Forest City press. (Forest City, Potter County, D.T. [S.D.]) 1883-19??, 1906-07-26
HOW HOTEL SLEUTHS
PERFORM THEIR WORK
Aim to Protect Guests From
Attention of Sure Thing
Artists.
WATCH SNEAK THIEVES
The Detective in a Large Modern Hos
te!ry Is Kept Busy Showing
Exits to Undesirable
Persons.
WATCH SNEAK THIEVES
From the WASHINGTON Star.

ness, Il guest at one OIL tne ledCluS
downtown hotels, pumped himself into
a deep leather chair in the luxurious
main lobby and began to go over the
stack OF letters which had just been
handed to him from his box. He had
not been long immersed in his morn
ing heap OF mail before Il shrewd-eyed,
over-dressed chap in a loud, long
tailed cutaway suit OF tweed. edged
over in his direction, pulled another
of the deep leather chairs alongside
that of the middlc-aged man OF bust
ness and began to address him in u
low tone. but accompanied by many
positive gestures.
The middle-aged man looked UP from
his letters at the over-dressed chap
with manifest surprise, II then shook
his head and made several gestures of
depreciation. But the shrewd-eyed one
was not to be put off. He went right
ahead with his prepared discourse. The
middle-aged ma looked annoyed. He
had his hands upon the arms of his
chair. preparatory to getting up and
changing his seat, when Il slender.
nervous-looking man of 80 or so, with
an extremely keen pair OF gray eyes
and a chopped-off reddish mustache,
walked over and gave the over-drcssed
chap a slight touch on the
This man was Pat" Galligan, OF
the best known hotel detectives in the
United States. The over-dressed chap
looked up when he felt that slight
touch on the shoulder. and, at a nod
from Galligan, left his seat and strolled
over to a corner of the lobby with the
detective. who, with his quiet dress
and lounging manner, might easily
have been taken for Il guest of the
hotel. But the over-dresscd chap, a
race track out of the sort that array
tI,~,c0rnr To Uann1i, uIx, O1n1 ~ us
and their cravats with huge
diamond horseshoe pins and hang
around hotels in order to hook suck
ers. knew very we'll that G~alligan
wasn't Il guest of the hotel.
When they had reached the corner
of the hotel lobby. Galligan came to a
stop. as did the over-dresscd chap.
Thought you knew that gentleman,
I suppose" said Galligan, in his ordi-
nary one
The tout glanced over his shoulder
out of one of the big windows, but said
nothing.
suppose you don't play any moro
around here, hcyo" said Galligan then.
Poor fishing plant, this. Drill. Blow,
Don't come back. There's going to
be a pinch if l see you in this lobby
again. You've got that, hey? All
right. Beat it,"
Beat Hasty Retreat.
Thu over dressed tout. without 81
word. unk toward the circular storm
door and was on. on the avenue about
Ugh seconds ::p-~i.
Il have to sivt the elbow nudge to
about forty a day of nat kind while
the races are here" explained Galligan.
The fly touts try to work their New
York habits in Washington. They dig
up most of their remarks and fall guys
around the New York hotels instead of
at the tracks. But this don't so here.
Il onpS mo h1lSI- SnGffh1p ON The toni
that just went out saw me go up in the
elevator a minute OF so ago n he
figured that his time for Il busy minute
was at hand. But, you see, i was play
ing the same line OF past performance
dope as he was. l knew that as soon as
I got out of sight he'd begin to cast the
fly for a live one, and so / came right
down on the same trip of the elevator
and nailed him with the goods. He
won't be back. They don't corne back,
once they've been warned. They know
that there's n pretty neat vag law here,
and hat the possession of a suit of
noisy clothes and Il horseshoe stick pin
1nd Il pair of field glasses doesn't pre-
vent a wonderful mug from being
vagged in little old Washington il the
merchandise is traced to him.
ANY hotel that allows these race
track touts to lounge around and oper-
ate is bound to be damaged in it's repu-
utation. Guests. whether they take oc-
casional SHES at the ponies or not, dc
not like to be edged up to the good
thing distributors with the oily exter-
Tors and the plausible line of exhaust
steam, and they complain at the desk
if they're bothered in his way. It's
my business around here to keep just
as many complaints away from thai
desk as ! can. A hotel detective is
bound to feel as If he's been soldering
on his job when Il guest complains al
the desk about amy sort of annoyance
in TIE lobby.
II know the faces of about all of the
professional touts, old and new-no
credit coming to me for that, for I've
been watching the coming and going
of the turf bunch here and in Saratoga
and in New York for more than a quar-
ter of y century. No, l never mistake
Il regular. responsible follower of the
pony game for a tout. The answers
easy. The regular turfman of repute
doesn't try to cuddle himself into the
graces of strangers in Il hotel lobby
The on-the-ievel horsy chap is pretty
nigl, always a reserved individual. who
hasn't a great deal to say ever to the
people he has known for years.
Grafters' Busy Season.
Il suppose that during the session.
of congress more grafters try to q,
business around the hotel Hobbies q
Washington than in any other city il
the country. OF late Years the pho.
MES with large deals under their bon.
nets have been coming to Washington
in shoals for the purpose of trying /,
swing the awake ones with heavy banl
wads who gravitatc toward Washing.
ton. where it is during the winteI
months. And IA good many of the graft.
ers register in state. taking suinptu
ii suites IT the Very hotels that the,
have it in mind to work. It isn't So
easy to deal With these grafters VIII.
are guests of the house. but there ar,
ways and methods OF giving them tn
II conversation. all the same. View
got a sort of exchange system work
ing. A few weeks ago. for example
the hotel detective CT one of the hi,
hyphenated dumps in New York wro;,
me a little note informing me that
certain purreyor of 'phony' Mexican
gold mine stock had just been bilge,
o. of the New York hotel. and tina
his 'phony' had headed for Washing
ton ana would probably put up at thi
house.
He came along all right a day or s.
Later and mt IN hera in St.-;a He wo