Mary Doe's Dowager

A squad of customs agents waited one evening last week outside of River House, swank apartment building on Manhattan's east side, until a limousine drove up and deposited a stately, well-dressed dowager: Mrs. James C. Ayer, Colonial Dame and D. A. R., widow of a distinguished doctor who inherited millions of the American Woolen Co. fortune. The customs men followed her up to the Ayer penthouse, there spent three hours going through her personal effects while Mrs. Ayer lay prostrate on a couch. An informer whom they would call only "Mary Doe" had told the Federal men where they would find Paris finery worth some $26,000 which Mrs. Ayer had allegedly brought into the U. S. over the past four years with gross evasion of duties.

If Mrs. Ayer is proved guilty, "Mary Doe" stands to make some $15,000--one-quarter the duties & penalties assessed by the U. S. The U. S. Attorney's office refused to identify Mary, but said she was not the accused's maid, as was the case in the arrest of Mrs. Elma Lauer, wife of a New York Supreme Court judge, who went into detention for a three-month term last month. Mrs. Lauer's maid got about $10,000 for informing.

Still helping U. S. Attorney John T. Cahill catch other rich practitioners of the smuggling game at which he specialized was Albert Chapereau (Shapiro), who last week was sentenced to two years in jail for masterminding the crookery that got Radio Star Jack Benny and Comedian George Burns into the law's toils (TIME, April 17). Last week Attorney Cahill sent to Governor Lehman information tending to show that Judge Edgar Lauer knew plenty about his wife's smuggling. Four days later Judge Lauer resigned.

This file is automatically generated by a robot program, so reader's discretion is required.