The Savannah morning news., 1901-11-10
THE HOTEL BEATS TRUNK.
Bricks and Sawdust Had to Be Man.
aged with Discretion.

From the New Orleans Times Demo-
crat.
"a trunk full of bricks is no longer
a safe asset for hotel beat" said the
old night clerk, chatting with a belat-
ed reporter who had looked in on his
way to bed. "As the law stands now,
a man who gets entertainment on that
kind of security can be prosecuted for
swindling and sent to the pen; but be-
fore we had this protection there
wasn't big hotel in the country that
didn't accumulate loads of fake bag
gage every season. I've taken in whole
storerooms full myself" What did it
generally contain?" asked the reporter.
"Oh, all kinds of funny things" re-
piled the old clerk, chuckling. THE
amateur beats usually loaded up with
rags, blocks of wood, newspapers,
shavings and every variety of rubbish
you could imagine. OF course, that
was pretty crude work, and often led
to their getting caught. Why, I've
seen trunks leaking a trail OF sawdust
and valises so full of cobblestones that
the bottoms would fall out while they
were going upstairs; but you can rest
assured the old timers never made any
such blunders. They did the job ar
tistically. To begin with, they would
take care that the stuff they used was
about the same weight as an ordinary
trunk full of clothes, and that of itself
went a long way toward allaying any
suspicion. If a piece of luggage is
very much over or under weight an
experienced porter will notice it in a
minute, and he is apt to say something
at the Office that will cause an inves-
tigation. Then, again, the expert beat
was always sure to top off his filling
with a few things that would stand
inspection-a coat or two maybe, or
three or four shirts, and he would make
a point of opening the trunk as often
as possible when some employe of the
house was in the room. If our suspi-
cions were aroused in regard to the fell
low, and we asked the chambermaids
and bellboys what they knew about his
baggage it was dollars to dimes they
would declare, in perfect faith, that it
was all right. Hotels were run in rath-
er free and easy style at the time
I'm speaking of, and it was a poor
talker who couldn't camp for five or
six weeks on the strength of big,
solid looking Saratoga, a sackful of
bricks and few bushels of waste pa
per. / even knew of one fellow-but
story.
I'm satisfied" said the old night
clerk, that this was the strangest
case of hotel swindling by the loaded
baggage game that ever happened in
the United States. 1t occurred in Dem
yer in the early eighties, and, for rea-
sons of my own, I'd rather not mem
ton the name Of the hotel. 1t wasn't
one of the big establishments, however,
but was an unpretentious little place
of about forty rooms, and the major
ity Of it's customers were mining men
from the outlying camps. They were
a profitable class to cater to, because
they generally came to Denver TO have
a royal good time, regardless Of ex-
pense, and the proprietor, who was a
weakened little New England Yankee,
was rapidly getting rich. One day dur
ing the busy season rough, red faced,
almost trampish looking fellow regis
tered at the house from the San Juan
Valley and was given a room on the
upper floor. He had a large, square
topped, very heavy trunk, covered with
galvanized tin, Of q pattern common
in the West. and. after sizing II up,
the landlord refrained from asking for
cash IN advance, which he was at first
inclined 70 do. After he was shown
20 his quarters nobody gave the strang-
er any further thought until the end
Of a week or 20. when his unpaid bin
led 10 some inquiry and II was found
that he had disappeared. A few days
were allowed 20 90 by. on the theory
that he might be out on a spree, and
the landlord then declared officially he
had skipped, sent the trunk % the
storsrOom, and that for the time being
closed the Incident.
Three Or four months afterWaFd,
when the little Kew BngiaDosr felt cef-
tain be would never see the man from
San Juan again. be opeBe1 the trunk
with a skeietOn key, ana when be falG-
20 the 10 BE- came peaF having 4 o.
Instead ~ the clOfbiuR b. ha1 expsef-
- ~ 1ne a ccrfalnee nothing Wl1afs
ever Duf dirty cihcolofe1 fanqftone. ~
what lCgkeG llkf farla toDf. bfgffU So
10 small pieces rhe landlord prlfe1
blmfef "a rs fhreN1reas. ane ~ Uaa
~ chaRfined and sore over fhe neg ~
nae been b9nlgee f1af ~ 0nleUy igse
sree fAs w, feiockeq "a eDf ue1s ~