As a result of a car accident in 1925 a shipment of contraband fell off the Trois-Pistoles Bridge.

The different means used by our smugglers clearly demonstrate their ingenuity: 

    – Farms and chicken coops become warehouses. 

    – Bottles of alcohol were sometimes hidden in hay bales, barrels of apples or milk churns. 

    – Alcohol was concealed in drums of manure. Smugglers would place manure at the bottom of the drum, alcohol in the middle and then cover everything with manure. If they were intercepted, the customs officer would check only one barrel and seeing that it contained manure, let them through. 

    – Cans filled with alcohol were tied to blocks of salt and thrown into rivers in order to hide them, at least until the salt dissolved and the cans rose to the surface.  

    – Cargo was concealed amongst gravestones or in coffins.  

    – Smugglers crossed the border disguised as priests or nuns. 

    – Informants notified officials of a (false) delivery and while those freight cars were being searched, others filled with alcohol could pass through customs without trouble. 

    – Seaplanes dropped shipments into local lakes. 

The smugglers were never short of ideas!