The Fairmont West Virginian. (Fairmont, W. Va.) 1904-1914, 1905-07-19
CAPITAL
GOSSIP
Thisvina 1eiiboy That Detectives
Could Not cateh-FormaIity

WASHINGTON. D. G.. July Ia
The manager of one OF the largest
hotels IN Washington was recently re-
sountins some OF the troubles which
an hotel managers have with their
beIIhoys. Some of these bright little
nhers. 1t seems. have a genius for
thrift which they too highly develop.
10 the loss of the guests and TO the
great annoyance OF the hotel.
We had n bellboy," said the
manager. who had reduced the mat
1nr of robbing the guests to a science.
He always carried In his pocket an
envelope addressed to some fictitious
name n addressed In another city.
The envelope was stamped and all
ready TO be dropped into the letter
scu- When he was in the room Of the
Enest and found money lying around.
ur. in the guests absence, would take
II from clothes that were In the room.
&c would put the 0 he would
ztezl into the envelope, seal 1t, walk
dow the corridor to the mailchute
md drop the letter in the chute. In
sais say we could never catch him
with the money on him. Indeed. the
readiness with which he always offer
I'd 10 let the house detectives search
Kim whenever we rounded up the
beffuuys for examination after a theft
WIS reported disarmed suspicion. He
aeft us, and though we were morally
sertain that he was a little thief, we
eezif eve prove 1t. We found out
liter that as . as he was off duty
an any day when he had worked his
letter game he would Immediately
write to the postmaster of the city to
which he had sent the letter contain.
Ing he stolen money. In his letter
he would say that he had intended Wis
King that city and stopping at the ad.
dress which he had written on the
envelope. lat his plans had been
rtsznged Mt the last moment. He asked
tzie postmaster to return the letter
10 him to the general delivery office
In Washington. Then he would sign
<le narie that he had used as the ad.
dress on the letter containing the
rtaIen money. As HIS explanation al.
Hrxss seemed PERFECTLY plausible, the
pnsfmaste. would send the letter back
srshe general delivery office at Wash
snzton. and the boy would go down
10 the Dosrofice and get the return.
"a Iester containing the money he had
<tadhu, The plan was so simple and
wicked s. well That, as I say, he
nessr vas caught. And the marvel
nf il all was that this little scamp
1uaish not have been more than 10 or
Z years Old.
Collector of Internal Revenue Sum.
mers. of the Second Virginia district.
wkrs Is an ardent Republican and a
Erszr campaigner, tells of an interest
fsE as well as very amusing, expert
encs which he had during the last
campaign in his State.
L had occasion to make several
s9eechcs in the mountainous districts
q Virginia. he said. 81 had an old
fsxse and buggy that looked the worse
fer. yea While driving over the
r%psFntains darkness came upon me,
md I was compelled to rest for the
might | HE'D myself to the nearest
house- which happened to be run by
an old motmtaineer, a friend of mine,
He welcomed me with open arms and
inSited me to tie my horse up for
The nighr When supper was an
noruced, although there was nothing
very elaborate, ! was very thankful
FOR vitat was set before me, for
had had nothing to a since morning.
0ne Of the dishes that especially
tcqched my appetite was a large one
eoHtaining baked beans. My mouth
xzbsred and the way 1 dived into
1tEut a enough to make you envy
me had hardly gotten down to
work before ny host. in a droll voice
pesuiiar toSthe inhabitants of the vir-
Eiida mountains. addressed his wife
m shis fashion:
Mary why don't you give the gen
tielaan a lsnife?,
He has a knife, dad
10 he hain't got no knife, l tell
yex Don't yer see him eatin' them
beans with lis fork?'"
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