The Indianapolis journal. [volume] (Indianapolis [Ind.]) 1867-1904, 1903-09-13
HOTEL CLERK A SLEUTH
MAN BEHIND THE DESK Is THE
CLEvEREsT OF DETECTIVES.
One of Them Convicted n Thief by n
Piece of Wire-Got Another Through
Remembering n Photograph.

There" said the detective. whose name
is household property throughout the coun-
try, sis one of the finest detectives alive
to-day
His companion followed the nod of the
speakers head, and found that it led to a
man making entries on the hotel register.
What" spoke UP the second man, in
credulously, that hotel clerk a fine de-
tectve?"
That's exactly what 1 mean" was the
reply. "All hotel clerks are more or less
proficient detectives, because it is an un-
changeable principle of every reputable no.
tel in America that every man who writes
his name down in its register is a suspect
until he proves himself O. X. But this
man is the cream OF them ALL.
And then there came out some of the
clever pieces of detective work that the
clerk had done the like of which occurs
i'm any big hotel with something like the
precision of clock work, despite all the
guards that a hosiery employs to keep
away all but reputable and respectable
guests.
The first story had to do with a benevo-
lent old man with the pious look of a life
beard of the patrarchal type.
The man had been a guest at the hotel a
half dozen times before he came in Oh this
particular occasion and registered, and long
since the eye of suspicion had been with
drawn from him. So when he asked for
room he was assigned to one that commune
Gated with a regular boarder, and no more
was thought of the matter
III l,araax
lent-looking guest from his mind until early
| the next morning, when the boarder came
| rushing I'D to the desk.
i've been robbed during the night of 500
in cash. he exclaimed, excitedly. ut was
| in pocketbook in my trousers, which were
| on a chair when l went to sleep. When /
| felt for the pocketbook this morning when
put on my trousers, which were folded as
had left them, it was gone
TELLTALE BIT OF WIRE.
The clerk FASTENED to the room with the
boarder. He looked at the front door; il had
| not been tempered with, and no one could
| have got in through the windows, for neither
| ledge nor fire escape ran by them. Then
the clerk went to the communicating door
and tried it. 1t opened-and the key, to the
certain knowledge of the clerk, had not been
out of the office for weeks.
Instantly there flashed into the clerk s
mind the benevolent old gentleman. But
| it couldn't have been that old preacher" he
told himself
Nevertheless he got down on his hands
| and knees and began looking carefully
about the floor. For fifteen minutes he
| carefully looked and ran his hands over
4 Sl1dd ha ig T.
| ened up.
ut was the fellow who slept in this room
! last night" he said. as he held up a piece
| of wire bent something like u, with one
! line added at the bottom.
| The man whose money had been stolen
| looked his establishment
| "Why?" he asked.
THAT" was the reply, and the clerk in
| dicated the little piece of wire, lis a part
of a broken Jimmy that the burglar acct
dentally left behind him.
AS quickly as he could the clerk went
| downstairs to look for his man, but, as he
suspected. he had flown in the night. All
he could do was to lock the little piece of
wire in the Office SAFE. tell the boarder he
was sorry that he had sustained loss,
notify the police authorities and-wait.
| A few days later the chief detective of
a railroad running into the city walked up
| to the hotel clerk.
| I've traced a benevolent old chap with
! a long white beard to this hotel he said.
| Hes one of the country's famous sneak
thieves, and we're after him for lifting our
| patrons baggage in the waiting ROOM
| The clerk told his experience with the
| willy patriarch, and the upshoot of the ex-
change of confidence was that the hotel and
the railroad each offered to pay half of the
expenses incurred in running down the man.
The chase occupied a year; then one day
| the clerk received word that the thief had
been caught in Philadelphia, and was now
| in the local Jail. Thither the clerk went and
went two weeks later. and on the witness
| stand told what he had found in the room
| that the prisoner had occupied on the night
of the robbery; and his testimony was COR
| roborated by little piece of twisted wire
and the evidence of the robbed man.
The little piece of wire, that only a per-
| son who was born detective would have
| discovered and recognized being of great
value did the business. The jury said
| guilty without leaving the box and the
! judge sentenced the benovelent-looking man
to seven years in prison. where he Is now.
| This same clerk not long ago made a
| lifelong friend Of rich lumberman from
| Michigan by securing to him the return of