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Show - MODERN HOTEL THIEVES. They Are Guests Themselves and . Pose as Persons of Wealth.' ' (New York Sun.) The up-to-date hotel thief is entirely different from the old fashioned sneak thief, who prowled through corridors,, often operating with the aid of servants or gaining an entrance through the cellar way and back doors. The .new type of hotel thief drives up in style to the summer hotel or city hotel that he has selected for his field. Sometimes Some-times he comes direct from an ocean liner with his steamer 'trunks oh top of the cab. Often he has a valet, and sometimes a wife, but as a rule he travels alone. : He is as picturesque a person in his modern way as any of the famous highwaymen high-waymen of history. Sometimes he has followed his prey across the continent of Europe without getting his chance: sometime some-time it is only from the steamer deck, where he has struck up an acquaintance ivith fiomo unit alist lindpr ttlo crnlao nf cordial good fellowship. When the up-to-date hotel thief becomes a thorough master of his trade and is successful enough to travel in this fashion, fash-ion, he, as a rule, operates alone. Until he amasses experiences enough to aid him in carrying off big prizes that enable en-able him to have periods of rest ana recreation between his enterprises he is obliged often to take chambermaids and bell boys into his confidence, sending them on ahead of him sometimes to prepare pre-pare wavs and means. If he has a wife with him she will invariably in-variably be handsome and finely gowned and jeweled. She will be gracious, often fascinating, and will pose as a martyr to the male friends that are picked up by the couple on their journeys. Nothing appeals ap-peals to a great many men so much as th idea of a pretty and neglected wife who is sacrificing herself for her husband. hus-band. The couple will be extremely hospitable and will entertain in their hotel rooms. Then there are various methods that are put in operation. Champagne will be consumed con-sumed and whist or poker proposed. Or frequently.. s there. has grown to be a degree de-gree of suspicion about these hotel card games, there is no talk of cards. In the latter case the guest is boldly robbed. His money or valuables are deftly extracted from his pockets. He mav know quite well when he discovers dis-covers his loss that he has been robbed, but he will have no proof. In the case of cards he is cheated invariably and led on to play further by various means until he has Kiven his note for large amounts. Sometimes he is allowed to seem to win large amounts,' but in the end he ta always the loser to an extent that makes the game a very profitable one to those who pursue it. - , , . In the corridors of some of the fashionable fashion-able hotels each evening one can sec-many sec-many of these men and women, bearing in the dress and their faces ro mark or their pursuits. They are not, as a rule, known to New York detectives. Thev come from abroad, many of them, and others -n th west. Some of them are native v Yorkers who pose as brokers ay. eculators. They belong to that large, t .r-growing class whose calling call-ing and means of livelihood are a mystery. mys-tery. They appear each evening in faultless attire, frequent the Cafe and' billiard rooms, make acquaintances over tickers and at racing boards, often pose .as generous gen-erous patrons of the turf or of art. ihey are always -well- mannered. No nmej thief of this class is ever in the least snort or brusque, in his manner. He is suave, hat-lifting, cigar-giving and most cordial and affable. Every hotel of note has its private deA tective nowadays, and some of the larger houses have a staff of sleuths who circulate cir-culate among the guests, their real calling call-ing being known to only a few of those i with whom they come in daily contact. They do much clever work in ferreting out criminals, but their efforts have been conspicuously unsuccessful of late, for despite the fact that hotel managers will do everything in their power to keep the news of a robbery secret reports of many jewel robberies of late have reached the general public, while stories of shady transactions and sharp gambling operations opera-tions are getting more frequent. The large hotels make special efforts to protect their guests known to be men of importance financially. Such men are the i favorite prey for the adventurers of this : class who will endeavor to dupe them by plans well conceived and executed, appealing ap-pealing to some special fad or folly of the man to be victimized. Many men nowadays carry . not only j large sums of money with them, but also quantities of unset gems of value, this being one of the eccentricities that modern mod-ern millionaires indulge themselves in. . Such men, if once caught in the net. are willing to double their