Arizona republican., 1901-10-10
GUARDING ENGLISH HOTELS
Crooks Are Watched by the Ameri-
 can Me;hod.

The advent of the big American style hotel in England has also wit- messed the evolution on this side of ths Atlantic of the hotel e; ook." a pecu- 'iarly dangerous type ot sw.ndler. thief and all round scoundrel. who finds his victims exclusively among the well 10 Go cosmo2olitans frequenting the pit- lie rooms of these vast caravanseries He is usually superiatively well drSsyei an uitra-affa hle individual. of ten. though by no means invariably. If American nationality or extraction, and what he doesn't know about working d bis hotel isn't worth knowing. To protect himself and his guests against the machinations of this pest-and also incidentally to detect and weed out the dishonestly disposed among his army of emP,oyes-the mol ern hotel manager has had perfcrce 70 provide himself with that evolution If the mammoth the hotel detective.
 This latter is literally as well as metaphoricaily man among thous- and. and earns salary that wou!1 make many professional mans mouth water. The writer knows one such. for instance. who gets G1,200 T year. in addition to his rooms ani board and practically unlimited ex- pensSs. But then he is acquainted by sight with all the leading cOntinentsF crooks. is known and dreaded by evety American sport from Maine to Cali fornia. and can pick out dishonest waiter or a pilfering ce!larman as sure ly and as instinctively as a truffle dog smells out a truffie. Under him. .e- porting to him. and obedient to his or ders. is a secret staff or maybe scoce or more of emp,oye detectives-cham bermaids. porters. walters. etc. These are unknown. as detectives. to one another. Or to the rest Of the staff. al though Care is taken that all the em- ployes know. or. at all events. suspect. that some such organization exists among them. II is the zystern of the Russian secret police fin miniature. and is very effective The would-be pilferer. the possible ensbezzler. is kept straight. owing rto the haunting fea. that his fellow servant may be one If the chosen agents of the suave. frock- coated gentleman with whom they are all acquainted and who for his part. seems to know almost as much abou; their outgoings and their incomings. the company they keep outside the ho- tel. the haunts they frequent. as they oo themselves.
 TEis is ore side. and not the least i'm portant side. of the hotel detectives duty. but there is. of course. the other side. Regular frequenters of really big. first class hosteqries must have noted how. occasionally. q guest who has made himself a special favorite in the smoking room over night. ingr l. tiating himself with everybody who would Iist=n to him. standing" drinks 10 all and supdry, and generally con ducting himself after the fashion sf- fected by the typical hail fellow well met. and who has. moreover, openly announced his intention of staying for at least month. don't ye know has vanished mystsriously ere morning R ason for such a disippearance would not be far to seek. did any one care 70 inquire into the matter. He has been approached" by the chief of the hotels detective department. No fuss has been made. no scene created. Just gentle tap on the shoulder a whispered word or two in the ear. have sufficed. Occasionally. 1t Is true. I crook will kick and try to brazen the matter out; but not often. He i- usually man of the world, who is con tent to accept the inevitable. and seeks 10 revenge himself by warning his pals against the particular hotel wherein resides the detective who has spotted" him: 2 course of procedure which is. needless to say. precisely what that gentleman expects and desires.
 "Only. of course" remarked one day- recently to the writer the chief of the detective staff of one of London's very largest hotels. the hotel detective has to be very. very careful He must know his man. not merely suspect single mistake might easily involvs bis employers in heavy damages. be- sides bringing the grayest kind of dis credit upon the management of the house. I once was within an ace cf coming a ghastly cropper in this ra- spsct. A man registered here who wss the very type, in appearance and gen. eral get up. of the usual cosmopolitan