A more tragic story was related by George Bridges, a tidesman of the
Port of London. He showed that it did not always "pay" to be diligent
in one's duty, for he quoted the case of a Captain Mercer, in the
employ of the Custom House, who did now and then make a seizure, but
he "was broke for doing his duty"; and when Mercer came into Cork on
the occasion in question, the mob set upon him so that he was
compelled to escape into the sheriff's house. The mob then surrounded
the house in their thousands until the sheriff interceded with them.
They were wild with fury and threatened to pull the house down, until
the sheriff gave them his oath that Captain Mercer should never again
be guilty of seizing the wool which the smugglers had endeavoured to
export. But the mob afterwards went to Passage and took hold of a
Custom House officer named May. They brought him forth from his house,
cut out his tongue, and cut off his ears, one of which the witness
said he remembered seeing nailed on to the Cork Exchange. They dragged
the man with a rope round his neck, gave him several blows, hurled him
into the river, and finally the poor fellow died of his ill-treatment.
Although handsome rewards were offered for the discovery of the
offenders, yet no one ever came forward.

One could quote similar instances of the vehemence of the smugglers
from other sources. For instance, on February 2, 1748-49, the
Collector of the Port of Penzance wrote to the Board to give them some
idea of the people among whom he had to work. "The insolence," he
said, "of some of the smuglers [_sic_] and wreckers in this
neighbourhood is run to such a heighth, that tho our officers have
from time to time secured severall Hogsheads, it has been by force
taken from them [again], 'and the officers forced to save their
lives.'" Writing again on the 14th December, the same correspondent
added that "the smugglers never behaved with more insolence than at