
as the government was concerned. Inorder to land the whole crew, the
people who were handling the stuff onthis side, as well as the ones

(30:07):
who are mixed up in the schemeabroad, they let her go scot free,
with the proviso that she's to berushed to Atlanta if she ever pokes
her nose into the United States again. The last I heard of her,
she was in Monaco, tangled upin a blackmail case there. Gregory told
me all about it some time later, said that the first hunch had come

(30:32):
to him when he studied the passengerslists in the wilds of the Adirondacks.
Went there to be alone and concentrate. He found that of all the people
listed, only three, two men, and a Missus Dodge had made the
trip frequently in the past six months. The frequency of Missus Dodges travel evidently

(30:55):
made it impracticable for her to usedifferent aliases, some one would be sure
to spot her. But it wasn'tuntil that night on Riverside Drive that the
significance of the data struck him.Each time she took the same boat on
which he had come over, didshe have the same stateroom? The phone

(31:17):
called to McPherson established the fact thatshe did. This time, at least,
the rest was almost as obvious asthe original plan. The jewels were
brought aboard, passed on to Phyllis, and she tucked them away somewhere in
her stateroom. Her bags and herperson could of course be searched with perfect

(31:40):
safety. Then what was more naturalthan that her maid should accompany her on
board when she was leaving. Nobodyever pays any attention to people who board
the boat at this end, soAlice was able to walk off with the
stuff under the very eyes of thecustoms authority, and they found later that

(32:01):
she had the nerve to place itin the hands of the government for the
next twenty four hours. She sentit by registered mail to Pittsburgh and it
was passed along through an underground fencechannel until the prospective purchaser appeared perfectly obvious
and perfectly simple. That's why theplan succeeded. Until Gregory began to make

(32:25):
love to Alice and got the ideathat missus Dodge was going right back to
Europe hammered into his head. Ithad occurred to him before, but he
hadn't placed much value on it.Oh yawned, Quinn, I'm getting dry.
Trot out some grape juice and puton that Chrysler record Drigger's serenade.

(32:51):
I love to hear it makes methink of the time when they landed that
scoundrel Wimer. End of Chapter five