losses as a ruie ratner than have any news or ineir experiences get out. When it is recorded that one hotel detective was discharged not very long ago for introducing a Chicago Chi-cago crook, posing as a dealer, in art treasures, to a New York millionaire, it will be seen at once that the hotel sleuth is not so astute nor so lynx-eyed as he should be in all cases. Sometimes it is a trifle difficult to tell the knave from the fool among these hotel dwellers. Women and men who acquire ac-quire wealth in other cities. In reputable as well as in questionable pursuits, will come to town with unlimited crash and plenty of good clothes. They may choose to maintain absolute secrecy as to their previous condition. Nobody No-body knows who they are, but they are guests at one of the highest-priced houses in town and they pick up J'.cnuaintanoes in the parlors and halls entirely on the strength of their dwellinz ;lace. A successful dressmaker from a small town will visit the city for the purpose of studying the fashions. She will have an excellent wardrobe with her and she will make for the best hotel, where she fancies fan-cies that she can get in direct touch with women of fashion and position. The first acquaintance she may acquire will perhaps be an adventuress posing as a western widow of means.. Both women will keep strict silence as to their antecedents ante-cedents and each will lie picturesquely in her endeavor to convince the other that she is a lady of quality. Frequently the honest dressmaker will be shadowed by the hotel sleuth on account ac-count of her suspicious stories, reported to him," perhaps, by the western widow. Some amusing complications occur which would make good material for a comedy drama. When crook meets crook and dressmaker meets drummer, all four posing pos-ing as millionaires and all meeting frequently fre-quently st gay little theatre parties and over suppers, the situation becomes tensely tense-ly amusins. The hotel adventurer is always ready to turn' Jewel robber if the chance presents pre-sents itself and if his funds be low. He will secrete himself in closets and under beds and use false keys and disguises in his efforts to consummate a robbery. He doe3 his work cleanly and cleverly as a rule. A hotel clerk who has been twenty years in the business said in regard to hotel thieves: 'Thfrn ii n n rtonhf thut lmtpl rohHfrie are increasing to a dangerous extent. High-class crooks are choosing the fashionable fash-ionable hotels as a field to work, and some houses have had the hard luck to be selected specially for this puropse. "Your hotel adventurer is always ready to become a jewel thief if his schemes do not carry. These men live by their wits and have big hotel and livery bills which they settle weekly. They are difficult to catch, because they are clever, and their being guests of the hotel protects them. "Of course, the ordinary crook is at once' spotted" and turned out:' But this new style of hotel thief -will have no mark of the criminal to the outward eye. . "He makes a great bluff, forces his companionship upon men of standing. Then he uses the fact of his " acquaintanceship acquaint-anceship often with the most marvelous success. "The summer hotels have fairly teemed with these thieves within the last few-seasons. few-seasons. At Bar Harbor and at one Long Island hotel of note the robberies, of jewels jew-els and cash were so. frequent that there was no sort of doubt that a gang was working skillfully on the same lines' in both resorts. At summer hotels there is much freer access to rooms than in town houses. There are fewer watchmen and windows are always open, offering entrance by balconies and over roofs and porticos. "Then, too, women will leave their jewels around so carelessly that it is a wonder they do not lose them oftener even than they do. In the hotel business we become auite accustomed to having our chambermaids find thousands of dol-lors' dol-lors' worth of jewelry and hundreds of dollars in Cash left under pillows by guests who have departed. . "It: would seem as though there is no use in calling attention to the warning that is posted on every hotel door calling for the deposit o." jewels and cash In the hotel safe. Women will not do it, although al-though men make a rule. of leaving large amounts of cash at the desk in preference prefer-ence to carrying it about with them at night. "Women say it is tod much bother, but this Is ridiculous. Women who own these great outfits of gems always travel with maids, and it is just as easy for them to send their jewelry and cash to the hotel desk as to strew them about their apartments. apart-ments. "As yet the hotel thieves have picked out say half a dozen of the best known hotels In different parts of the country for their operations. ;. Unless a speedy-stop speedy-stop is put to their success, 'they will doubtless enlarge their field." |