The Birmingham age-herald., 1910-02-08
Loungers Dangerous.

and their guests.
 Loungers Dangerous.
 A detective in one of the big hotels said today: Ut has become necessary to ex- ercise a very close watch on the loung- CTS who spend so much of their time in hotel lobbies. A hotel does not make public any of the unpleasant happenings of day, in fact, the endeaYor is made to keep such things quiet. Thievery has become fine art of late. Prisoners mask themselves in all sorts of false pretenses. dress in the finest clothes and live like millionaires.
 Tn this way they very easily gain the acquaintanceship of other guests It is surprising, in fact, how very easily peo- pie allow themselves to be imposed on It Is not the country jay who is made a fool of either, but clever business men who fancy themselves quite able to take care of themselves.
 'The friendly card game is one of the most popular methods of getting quick money Then there are wagers that be- gin in a joke, by which a man Is some times parted from everything he has of value. great many men have an ex- alted idea of the importance of keeping up their regulations as sports when they fancy themselves in the company of the game sports and this weakness costs them dear.
 Tn the matter of inside robberie1 by employees we have not any trouble here, but in some hotels there has been an un- pleasant record of robberies of this sort during the last few months. One reason l.. some of these hotels with the understand ing that they are to get their pay in tips. When persons omit to give a boy the usual dime or quarter, he begins to look about for something he can take.
 Tt is the system that is at fault of course. A boy who will go to work with out pay, depending on tips, is very likely to be easily tempted if a chance comes along. He has ample opportunity to size up the situation and the habits of the guests whose rooms he enters several times a day with messages, ice water, etc.
 Many guests are extremely careless in leaving money and valuables around, and boys become thieves because the op- portunity is thrust on them. A great many women will not allow their jewelry to go out of their possession, keeping money and diamonds in all kinds of odd hiding places instead of in the hotel safe.
 Largely the Guests Fault.
 Many hotel guests, too, spoil boys by giving them too much money, and the boys plan how to get even with the guest who does not fee them. They make no se- cret of their ideas in this respect when they are among themselves, but work in sort of partnership.
 This is a different class of hotel crim- inals however. from the confidence men and women that we are trying to keen out of the fashionable houses. Dishonest help will always get employment In a ho- tel now and then, no matter how many precautions are taken. But they are in no way so dangerous a menace to the community as the new type of hotel crm- inal who operates without being caught and who eludes all traps that may be laid for him. This sort of hotel criminal did not exist a few years ago. It is the out come of the new and lavish hotel sys- tenn in America and the plan of allowing people to use the corridors and reading rooms even when they do not patronize the hotel.
 But queer characters are not slow to take advantage of the opportunity thus offered them to scrape up an acquaint. ance with visitors from out of town. Int man who Is on the lookout for harm less Irritation Is one of the first to fal into the net And the man with money to invest is another easy victim. If peo pie would only make it a rule not to trus to appearances, and above all, not to in Gulge in games of chance with stray ac uuaintances picked up in the hotel lob bies, they would save their money an( save us lots of trouble"