The intelligencer. [volume] (Lexington, Mo.) 1887-1891, 1888-07-07
AMAN WITH A MEMORY.
Henry DeII's Marvellous way of
Handling Hats al the

From the Chicago Times, June 3d.

From the Chicago Times, June 26.l
A marvellous memory for faces and
hats has Henry Dell, the colored man
who stands at the main entrance of the
Palmer house dining room and handles
the hats. One look IL all Dell wants at
you or your Derby before You enter
the dining room. You may stay in
there esei0ng aszyou like and 250 other
guests may leave hats like yours In the
meantime, but when you come out you
will find your hat, cane, umbrella. fan,
and newspaper all awaiting you IN
Henry's hand.
Some ida of his wonderful power of
associating faces and hats can be con-
veyed i'm the statement that during the
past week Henry has handled on an
average 1000 hats each day and has
made less than a dozen mistakes.
Think of il, 1900 hats in a pile and II
man handing them out two and three
at q time to their owners, whom he has
seen but a second, yet that is what
Henry Dell has done during the past
week.
At the dining hour the guests pour
into the immense dining hall in q steady
stream, There are men from Maine to
California, and hats from Mackinaw to
the Cult. There are the sombrerOs of
the Texas colored delegates which any
one might distinguish, and there are
the polished tiles of the New Workers,
which standing in a row, look as near
alike as 40 many black crows, but Dell
will invariably get the right tile for the
right New Yorker and handle an arm
tul Of sombreros at the same time.
A reporter watched the skilled hat
taker for an hour last evening, and,
although the rush was not so great as
at midday, $50 hats were counted sit
ting OH the racks and waiting for their
owners to call for them.
Here came -four guests out OF the
dining hall together. Will Henry
make sanisiake? Not much. He goes
without hesitation to four different
parts of the vestibule and picks up the
proper hat without SO much as
ming IL over. During the convention
week he has been doing that from 6 i'm
the morning until 10 at night.
. Nothing flurries the imperturable
Henry. He is not a irisky young man
but Q middle-aged, stern-faced veteran.
of stalwart proportion and who never
smiles unnecessarily. He goes about
his business as cool as a cucumber, and
the quickest way for Il nervous, iussy
little fellow to get his tile il there is d
rush is TO stand still and wait for it,
Henry doesn't make any unnecessary
moves, II q country guest begins look
ing for his hat in the wrong place the
sable attendant simply picks up the ha
from the right place and holds il
toward the seeker who was foolish
enough to think he could pick out his
own head covering. Sometimes {
guest goes in without a hat, but Is sure
be had one when he comes out. He
could save himself any worry by
noticing that Henry al not making
any effort to search for q hat. That il
'sn Indication that the guest didn'
leave q hat, although a iruitless search
has sometimes to be instituted to show
how inferior is his own knowledge q
how he is dressed when he goes into ia,
dining room compared with the keeI
observation of the man whose business
IL 10 to look alter hats.
There's one class OF cranial coverings
however, that occasionally gives Henr.
trouble.
1.-THE meanest hat to handle," b
said, sis the soft, felt hat. l have L
keep my eye on them all the time
The owner himself can't tell his ha
when he sees it and will pick u
another mans hat and swear that il
his own"
do people aver try to work me
Yes, q good many, but they don't NEE
with any success. When | hand m G
these sharpers his hat he will say
you've made q mistake; that hs
there is mine.' l don't argue wit
him, but Just hold out the hat to hir
and he soon drops onto the fact that
am onto him and takes the hat an
sneaks off without u word"
Henry can't explain how he does
He has acquired his skill through yea
OF practice. For ten years he has care
for the hats of Potter Palmer's CUES
and thinks the hotel couldn't ru
satisfactorily without him. During h
long years of service he has acquired q
international reputation for his exper
ness. Men from all parts OF the couI
try will try to bluff him into making
mistake, and when they fail will say
"Well, I'll be darned. l heard OF yo
before, but / didn't believe what l hs
been told, and I wanted 10 try you."
Last week a gentleman from Belfat
Ireland, tried 10 fool him on the ide
tity of his hat, but couldn't, and thu
said: "Well, my brother told me abo
you and | wanted 10 satisfy myself th
YOU were an expert, as he claimed
Every day or two Henry passes throui
similar trials of his skill, only to asto
ish skeptics and make fresh admirers
his skill.