St. Landry democrat. (Opelousas, La.) 1878-1894, 1882-09-09
Old Hotel Registers.

"Wnat becomes Of the old hotel reg
isters9 inquired SIN reporter of Je-
rome Leland, of the Sturtevant House.
.Got 'em all in big safe down
stairs. Come and take a look, said
Mr.. Leland. Then he led the way
through subterranean labyrinth of
cooks, ranges, laundries, stores and
wine cellars to vault under the side
walk next to room where the Their
mome1er would have registered 200 de-
grees, if the register had permitted.
The hot room contained the stove where
irons were heated for the laundry.
"You see had this vault built on pur-
pose to keep these books. No danger of
their getting damp or mildewed here. y
''Do you ever have to refer to them"'
every often it becomes necessary to
establish the fact that a man was here
at certain time. 1t is a common oc-
.currence to fix the dates of business
transactions by these registers, and they
are frequently used in court"
But that must be a trouble to you"
Eyes, of course; but we don't mind
taking a little trouble for a friend"
Are you bothered by getting your
clerks subpenaed to produce the books
in court?'
Sometimes; but it is very difficult to
be certain that any of us was here at
any particular time, if we can't spare
the time to 90 and testify"
You must have a great man valuable
autographs in these registers"
Lots of 'em; but we never allow
them to be cut out. There are all the
registers just as we have had them for
eleven years"
Charles Stetson, of the Astor House,
has preserved all the old registers of
that famed resort. He has in them a
series of autographs of the most distin-
guished public men of the last half cen
tury. These books he has kept relig-
iously, never permitting them to be
mutilated by autograph-hunters. They
were taken away by him when he left
the Astor House. On their pages may
be found the names Of Clay, Webster.
Calhoun, and a LONG line of Presidents
who visited the Aston House during the
many years that it was the chief hostelry
of the city. The Leland family have
generally preserved their registers in
the various hotels they have kept
throughout the country.
At the Brevoort House the old regis
tiers contain many of the names Of dis
tinguished foreigners who have visited
this country and made the Brevoort
their headquarters. The late Mr.. Hawk,
OF the Windsor, one of the oldest hotel
keepers in New York, had many old
reg sters whose names comprise some
of the most noted professional men in
the United States, as well as leading
wealthy citizens. 1t is generally the
rule that when hotel changes hands
the old proprietor takes away the reg
is; err. When the Hoffman House re-
Gently changed hands the old registers
disappeared. There are a great many
old registers at the New York Hotel.
Here, during the many years that it was
kept by Hiram Cranston. the leading
men of the South gathered and left their
names. Mr.. Cranston always kept his
registers. His son. Hiram Cranston, Jr.,
does the same. There was very inter-
esting set of registers in the Metropolitan
Hotel when it was kept by Tweed
and Garvey. but they have disappeared.
Mr.. Henry Clair. the present manager,
keeps the registers at this house as well
as at the other hotels owned bv the
Stewart estate. The Metropolitan uses
about two registers in a month. The
St. Denis and the Albemarle have pre-
served all the old registers. The St.
Nicholas, now one of the oldest hotels
in town, has big pile OF registers, con-
names. At the E1 erett House the old
registers are kept, and frequently re-
ferred to by old customers.
But there is one hotel where the old
registers are not regarded with much
reverence. That is the Fifth Avenue
Hotel, now under the same proprietor
ship that it was when started more than
twenty-one years ago, that of Hotchkiss
& Darling. For many years the old
registers we're kept, and often referred
to. Time and again they have been
lugged into court and clerks with them
under subp9nas, Duces TENN. Final
ly the proprietors got tired of furnish
ing so much testimony to courts with
out adequate compensation. It was
found that by keeping the registers
often couple who stayed but one night
and paid ten dollars into the hotel
treasury might entail fifty dollars worth
of bother by legal proceedings in PROV
ing the register. Therefore, about six
months ago, orders were given to burn
the registers as fast as they are filled.
As the urbane light-haired clerk ex-
pressed it: 1--WE don t let 'em get cold. |
but get EN- out of the way at the earli-
est possible moment People can now
look elsewhere for testimony. We can't |
afford to keep one clerk hunting for
books and another on the witness stand |
all the time" IN Z. Sun.