The age-herald., 1898-01-11
Louis Reibold, of Indianapolis, a
 Remarkable Character.
SHREWD IN MONEY MATTERS
Was Once a Bootblack, But Became Sue cessfuI Chatel Manager-Married at
 the Age of FIfty-twO.


 with the most peculiar and picturesque per
 sonality.
 With a fortune estimated at from s5,00O,-
 GOO to sSOO0, 900, and about fifty-two years of age, he has come from bootblack In boarding house in Dayton, O., to be ac- knowledged as one of the most thorough hotel men in the world.
 He was born in Germany, came to this country when a boy with ms parents iose his father by yellow fever in New ofieans' and with his mother went to Dayton III .lie @ 6fties He blacked boots in the old Union house there, and by this means, with other ouo 1obs saved little money. His mother got employment, and some time afterward secured the City hotei; Later she moved to Cincinnati ana reheeu a hotel near the river front, and year afterward went back to Dayton and again took the City hotel.
 The Philips house was taken when the City hotel was abandoned, and later the Beckel house was taken and the Philips abandoned, the Reibolds hoioins DUH leases
 The rates at the Beckel were put up from S3 to $5, which in those days was re- garded as an extortionate price Tn the west Land there was much complaint. The peo pie held mass meetings to comp am, but the Reibolds had the leases. It was in 1873 when the panic came on, and Dayton capital as well as elsewhere, was carried away with the great slump. The Reibolds had been careful; their money was in hand, and the young man with rare shrewdness bought in solid square of vacant property which went in the crash l for less than half it's value at that time. That square is still owned by MT. Reibold valued at s4000.030. On it. among other buildings, are four flats and office bulld- ihgs which cost $200,000 each, all of them built by Louis Reibod.
 In 1882 Mr. Rebold, who had made the ] Beckel gerat money maker, came to Indianapolis and took a long lease Of the Bates house. which was at the time not making money The arrivals for the first year did not exceed twenty per day. The building was in bad shape and the owner refused to make repairs.
 To prevent the erection of rival hotei Reibold tore out the interior at his own ex- | pense, made extensive improvements ara l brought the hotel up to the times Ihe rates were advanced and maintained Then he began to inaugurate his wonderful sys- tenn which has made the hotel what 1t Is and Mir. Reibold worldwide reputation i and S2, GOO coo. His system consisted Tn coh- stant attention to details and having eV- | cry man at his post alert and ready TOT | duty at any moment. Not an employee knew anything at any time as to the move ments of the ever-present proprietor At | il o'clock he would retire, only to be seen | at o'clock standing in some shadowy cor ner overlooking the office and noting what the office force was doing.
 He would start through the house, walk up the stairway, suddenly back-track by means of the elevator and step into the place he had just left with an eye that LOOK 1 in everything that was doing at the mos ment.
 He used to say: '1t's not what they are doing after I get in, but what they are | doing the instant I do get in, that I want | to see. All I want to know is what Is go- | ing on when I am not around And vet he would never tolerate a spy or 1 a tattler An employe who ran 10 him with | a tale would be d-scharged. With quiet l smile he would point his finger to the door and say: "Get out, get out quick. You are too wise for my business. You know more than do"
 If he contemplated leaving on an early morning train he never left call, but he would appear on the instant, and every de- l tail had to be in order at the hour or there l would be. trouble. He would have the l same service that the travelling public got, and would then study it in relation to his l own convenience. Anything he found lack | ing. it was secured. His negro help feared and yet always liked him. Bell boys were 1 his great trouble.
 Bell boys," said he, 'are about the most l important part of a hotel. They see more 1 of the guests, supply wants, apologize for everything that cannot be supplied, yet | they are but boys on small wages. They | need great training"
 | Absolute cleanliness was his first law. 1 This was connected with business. He
 would go through the office hastily, disap- l pear in doorway, shoot upstairs and l through the house: maybe into the laundry
 to catch some poor fellow chatting mo- ment with the girls; over into the kitchen
 to see some colored boy wipe his mouth | full of something (both fired), and then
 back into the same doorway he had started | from.
 | Down in the shadowy corner he would reach pull out little piece of paper, and | then there would be trouble. He had thrown | 1t there purposely a few minutes before and | the chief of the cleaners for that part of | the building had not discovered it. Some | times that offense cost several persons their l positions. It was expected that he might l appear any moment unexpectedly.
 And yet they liked him. Every Christmas l every employe received a gold piece. The | total for 167 employees amounted to $2,60o 1 One would suppose that this strictness l would lead to numerous changes in the | force Not at all. It made the old ones valuable, and yet they never knew when | a change might come
 1 Billy Hold and Dave Hughes, the head | clerks, have been with him fifteen and l ten years respectively and George Fulwell | his stewart, has been there as long. They l are still at the hotel
 j MT. Reibold was loving man. but there l was about him some peculiarity which | seemed to keep him from matrimony When tested upon the subject he would laugh, but the laugh was rather sardonic 1 There seemed to be some mystery about | the thing which no one could ever explain, and yet 50,000 travelling men and guests | at the hotel have asked the same question | and pondered over the same thing. His mother was the center of his love, l and no soul ever clung to the mother as l did this lonely and stern bachelor. When | she died, eight years ago. MT. Reibold' S | heart seemed to be crushed, and from the | day of her funeral to the day he left he never passed day that he did not drive the | five miles and stand by his mothers grave. '"There can be nothing bad in that kind | of man." said the travelling public. The | cemetery attendants knew him and his | habits, and after every snow there was the I next morning a cleared path to Mrs. Rel l bold's grave.
 | He was intensely superstitious. He would | never begin anything on Friday or on the | 18th of the month; would not tolerate a | cross-eyed employee; would not talk to a cross-eyed man, or allow one to look at him if he could prevent 1t; would not have l a left-hauded man in the house. and wou'1
 not have them stop in the house if he could i help it.
 Tn, tto Do%o aI1o o7-n