The Indianapolis journal. [volume] (Indianapolis [Ind.]) 1867-1904, 1897-12-05
THE HOTEL DETECTIVE
HE IS KNOWN AS A "COPPER"" AND
KEEPS A SHARP EYE ON GUESTS.
Not Many Bad People, but the Few
ern Hotel Mans Experience.


New York Tribune.
On the staff of every large summer no
tel there is one person who is rarely known
to the guests although he is of so much
Importance that without him the best hotel
would soon run down and cease to attract
the patronage of desirable guests To the
hotel employees the man is known as the
"copper"" and the few guests who have
discovered his identity speak of him as the
house detective.
DO you have so many bad people here
asked guest to whom house detective
was pointed out, that you must employ
an officer to watch them?"
1--WE have none at ALL" answered the no.
tel man; land we keep the man so that we
may maintain the record"
1t is the business of the house detective
to keep Objectionable people out of the
house and to keep a sharp lookout on those
who are of a suspicious character, but not
to such an extent as to warrant their ex-
clusion. The men who are employed in that
capacity have usually had experience in
the metropolis and know the professional
Crooks" their companions and their spe-
cial lines of operation. They are men of
good address and carry themselves at all
times so that in dress and department they
may be mistaken for guests of the house.
They lounge careessly in the hotel lobby
when the trains arrive and from a point
where they are unobserved scan the faces
Of those who register, and when, as is
often the case, some known thief or conf
dence man has put a well-sounding name
on the book and taken the first step with
the bellbOy who was assigned to show him
to his ROOM the house man comes to the
front, shows himself and by a look or ges-
furA 0iVAS the WQll-6rnSSp6 ''CrOOlS' tn ~
derstand that he has been recognized.
NO WORDS NEEDED.
"That settles it, said Patrick Galligan
the house detective at the United States
Hotel in Saratoga. "Ninety-nine times in
hundred the man weakens and leaves the
place without saying a word. Once in a
great while a crook makes a bluff says
he's not the man. there must be some
mistake or that he'll tell the Office people
that he has been insulted;' but the bluff is
usually only half-hearted, and before many
words have been spoken the Objectionable
person has taken French leave"
The house detective does not stop at pre-
venting men of questionable character from
entering the house; he must also be on the
lookout for equally dangerous and crafty
women. They come with ponderous trunks
and expensive WardrobeS, and send to the
clerk from their rooms name to which no
one could object Then the house detective
manages to get glimpse of the new arri-
val, possibly recognizes a person who would
not add dignity to the house and breaks
II to her gently" Cases of that kind are
less easily handled. and tax the Judgment
and diplomacy of the house detective, but
the good men never err, and the suspected
person always saves herself trouble by taxi
ing the first hint.
There is probably no place in the country
where the house detective plays such an
important part as in Saratoga when the
season is at it's height. People go there
from all parts of the world, men with mon
nv 70 or,d NTH Il
things" and it is natural that the man
whose mission in life is to separate man
from his money by any means in his power
should be on hand to ply his trade. =
A SARATOGA SPECIALIST.
1t was probably from becoming well ac-
quainted with the ways of the confidence
man that the quiet, gentlemanIy master Of
ceremonies at one of the Spa hotels became
the leader of one of the most desperate
gangs of bunco men that ever operated in
the United States. He was known as Doc
Minchin and when he transferred his field
of activity from the hotel ballroom to the
streets and byways of Saratoga he had as
his associates kid" Miller, Tom O. Brien
and plausible crook known as Raw
mond. Despite the warnings of hotel de-
tectives, victims kept the gang busy. Men
were picked up, "steered' and done
in broad daylight, ard when his days work
was done Doc Minchin walked quietly
to his modest lodgings in Clinton street,
looking like clergyman on a vacation. AS
he stopped 20 say pleasant word to the
children on the street no one would have
suspected his true character. Why these
men were allowed to operate in Saraso-
go, where they were well known, nobody
could explain; but the confidence business
came to an end. Minchin is serving a term
in Auburn Prison for assisting his partner,
O,Bren TO escape from officers at Utica;
OsBrien got to Paris after hiding in South
America In Paris he killed 'sWally' Wad-
dell. and is now serving life sentence in