The sun. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1833-1916, 1901-11-03
HOTEL GUESTS WHO PILFER.
THEY'RE ONE or THE PLAQUES
OF THE HOTELKEEPERS LIFE.

r,. Mania for Carrying on Msrkeo radio
ware and Linen IL Much More Preva
lent Than the Public surmiscs -simeon
rord Details His Own Experiences
.t ia the easiest thing in the world to
heat a hotel =,
simeon Ford's melancholy face took
IN A sadder tinge. Being n OF New
y.rS,s champion funny men has given him
- e.,ression Of settled gloom.
.pcrhaps I oughtn't to tell the public
how easy 1t is" he added, looking doubt
mlly at THE Sun reporter.
.Tbere's the Hotel Mems Protective
Association" suggested the reporter, en-
couragngly
yes, there's tho association admitted
w Ford; that helps. Well. it's no trouble
=, all to beat a hotel. The law says we
r0ust take any one who comes, without re-
gard to age. color. or previous condition
~ seryitude. The only thing we can look
% IL the baggage. All a beat has to do Is
~ present himself with a fair array Of
hsgoaee. We take him to our bosom.
After a few days or a week or a month,
.coording to the custom Of the particular
hotel concerned, he Is asked to pay. He
hasn't any money. A remittance he ex-
nected hasn't come. We hold the baggage.
liz skips We open the trunk n find a
soiled handkerchief and three dirty collars.
There we arei We a 60 to law. What
GOOD will II do us In Mint out OF ten casesf
Some Of the beats aren't sharp enough
% work the thing that way. They re-
move their baggage OF property by piece
meal. II we can catch them doing that,
with intent to defraud, the law can hold
them in criminal proceedings, but 1t Is
almost impossible to nab a departing guest
Under sdcn conditions that We can prove
irtent TO defraud.
.There are a good many regular beats,
but they can't make their living at 1t very
long nowadays. The hotel men OF every
State have protective associations. When
ever a fragrant case Of fraud turns up at any
hotel the proprietor gives the association
an account OF the circumstances and a
careful description Of the beat We are all
notified and We rave a welcome up our
sleeves for him.
Then there are outside associations for
onr benefit. Ever near Of the hotel cole ction
agencies? Well, they are great Institutions
sort of ~eenteel blackmail affairs-thoroughly
iustifable blackmail, you understand. Sup
pose Smith comes here, stays a week and
Jumps his bill. Inotify the collection agency:
They look up Mr.. Smith and tell him that II
in their list Of delinquent debtors for cir
~culation among all hotel men and queer
him at every hotel in the country. The
thing Is managed SO ingeniously that IL
can't be brought under the law definition
Of blackmail, and 1t generally brings Smith
10 time. A man who doesn't care a hang
for a Judgment squirms under the idea OF
having his name published broadcast In a
lil of dead beats.
-You see, the average man who doesn't
pay his hotel bill lint a mar without any
pndc, isn't a regular beat. He Is more often
a man who Is well to do or has been well
fixed. hut IL hard up for the moment He
expects to catch on next week, and he goes
ahead and blows himself In good faith.
Next week doesn't come loaded with bank
notes and he cant settle. It's the fashion
able hotel that loses heavily through bad
debts. We catch comparatively little OF il
here, but the very swell hotels OF New
York lose thousands n Thousands of
dollars every year through debts run up by
social lights.
They cant turn down a patron of high
social standing. He Is used to burning
money and runs up a tremendous bill.
II seems natural enough that he should
Then he can't pay. What's the hotel man
20 do? He can't afford TO raise q row.
He NAV eventually get the money. Then
again. he may not. You'd he surprised
II you knew the men and women who owe
hotel bills in this town.
i don't know but what the old-timer has
been the most fatal proposition Tor me.
Sometimes a nal ! as been coming to the
house for years, and has always been ON
The straight. He strikes hard luck, Asks
for time. We let him run along for the
sake Of his record. Hs bill climbs high,
he doesn't pull out OF the hole and he lands
~ H.. a -A.N .aaY atnun
But Il isn't only the old-tiner who beats
us Why, even the children can play with
III hotel men. Only a little while ago three
email boys came here. That was the most
Ingenious heat ] ever saw.
Mt Ford's serious face relaxed into a
reminiscent grin
They were small shsvers.- he went on,
and they stayed three or four days before
We asked them for Money When We did,
hey cunfersed that they didn't have any,
ma they had run away from home ana
mad sJs-nt every cent they brought with
them We thought II wac a good deal Ola
.pke They we're such nice, bright, little
chaps. They gave "a. their home address
and Ne tc~legraphed 10 their parents. bOt
Telegram right back Parent. were over,
yoyod 10 get track - .rring children Would
Hr kindly hold ths bOys. The parents
~uuld h. dosu here after them
N" u-ld he boys aid they kept rshi
"u ealing everything within sight, After
o. Jew daka Had ROff ~ ~ trifgiapl"d 70
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