The Argus. (Rock Island, Ill.) 1885-1886, 1886-06-11
In THE READING ROOMS.
HOW HOTEL MEN ARE ANNOYED BY
LoiTERlNG CONFIDENCE MEN.

Thieves Who Read Newspapers lose
Scrutiny of the Detective-An Intelli-
gent Class OF BurgIars--How News
paper Clippings Lead to Discovery.
There is hardly an honr in tho day that
well known thieves or con,idsnce mea can
not be found diligently porting over news
| pap rs in the reading, rooms of tine leading
i,'Seis This is one Of the greatest NUS nces
",ta which the hotel proprietors have to
,ohtend But it seemed impossible to pre-.
vent 1T entirely, as it is exceedingly difficult
. to discrlminat, between gentlemanly-
looking crook ana the guests The hotel
detectives are constantly esecting those I'M
welcome leople from the hotels, and not I'M
frequently, by mistake, prominent men con
siler themselves insulted by tie detectives
scrutiny The reading rooms of the lead
ing hotels are really accessible as public
libraries Particularly is this the case at the
Filth Avenue, the Windsor, and the Grand
Central, which have very large reading
rooms where the newspapers of the princi-
p2i cities are kept on Tile.
Now that the spacious public reading
room of the Cooper union has been clio ed
on account OF repairs there is really nc
public reading roooIn where papers are KEEP!
on iile except at the Y NJ. O. A Whit
the thieves could easily go there to read the
papers, tho peaceful and reli. ious atmos
phere of tho place does not agree with them
and thy prefer going to the hotels at the
risk OF being kicked out Hence the read
ing rooms of the hotels are practically q
public loungipg place, and a patron OF q
nutel often has 10 wait hours for thest
men to get through that he may get a paper
Another objection to these people is thai
they mutilate the papers.
WHAT \ DETECTIVE HAS TO SAY
The intelligent class of burglars anG
condolences m'n, said well known detect
i've, read the leading newspapers of tn,
country almost as carefully as the exchang,
editor Of daily newspaper. 1t is one o
the most necessary parts of their bushes
in order to be successful The crook is in
| yariably on the go-to day in New York
tomorrow in Chicago and few days late
in san Francisco He also has pals scat
tered all over the country and in no way
can he keep track OF them better than b,
reading the newspapers Should an i'm
portant robbery take place to-day in Chi
cago naturally the police are on the alert
and the professional thief could not do bet
ter than give that place wide birth TO
the next few days. Were he to 60 Their
he would almost certainly be arrested o.
suspicion. In order TO keep from fallin
into snares they read the criminal news o
: the various cities. These thieves, as gen
eral rule, are organized. If goods of grea
value are stolen here invariably they wi
be sent to another city for disposal. Th
thief may be arrested after shipment an
, his aceomplice will have no other means G
teeping posted except through the mails.
Some valuable diamonds were recentl
stolen in Buffalo A man was arrested o
suspicion, ut hone of the stolen propert
was found in his possession it was believe
that they were sent to Philadelphia to b
disposed of by a pal but there was no wa
OF positively tracing them These susp
cionS were published in the Buffalo newspa
pers as i. they were really true Then tb
police o, Philadelphia were'notitiel by tt
faTalo aMorities to watch for the accom-
pllce Detectives watched the public rea(
ing rooms OF the Quaker City, and at la
spotted a young man who seemed to displa
an eagerness for the Buffalo papers The
watched to see what he read, and saw tbs
he fairly devourel the account of the dii
mond robbery. He cut the article out
the newspaper, and, slipping it into h
pocket, stole from the room From tn
the detectives We're convinced that the ma
was implicated. They arrested him, an
from papers found in his possession, Il
diamonds Were recovered and both me
convicted. 1t is a common thing WHIT
thieves are arrested to find newspaper eli
pings in their possession which lead to tt
discovery OF important robberies Ne
! ORR Star.