The Emporia weekly news. [volume] (Emporia, Kan.) 1881-1889, 1889-03-07
- TRE HorFL cLERlE. -
Oo..s Of the Incidents Of Life In Rss
- CaraHanaary Ralatad By One.


There are few places which furnish
better opportunities for the study of
human nature and for the acquire
ments of thorough schooling in the
habits Of people in all vacations of life
than that of chief clerk in tirst-class
hotel. He must, if he becomes sue
cess, learn to read faces as he would
an open book, and remember names
and incidents that are of no concern
to him except as matter of business.
He must treat guests in 3 way to make
them feel that he is deeply interested
in their personal welfare, while in fact
he is ali the time simply exchanging
kind words for cold cash. But let the
hotel man tell his own story. He
knows it best. Yesterday afternoon a
Nebraska State Journal reporter called
upon r.. w. johnson, more familiar
" known as Dick johnson, chief clerk
of the Capitol hotel, and asked him to
tell what he knew about the hotel busl-
ness.
s1Of all the people that come to this
| hotel the legislators are the easiest to
manage" said the affable Dick. They
take what is reasonable and fair, aud
don't kick when they are crowded.
They realize that crush is a crush
| and they take what they can get. As
| a rule | like the commercial trade.
| The boys on the road are the best trade
that goes. They pay their bills and
| usually ask nothing but what is right,
There are some funny things that
happen around hotels, and there are
other things that are not so funny.
| remember the first dead man / ever
found. 1t was about six years ago
| when / was clerk at the Palmer house,
Chicago. There was fellow that
slept very late one morning, and !
! hammered on the door awhile but
couldn't rouse him. / boosted boy
over the transom and he unlocked the
door. Then l went in and felt of the
man in the bed. He was as cold as a
wedge. He had accidentally turned the
gas on after turning out the light It's
queer how many people blow out the
gas. A man may be ever so smart
and yet if he is accustomed to blow
ing out a lamp he is liable to do the
same act when he comes to put out the
gas.
..About dead beats, want to tel
you of the smoothest trick ever knew
in that line. Four men went into {
Chicago hotel and registered from diff
ferent towns, pretending to be pertec
strangers. One of the four had /;
trunk, the others had grips AS they
all had baggage the clerk did not de
mand pay in advance. After the fel
lows had been IN the hotel for three o.
four DAYS the man who owned tn
trunk paid his bill, ordered his trunl
down and left. The other three neve
showed up at the hotel AGAIN, neithe
did they pay their bills. They packet
their grips in the fourth mans trunl
while it was in the room.
'.As a rule hotels suffer more frOn
dead beats and what are called 'joll,
good fellows who live right in tn
: city or town where the hotel is locates
than from travelling beats. There is
, certain class of men who think tina
their presence about the hotel is of
great help to the business of the house
when the facts are it is only dam
age, and every meal those men ca
; without paying for it is dead loss.
when women travelling alone com
to a hotel where am clerking I neve
put their names on the register. 1t i
a very unwise thing, to do. There ar
! always low-lived fellows, sometime
, transients and sometimes residents
who the moment woman comes to
hotel with no escort, fly to the registe
to see where she is from and what he
: name is. i keep the names of ladie
4 | away from the eyes of such men as ia
as possible. Some women are awfJ
particular. We had a woman her
not more than two months ago VIII
y would not sleep in a room with a glas
!, door to it. There is no more chanC
to see through one of those frOste
: glass doors than there is to see throug
!, q brick wall, but she would not take
t room with glass in the door.
.'But the greatest cranks in the whOl
business are the opera troupes. Th
d dude tenor singers and the high 81
d prano, they take the cake. There
U one prima donna singer who some
times comes to Lincoln who has-eve
: gone so far as to have us stuff papt
o or rags in the key-hOle to keep out I'll
}. wind.
Zone thing that hotel men need i
g this state is a change in the law,
Il that the proprietor will not be hel
n responsible for goods stolen from tt
rooms of guests. As the law now Is
. man may come in half drunk. leaN
his room unlocked and be robbed
some sneak-thtef and hold the pr
prietor responsible for it. He ms
y even swear that he had sum of none
n in his pocket when in reality he n;
7. not a cent, and yet the proprietor
n held responsible. Guests should be I
quired to deposit their valuables wi
the clerk 1t is utterly impossible f
le hotel men to stand guard over eve
~ room in the house.
: "Our American hotels are superb
il for comfort and convenience to an
thing of the kind in the world. En-
lishmen sometimes sputter around
- cause they don't find things the sal
lie in this country as in Europe, bu
X have tried both and l know that o