The Dallas daily herald. [volume] (Dallas, Tex.) 1873-1887, 1882-10-29
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THE HOTEL NIGHT CLERK.


He Must Necessarily be Man of Courage
Honor aud Sobrlety--A Case IN Point,
The Reporter has again and again called
attention 10 the importance of the position
of night clerk" in hotel. Time and
again ii has spoken OF the man holding
such position as being the most responsible
party in the hotel, and has always advo.
Gated that no man, unless thoroughly tried
and proved, should ever be entrusted
with it.
The night clerk dares not leave his watch.
lie must possess the proprietOr's con-
! lldencc enough to be intrnSted with the
keys OF the safe, He certainly ought to be
/ physically and mentally prcpossessing in
appearance enough to inspire confidence in
the mind of the guest who hands over his
treasure to him. He should be man of
strength and determination TO cope with
robbers and burglars, whose work is done
IN the night. lie is Il solitary man in the
midst OF great temptations such as only
the most powerful can resist He must be
a sober man; and he must be always
watChful. In an emergency cool head
with him is indispensable. Suppose the
hotel catches fire Who must have the
the coolest head then? The night clerk
lie must summon the fire department,
must waken the guests; must for the time
being be chief director of affairs; he then
has life and property in his hands that re-
| qulre reason, courage, action, every manly
quality TO bear, TO save it, In such
| an emergency no machine" is
wanted around, no weak hireling, no one
( who regards his own life as more precious
| Than that OF others, no coward but q man
with individuality who can act and think
on par with the hotel proprietor. The
night clerk should he man and gentle.
man; should be paid large salary and
should be equal IN station TO the chief day
clerk,
Why it is that many proplietorg of large
hotels do not view the matter in this light.
| Is more than we can iathom. In almost
every iowa We ind some hotels who en-
trust the keeping OF large suns of money to
bummers, wholly irresponsible parties,
| beings who are willing to work almost for
their board because they do not possess the
/ brains to earn more in other walks of life.
We see boys and youths, bar-keepers,
broken down gamblers, and every class OF
men who cannot earn enough to live in any
other way placed behind the Office counter
as night clerk and by their very presence
there damning the hotel in which they are
employed, In this connection 1t is only
| lair to state that in the most OF the larger
cities there has of late been q gradual i'm
provcment for the better and numerous in
| telllGent proprieors have learned the wis.
dom of being honest to their patrons in
providing help that can be relied upon.
| The Allacy OF employing cheap night
clerks was well illustrated last Friday
morning in the Hotel Emery, Cincinnati.
The Emery is large hotel and often has in
its safe and deposited with its clerks, large
sums OF money A short time ago MIR.
| Briggs, proprietor of the hotel, hired a
man named James Sexton to devote part
othls time to tending bar. The man Sex.
ton had formerly kept a low dive in Colum.
bus, Ohio, had served time in the peniten.
tiary and was a bad egg generally. New
erthelcss he was hired on the strength of a
lew forged recommendations. He had
been in the hotc! but five days when a
guest handed him package for safe-kecp.
| ing TIL the morning, containing $500. As
a matter OF course Sexton skipped with the
money NJ tho first opportunity, and when
The guest called for the package both it and
/ the night clerk were missing. The prOprie.
tor OF the hotel is now responsible for the
lost money, and public sympathy goes with
him Just so far as Served him right Two
Thousand dollars would be wages for A
trusted man u long time here 1t is gone
with cheap hireling in five days and also
good slice of the reputation of the hotel
IN which the theft occurred. Mr.. Briggs
VIII no doubt learn lesson from this affair
and 1t shall not be the Reporters fault II
other aud similar careless hotel proprietors
| do not mend their WAYS. -fEXchapr.