Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1906-06-02
UNPOPULAR NUMBERS

That little story In The star recently
about the elimination Of the No. u room
from hotels was ali right as far an # went
but the Is superstition has got beyond that
ons number said the head clerk of one
OF Washingtons leading hotels.
Now, there Is no No. IS room In this
house. The ID room was REMEMBERED sew
erai years ago. for nobody would take It
except occasional members of thirteHn clubs
who happened along. and their patronage,
OF course. didn't pay for the long stretches
Of time during which the room Was Idle.
But few years ago the regular hotel
dends spraug new one. They wouldn't
have any room the number OF which was
Invisible by 10. At FIRST we were able to
give these cranks other rooms. but after z.
time they increased SO largely In numbers
that now We haven't any -. 50, q. s., Is,
81. 10A. lit or $50 rooms.
Whenever 4 man WAIks In now and
hands me that list Of numbers. with the
statement that he can't accept under any
numbers tackled on the door. its pleasant
to be able to smile cheerfuily In his teeth
and tell him that we amt got no SIGH
numbers on our chart of the house.
In addition to the Is gag and the num-
bers divisible by IL there are plenty Of
travelling men who have preiudices against
particular numbers which they regard ~
unlucky. Some of them have as many a.
half dozen of these hoodoo numbers on
their little lists, and they can't be per-
suaded " cajoled into taking rooms bear
ing these Sonah numbers even for a little
while until rooms with non-Jonah num-
bers become vacaEt
There Is one man who comes to our
house who has violent detestation for the
nj iYY,h A. roll = IN n
man who is big enough to be corporation
counsel for one Of the largest cities in
the west, as this man is, would know bet
ter. but he doesn't. Queer thing about II
is that he was born on the 18th of the
month, and that, he says. is the reason why
he hates the number, which. he declares, has
always been real, live, sure-enough hoo
doc to him. 1t happened that the last time
he was here-it was during the d. A. X.
convention and the house was jammed-the
only room that lifted his requirements was
No. 10, but when told him the number OF
it he came near falling down. He took an
Quirements at all
When he went away the cashier cooked
up job on him and made his bill amount
to an even So IT really amounted to
$3.50. l thought this corporation counsel
from the western town was going to have
heart disease when he saw that bill. He
gave a stage clutch at his forehead and
turned cha1ky, and / had to turn away and
spent half an hour with the cashier trying
to figure the bill either over or under the
pat $40, but the thing couldn't be done. and
SO he missed his train by going into the
dining room and eating another dinner.
That put his bill above the $21 mark, and
he went away with satisfied smile, like
a man who has beat the game.
Then there is large and miscellaneous
list of others who have queer notions about
rooms We had suicide in this house
some years ago. 1t happened in one of
the best rooms In the house. The room
was completely refurniShed, but people who
stop at hotels read the newspaper dis
patches about these affairs, and, as this
particular suicide was rather a prominent
man and the number of the room was given
in the newspaper accounts of the affair,
they had us pat about the room till we
changed the number on the door. But
there are still remaining about dozen old
time guests Of the house who remember
the suicide. and you couldn't herd one or
these into that room with a pack of wild
horses. They weren't fooled by our chang
ing of the number of the room, and they
know its location to a /. I've occasion
ally made the experiment Of getting one
of these old-timers into that ROOM 1t
never worked After the bellboy had shown
the eld-tiTner up to the room. the old boy
always came back with sour look on his
face and inquired: Say, didn't a little af
fair of gas and a gun happen in that room
you've given me some years agoT Then
have to suddenly remember that the old
time guest is right and fix him out some
where else,
.All kinds of-er-well, cranks-that's the
only word for 'em-help to thin hotel
mans hair out on top. We have a large list
of patrons, especially elderly women, who
make it an invariable rule before putting
their names down on the register to in
squire If anybody has died in the house
from a contagious or infectious disease
SINCE they last put up with us. Guileless
on their part to ask such a question. isn't
it2 / wonder if any of EN- really expects
that we'd say yes?
"a lot of the elderly. old-fashioned wom-
en- who come here make 1t q practice to
turn down the beds coverings when they
are shown to room. They want to make
sure that the bed linen Is of the proper
degree of wilderness. This always makes
the bellboy attending them very tired, and
we had to fire one bellboy for telling an
old lady, while she was making her care
full scrutiny of the beds, that de sheets dun
bin changed ma am
pensive and ornate folding beds in this
house. but we haven't got one of EN-
around the place now. The epidemic Of
folding bed accidents around the country
killed folding beds in hotels. A lot of chaps
with jags got tangled up In folding beds.
and the next morning their families were
widdes and orfings. Gentlemen from the
country took their shes at the folding beds,
and straightway, when they woke up. they
were not. Then the newspapers began to
knock the folding bed in hotels. and 1t was
all off.
I'VE have plenty of dog botheration, of
course. We've got an iron-elad rule here
against dogs of all degrees, high aand low,
but they get in on US, just the same Wonl-
en- guests smuggle them in, and oace the
dogs pass the lintels they can't be got out
by any other means short of ordering the
women guests out. which isn't often prac-
ticable or possible The whining little
NUTS are all right in the rooms while their
mistresses are with them, but when they
are deserted for shopping tours or the like
they set up their wailing and yowling and
then we have to stand for q bunch of as
sorted kicks from all over the place.
THE mail and telegram gag is another
proposition that puts saucers under the
eyes of hotel folks. Guests hold hotel
clerks personally responsible for the nom
arrival of certain letters or kilograms
they're expecting
ANY mail for me: here yetg a guest
viii ask the clerk. and upon getting neg
alive reply he will glare at the man behind
the desk out of the sits OF his eyes sus-
piciously, as much as to say: You want
to watch ont there, you fellow, I've coll
Jared mall thieves before, and I'll catch you
in the act II you're not blamed careful
The guest who is In momentary expecta-
ton of a telegram Is also inclined to the
belief If he is a crank that the hataI alarlx