Sharp County record., 1885-04-02
T III e
NO GAME THERE.

position.
" l would like to have the package l
gave you yesterday said guest at
one of the hotels yesterday to the clerk
in charge.
"What kind of a package was it?"
said the hotel man.
Money" laconically replied the
guest.
"Have you a check for it?'
"No.n
but | gave you one."
81 guess not"
"Well, We'll see," said the clerk, as
he stepped to the safe and took there
from an envelope on the back of which
was pasted ragged slip inscribed with
the name, or what was left of it, of the
owner.
"This is the package" said the
clerk, land the name on the slip was
written by yourself. You observe that
the slip on the envelope is torn
in two The missing portion l gave you
when you left the package. Perhaps
you did not pick it up but if we had it
here it would be found that the two
pieces were originally one, and you
would have no difficulty in proving
your ownership of the money. How
ever as remember your giving me the
package, will return it to you, but if
/ had forgotten the circumstances and
you were stranger | think would
hold on to it for awhile
The guest paid his bill and departed,
and the reporter who witnessed the af-
fair sought out an attache of the house
and asked him when such a novel plan
had been adopted to prevent sharperS
from imposing on hotel-keepers.
"It is not original with US, said he,
"but is generally known among the
fraternity. 1t is sure preventive
against swindling on the part of guests,
and in all first-class hotels has entirely
superseded the old brass checks we
formerly used. The hotel business is a
most peculiar one in many respects,
one of which is the constant dealings
We have with people who are entirely
unknown to US, and who, perhaps, we
may never see but once. We have
scores of regular customers, it is true,
and they always stop here whenever
they come to Detroit, but the stream of
travellers who daily arrive in the city
are not all business men. Among the
strangers who may stop at this hotel
are undoubtedly many who, if they can
capture a few stray dollars by slick
trick will not hesitate to do 50, and if
we did not use every possible means to
prevent swindling, we might sometimes
get tripped up and lose large sums of
money The paper slip which you saw
on the envelope is the best and only |
sure way we have of circumyenting any
attempt which may be made to swindle
us out of money packages, which have
b3eh left in our charge for safe-keep-
ING, and | will show you why this is the
case.
Hardly day in the year passes but
we are requested by greater or less
number of guests to take charge of
their yaluableS while they remain with
us. We take the articles and, wrapping
them securely in a package, seal it up
in the presence of the owner. This
done, he is requested to write his name
on slip of paper, which is torn in two
in an irregular manner, one-half being
given to the 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 identity himself
The piece he gives us and the piece on
the package are then placed together,
and if they match, as they certainly
should, he gets his valuables, and we
say no more about it. The safety con-
siSts in the fact that Swindler, no
matter how cute he may be, can not
tear piece of paper so that it will cor
respond with the piece on the package.
You might try a million times, but you
would fail to accomplish it, because it
can not be done, except after pattern,
and even then it would take much
longer to do it than we keet the pack
ages IN our possession.
with the old check system it is al
together different, because it is an easy
matter for any one to get one of the
hotel checks and have duplicate made,
it only being necessary to have the num-.
Der of the duplicate correspond with
that of the check in the safe. If a guest
leaves his money with us and we pay it
out to the wrong man that is our loss,
and if when the owner presents his
check for the property we tell him that
he has it already, he would laugh at us,
and if the matter was taken into the
courts he would have no difficulty in
getting Judgment for the amount. So
YOU see we can't be any too careful in
handling property that does not belong
to us. More especially when our guests
are nearly all strangers. >
UHova Won over been bpatpn ont Of