The sun., 1882-02-26
TRICKS PLAYED M TRlvELLERS.
TIE Experiences OF Country Hotel Keepers
with Drummers and show Compnnies.

READING Feb. 25.--" Positively no bankin,
done here" is the strange sign that hangs il
tho Office Of hotel in large Pennsylvania
town. What do you mean by that?" WA
asked of the clerk. Just what IL says" re
piled the young man behind tho counter
We do no banking here. We cash no check
that travelling commercial men Just received
from New York or that theatrical agents ma,
present. II any one has draft for which h
wants the money value we cannot accommo
date him. II he cannot wait until tho bank:
open. it is not fault. Positively We do M
banking here of any kind. Our banking bust
ness has been exceedingly costly to us in tho
past and we desire to avoid it in the future.
we used to do men favors by cslshing thcii
checks and drafts after banking hours. The,
wero patrons of ours. guests of the house. but
| we soon ran against asnag. A very lnc-ooknl
man in the dry goods trade claimcdto be selling
goods for Broadway house He stopped with
us two seasons. always paid his bills like gen
tleman. and We had great deal of confidence
in him. The last time he was hero he was out
every day for three days and claimed TO be-
doing an excellent trade. He had large valise
| but whether II contained line of samples do
not know; About O'Clock In the evening he
:ame in the office. opening letter as he walk
for sioo He ,o said he had W just % reoevsd Il from
the house. and as he was short OF money
TrptSd to 'nye M 30 evening t5c
ara T" @ agent S paid GdG2hsS his S % with II aIs part ' Of
ever, Three days aftcrward we received word
that tho draft was forgery and that the man
Isoqs Ws I not eara to SHy Sw
up with dotoctiye; nor did we 60 to any cH-
| in whom we had every confidence. and that IL
the reason why wc put up that sign. Wo want
men are subjected To all sorts of losses. trials.
and 'lisappointmcnts by parsons running away
TO robbing us put Of clean cash. l tell you that
cuts deepest of all"
| Tho clerk went ON to tell of some of tho expe-
| rcnccs country hotels have with travelling
theatrical and opora companies. Our rates
for transient people are $40 day. and we
mers. as theya are called always get rates from
80 to 70 cents lower than othor people but why
that is don't know. 1t, is an old custom. I
suppose. originating in the days. when such
patrons were gooi customers 't tho bar. But
cial men. who pay 50 day. arc not drinking
men. But was going to say somcthing about
ay eIS Sr that .rsh but We W. Il when they
are willing TO give us our rates. Whenever
leading theatrical pcople-stars. a. they call
with US. il the star Is single lady, shc viii
have her maid or her mother with her, The
stop with u.s. while the remaining mpnt,rs Of
the company will be distributed around at the
1t from sl to $l.35 n day. Opera companies
put UP in the Same way. but first class minstrel
f's and gsneTiiy at W 'hS host M Know Ss shreWd
managers who say that it ia always u paying
aadyYrtisemsnt for them to stop az Tho leading
monkey business on the hotel r9iSter. a
cheap. company at = cheap hotel viii cap
the troupe viii .proc.eed to decorate two full
pages with the title Of tn; company. their play,
tn" namo of the theatre. the cast Of characters.
very many other names that are fictitious. Ol
course tho hotel man is posted in advanee. and
hr Joins In the conspiracy to deceive tho pro-
:" but n shrcwd manager will Register his poo
po in u genteel manner. the same as ordinary
cumstances allow any Advertisement Of his on on.
1t does not require very much time to haye the
report spread over the town that such and such
% Is n faslPsf s at i Sadg Of ita aSe
But rs said before. there is no money in en-
pertaining theatrical stars. They always want
the best room IN the house. every attontion in
the world constant waiting on, lunch served in
thoir rooms at midnight after the pay. and
are always burden. taxing the strength of tho
p2ir,er, tearing ,carpets' and damnging cor;
their, wants and complaints many Occasion
ally. however, there - II very n:ea:ant exc"p-
unnecessary trouble there is likely to be made.
Frequently men make more fuss than women,
and foreigners are worse than all others
Il
place ice water. special railway time tables,
cry uirecto-y, special rocking crair. and a
humoer al other tribes III her room. To save the
p9Tlers .at least dozen Journeys I" answer her
calls, a snr"wi porter Will mt oncr I,Iv,p,rir,,,
regular formulated series Of questions. such
% h'r desires for laundry work, hcr hour for
would likoly desire during her stay. Thus the
porter saves himself an lr,mense deal of labor.
and is generally rewarded for his thoughtful
hess. THEATRICAL people invariably leave on the
starts for their destination two hours later and
by taking IL would give them more rest and
sleep, they always take the earlier train. bclev-
ping place. the bettor."
f,k DO or hSie nS9r!s lose much by theatGien
! can't say that they do. This has boen quite
brisk season. and nearly all companies have
siohaiy sv-caiied advance ns,ont gets into Us
iqr a few dollars. There are number Of men
ahead Of companies thai only exist paper.
who are Travelling about the country. dead
heading ana BEATING m ,h their way as well as they,
blank contracts and u bunch uf pasteboard com
pllmcnlary tickets: Col. So-and-So comes
l,. town sirs few tieketS 4 T. one of The re
n9t5d ,,,tni IN IN tho & &newsparer. as the adyanee
MR.. calls around at the hotels. gets their best
terms; and finally selects the hotel proprietor
Colonel mak"s IA contract. fills up the printed
o.. PLANK NJ Tor lwenty-iye re2pe himself included
i'f Two uiys hphru probably threel. and then
hands II I" tiic clerk To- be- presented at the box
Office promptly al u special hour on the even
ing Of the show. II the agent thinks he can
succeed he'll ask the landlord, in an OH hand
Way. Tor So, as he il triilo short and he
makes Tie order call for ten more dollars. Ii
the landlord Il not in the banking busi-
ness the agent won't get the money Some
times; however. he succeeds. and tho de
e"lved landlords can then take it ont in
waiting for that company to come along
Then. again, there are agents who arr |
genuine and well meaning They give their
orders IN the treasury of their company Tor |
boarding. bill posting. &c. and their company |
does not appear. hecau-,, it Is disband"d or on |
account ii II change of route. In the latter ease
h"nprthle showmen invariably send Il man To- |
; httic up all bills. Most companies are now So |
well known that there is but little danger. Oc- !
cts"ndly however. "" al got nippcd theatre
owner, the printer. hotel man bagaa.,cn"n
and bill posters. In cast of trouble the man |
who stands the poorest chance is the bill |
p 'ster. and the printer has the best chance 10
get ms money. SHOW pcope don't want to be- .
atta"ktd in the public prints. and u company |
must be very poor indeed not tn pay for their
The theatre owner will take
what he can get and thr hotel men rather than
rake up q scandal by G"t;tinlnG baggage
will also take what they can got. Detsiuin- a /
company Is the very worst thing to be done
because - wines them ont f.iptplv Erttpr