If the "marks" indicated nothing suspicious, the goods were allowed to pass.
Under this regulation, a large number of boxes marked "soap" were shipped on a steamboat for Lexington.

So much soap going into Missouri was decidedly suspicious, as the people of the interior do not make extensive use of the article.

An examination disclosed canisters of powder instead of bars of soap.

The discovery was followed by the promulgation of an order requiring a rigid examination of all packages that might be of doubtful character.

This order, with various modifications, was kept in force for a long time.
In starting from St.Louis, I left a company of Union volunteers at the railway station.