Los Angeles herald., 1906-07-15
VETERAN HOTEL CLERK TELLS
STRANGE TALE
5oniface Happened to Be Non=Super=
stitious Quaker and Insisted on
Placing Guests Regardless
of Mishaps

Andrew S. Lee, seasoned hotel clerk
of Los Angeles, declares that he does
not know whether to congratulate him.
self or not because there is no room
10 in the Hotel Lankershim, where he
is chief clerk.
Personally, he says his experiences
with room 13 have been better than
with any other numbered room. But
intimate hotel friends who have taker
up similar positions in hotels that he
has been connected with report that ar
untiring "hoodoo' seems to have gotter
a grip on the room 49,
In one hotel in Wisconsin where
was chief clerk and general manager
every year for ten years the finest room
had in the hotel was No. 49," said Mr.
Lee. Every year l took three months
vacation, and the clerk that was tenn
porarily installed experienced three
months of the most nerVe-racking eX'
perences.
THE proprietor of the hotel when il
was under construction gave strict or.
ders that at all times room 13 was tC
be kept in the finest condition.
Scoffed at Superstition
He happened to be q Quaker and
scoffed at the supersttious idea of the
room 13.
The first summer that l went away
and the other clerk was placed in
charge things commenced to go wrong
had been out of the city only few
hours when a well known travelling
salesman came into the house and
asked to be given the best room in the
hotel. Subsequently room 13, which
was the best in the house, was turned
over to him.
That night the salesman fell off the
water wagon, came in drunk as a
sailor turned on the gas and fell over
on the bed. Next morning he was
found face downward on the bed and
black in the face with only a spark OF
life left in him.
"A hurry call was sent to the police
station, and after working over him
for nearly twenty-four hours he was
finally restored
THE next day he left the hotel and
a young married couple arrived. They
appeared to be exceptionally happy and
seemed to have plenty of money to
spend
Woe to Bridegroom
Like all bridal parties. they asked for
the bridal suite on the occasions OF
such demands room 10 always served
the purpose of bridal suite. So into
room 13 went the couple.
That evening while a party of
friends We're visiting them in their
apartments the husband jabbed himself
in the eye with pair of embroidery
scissors, causing him to lose the use OF
his eye.
several weeks later a young woman
travelling about the country in the in
trests OF some educational institution
was using the curling tongs, Her
kmono through some ineXplainable
manner took fire, and by the time the
maid rushed into her room in response
to her screens she was in flames 1t
was only after the most drastic mea-
sures and heroic treatments that she
was finally saved, but the incidents of
room 13 became well known and the
manager was besought by the hotel
employees to change the number of the
room TO 81.
"The old Quaker refused to do so,
saying that he would prove how foolish
the superstition connected with No, IL
really was. SO the room was left. in its
old original condition, e. ept that adj
ditonal attractions and features was
added to IL.
Boy Loses Voice
"a week after the room had under
gone further improvement "a woman