News and citizen. [volume] (Morrisville, Vt. ;) 1881-current, 1885-04-09
HOW HOTELS KEEP MONEY.
The Tell-Tnle Slip on the Enyelope-Some.
thing Impossible to Duplicate.

81 would like to have the package I
gave you yesterday" said guest at one
of the hotels to the clerk in charge.
"What kind of a package was it p
asked the hotel man.
Money" laconically replied the
guest.
"Have you check for it ?"
sNo."
"But I gave you one"
ST guess not"
"Well, we'll see," said the clerk as he
stepped to the safe and took therefrom
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,
''and 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 origi-
nally one, and you would have no diff
Guilty in proving your ownership of the
money. However, as I remember your
giving me this package, will return it
to you, but if I had forgotten the Cir
cumstances and you were a stranger, I
think would hold on to it for while. !"
The guest paid his bill and departed
and the reporter who witnessed the
affair sought out an attache of the house
and asked him when such novel plan
had been adopted to prevent sharpers
from imposing on hotel keepers.
sit is not original with u.s." said he,
'but is generally known among the fra
ternity. 1t is sure preventive against
swindling on the part of the guests, and
in all first class hotels has superseded
the old brass checks we formerly used.
The hotel business is 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 never see but once.
We have scores of regular customers, it
is true, and they always stop here when
ever they come to the city, but the
stream of travellers who daily arrive in
the city are not all business men.
Among the strangers who stop at this
hotel are undoubtedly many who, if
they can capture few stray dollars by q
slick trick, will not hesitate to do so,
and if we did not use every possible
means to prevent swindling we might
sometimes get tripped up and lose large
sums of mouey. The paper slip which
you saw on the envelope is the only sure
way we have of circumventing any at
tempt which may be made to swindIe us
out of money packages which have been
left in our charge for safe keeping, 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
valuables while they remain with us.
We take the articles, and wrapping them
securely in 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 irregu-
lar manner, one-half being given to the
guest and the other portion pasted on
the package, which is put III the safe.
When the guest is leaving and asks to
have his property returned, he must pro-
duce 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 vaiuables and we say no more about
it. The safety consists in the fact that
swindler, no matter how cute he may be,
cannot tear a piece of paper so that it
will correspond with the piece on the
package. You might try 1000, 900 times,
but you would fail to accomplish it, be-
cause it cannot be done, except after a
pattern, and even then it would take
much longer to do it than we keep the
packages in our possession.
with the old check system it is alto
gether 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. "-Detroit
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