The Birmingham age-herald., 1909-01-10

They are the smarteSt of all the crim- inals in this country, these fellows who operate in the big hotels, from the man who works the doors to the man who works the proprietor. No, they are not even equalled by the extraordinary wom- en who work in the hotels The men seem to be the smartest and the wickedest. No crime is too mean nor too daring for them to attempt.
 But they have been curbed in the last 15 years. The big deals have grown less and less, until the overcoat pilferer has become more to be guarded against than the diamond thief. Still there are many big ones left. You see this fine fell low?'
 Hepe MT. Repetto reached forxard and drew a photograph from among those on the table The picture he handed over was that of a man about 40 years old. He was immediately dressed, the per fectly fitting frock coat literally cloth ing his tall figure in aristocratic dig nifty. His mustache curled in a Kaiser wilhelm twist and gave him a command ing appearance that made it seem almost sacrilege to call him criminal
 Pretty gentlemanly looking speci- men, continued the house detective, as he rubbed his thumb across the picture and laid 1t carefully to one side, "but he is the worst blackguard in the hotel crook game Oh, he is a high flyer, all right, and we had one little tilt that he won't forget in a hurry; but to tell you about it I will have to go back bit.
 You see I am here to protect the hotel guests by every means in my power, and to do that I have adopted the motto of never inviting trouble. This is the reason that I warn crooks to keep away from the places under my charge. When learn of hotel thief coming into town I manage by some way another to give him the tip to keep his distance If he does this, all is well and good, as far as I am concerned; if not. then there Is trouble
 Now to return to our fine-looking friend One bright day he arrived in Chi cago magnificently clad and on the war path. Of course, I learned that he was here, and sent the usual tip Nor him to keep away from the hotel. He gave his word that he would. I trusted enough in thieves honor to believe him.
 "A couple of days later I was walking through the corridor of the hotel when one of the guests hailed me- He apolo- gized for mentioning what he said was a slight incident, but remarked that he be- lieved that I should know about it. It seems from what he said, that during the morning a man had entered his wife's room, which adjoined his, and was passing through when the guest COQIrOnted him. The visitor made profuse apologies for what he termed his mistake in apart ments and withdrew at once. I asked the guest to describe the man, which he did after much hesitation, vowing that such an aristocratic-looking gentleman could not be a thief His description. however, exactly fitted that of our dis inguished-loolSing friend of the photo graph. When I showed the guest the picture he immediately identified the man.
 q think it was half-it might have been three quarters-an hour before I arrested my man. He, of course de- nied that he had been in the hotel but I knew differently.
 "When he was arraigned in court I was there with a couple of my men. The judge decided that there was not enough evidence to hold him. He was discharged and while the judge and I were arguing the affair he slipped out of the court room. At the same time I signaled one of my men to shadow him.
 The man later reported that our fine looking friend had taken the train for Buffalo Immediately I wired that city where I suspected that there was m old charge hanging over him, that he was eastward bound. He was picked up there and given a short sentence. After his release located him in