West Virginia argus. [volume] (Kingwood, W. Va.) 1877-1946, 1885-04-10
NO GAME THERE.


position.
q" l would like to have the package |
gave YOU yesterday said guest at
one Of the hotels yesterday to the clcrll
in charge.
What kind of a package was itP"
said the hotel man.
Money" lacouically replied the
gueS.
"lIayc you check for itP"
NO"
but gave YOU one"
II guess not"
well, wen Sce." said the clerk. as
he stepped TO the safe and took In re-
from an nUnvelope on tl,e back OF whi IA
was pasted ragged slip inscribed VITA
the name, or what was left Of it, of the
owner
This is the package" said the
clerk, land the name ON the slip wa,
written by yourself. You observe that
the slip on the envelope i, torn
in two. The missing portion I gave you
when YOU left the pa a,kage. Pcrhap
You did not pick IL up, but II We ha II
here il would bc found that the tw,
pieces were originally one, aud Won
would have no difficulty in proving
your ownership of the money. Row
ever, as remember your giving M tine
package. | will return il to YOU but III
| had forgotten the circumstance, au /
YOU were stranger | think would
hold ON to it for awhile
The guest paid his bill and depart n.
and the reporter who witnessed the nj.
fair sought out an atiachc of the house
and asked him whcn such u novel p.al
had been adopted To prevent sharper
from. imposing on hot 'l-kecpcrs.
1t is not original with us. " said he.
but is generally known among the
fraternity. IL Is sure preventive
against swindling on the part OF quests.
and in all iirst-clasS hotels has entirely
superseded the old brass checks wc
formerly used. The hotel business is -
most peculiar one in many respects.
one of which is the constant dealing,
we have with people who are entirely
unknown 10 us, and who, perhaps. We
may never see but once. We hayC
scores of regular customers, IL l. true.
and they always stop here whenever
they come 10 Detroit, but the stream of
travellers who daily arrive i'm the city
are not all business men. Among the
strangers who may stop at this hotel
are undoubtedly many who, ii they can
capture few stray dollars bv slick
trick will not hesitate to do so, and il
we did not use every possible means to
prevent swindling. we might sometimes
get trippel up and lose large sums OF
money The paper 81 p winch YOU saw
on tho envelope is the best and on ly
sure way we have of fcircumvcnliug anv
attempt which may be made 10 swindlc
us out OF money packages which have
been left in our charge for ,afc-kecp.
ing. and | will show you why this is the
case.
Hardly day in the year passes hut
we are requested by greater or les,
number of guests TO take charge OF
their valuablcs while they remain with
Us. We take the articles and, wrapping
them securely in package. seal ii up
in the presence of the owner Thi.
done, he is requested TO write his name
ON slip OF paper, which is torn in two
IN an irr gular manner, onc-half being
given TO tie guest and the other portion
pasted on the package. which is put in
the safe. When the guest is leaving
and asks to have his property returned.
he must produce the slip OF paper we
gave him in order to identify himself.
The piece he gives us and the piece ON
the package are then place / together.
and II they match, n they certainly
should, he gets his valuable,. and wo
say no more about it, The safety con
slsts in the fact that "A swindlcr, no
matter how cute hr may be- can not
tear piece Of paper so that it will cor.
respond with the piece on the package.
You might try million tim s, but YOU
would fail 10 accomplish it, bccau il
can not be- done, except after q pattern.
and even then it would take much
longer To do IL than we kect the pack
ages in our possession
"Wth the old check system IL IS all
together different, because 10 is am easy
matt'r for any one ~ yet one OF the
hotel check aud have a duplicate made.
{ only being necessary ~ have the mum
Der OF the duplicate correspond with
that of the cheek in ;he safe. liza guest
leaves his money with ms and we pa. II
out 10 The wrong man that is our loss,
and If when the owner presents his
check for iho property we tell him that
ne has it already. he would laugh at us.
nd il the matter was taken into Che
courts nc would have no difficulty I'm
getting judgment for the amount. So
YOU see we can't be- any too careful in
handling property that does not b,long
to as. More especially when our quo q,
arc nearly al strangers
Have yOu ever been beaten ont ol
any considerable amount in the way you
mcntiOu2
mo, wc have been fOrtuuat. m that
respect, and never have .0sta cent un.
Ter either the brasschock or slip sy-.
tens. But other hoiol proprietor, have
not been as lucky as wc have. aud there
are numerous instances whore they have
been mulcted by guests A case of thi,
kind appeared at the ST. NichOla. Ho-
tel i'm New York only 70 short time AGO.
and still another 40 So Louis Mo I'm
both instances the losses were quito
heavy and tbc hotel propr.ctors bad 90
make them good, but n they had uS d
the slip racket as we do. there would
have been no trouble, You can seq for
yourself how easy iti to- beat % man
VINO uses 'hc check eysiDm Take thp
coat and lIat rooms for instance Hero
the customers are s1 numerous that ii
keops Che coat bo, hustGuQ abound
tD attend t0 them and hc can not re.
member tbc faces of 600 those who leat.
their wearing apparel in hi. care. anI
we can not use thc s.ID.. because guest