The evening times. [volume] (Grand Forks, N.D.) 1906-1914, 1912-09-30
He Must Protect the Hotel
and Persons Stopping in it
and Must be Ready for any
Emergency.

There are various kinds Of crooks
whom at a glance one would take for
anything but crooks-the gentleman
burglar" the dead beat at summer
resorts and others of that ilk, says the
New York Herald.
Then. again, there is the hotel
crook-the burglar and sneak thief
tinguishinG between a rank outsider
and one of the four or. five hundred
persons actually stopping in the hotel,
wanders about the corridors until he
finds an opening to slip into a room
and decamp with money or valuable
jewelry. The hotel detective has
found means to cope with this class of
criminal. A large number of them are
sem to states prison every year as q
result of the t~ireless activity Of the
hotels guardians.
REGULATORS of n sort and another
among the employees Of h house re-
quire constant attention: Their theft's
range from foodstuffs in the kitchen
and silverware and linen on the tables
to money from the till. So skilful
have the hotel detectives been In dis
covering crimes of this sort in recent
years that their number has decreased
almost to nothing.
In several ways the detective must
exercise a paternal oversight of his
guests. There is the college boy who
has gone to New York just to show
the town that he car "go some" The
detective must keep close track Of this
boys movements, see that he does not
get into serious trouble, SO that when
his doting parents wire anviously to
New York to send their boy home the
pride of the upstate household a be
returned intact.
There are a number of hotel detec-
tives who have made names for them
selves in the hotels Of New York.
There is Joseph E. Smith of the Wal
dorf; b. F. johnson Of the Plaza, and
four Of five others.
Smith of the Waldorf.
OF them all, however, Smith Of the
Waldorf is probably the best known,
He has had the longest continuous
service as a house detective, having
been with the Waldorf in that capac-
ity ever since 1t was erected. Since
the hotel over whose safety ne pre-
sides is the great central meeting place
for men of affairs from every part OF
the country, his acquaintance is wide
and his experiences are frequent and
varied.
Some account of himself and his &C.
t~ivities will serve to typify generally
the work of the hotel detective in New
York's big houses of entertainment.
In his work OF protecting the hote'
and those within 1t Smith has per.
fected an efficient secret service or.
eanization among the employees of the
house. For instance, Smith is looking
for a man. Every clerk. floor clerk
porter, bell hop, elevator man anG
chambermaid is furnished with a type.
written description of the mar to.
gether with a photograph, if one il
available.
AS soon as a man answering the de-
scription is seen Smith is at once no.
titled. In this way he can put hi:
finger on any in the house in q
few moments. The employees are in.
Structed to be constantly on the watch
for men or ONE who comport them.
selves suspiciously. Several times ev'
cry day Smith investigates cases o.
this sort. with the result that occa'
sionally the perpetrator of a daring
robbery is unearthed.
Twice within the last two month.
the resourcefulness of this hotel de
tective has been taxed to its utmost
and on each of these occasions hi
found it expedient to call in the assist
ance Of his full force of detectives.
The period before the two nationa
conventions saw score of state gov
ernors, mayors. cabinet ministers an6
men high in the political life of the
land in New York for the preliminar!
conferences and skirmishes incidenta
to n great campaign. Most of then
stopped in the Waldorf.
Here arose a trying situation. Of
which probably rot one of the distin'
guished statesmen was cognizant
These men, big in the world Of gov.
ernmental affairs. must be protected
and without their being made uneas,
by an espionage of which they were
aware.
You sce," said Smith. as he ex.
planned the incident. New York is
full of cranks and anarchists, who
would consider it a m%eritorious act t.
kill a high government official. / hac
to see that no tragedy of that sort oc.
Cured,
Headed OF Fifty Men.
II called II my whole force of men
They are old hands and know by sigh,
most Of the cranks in the city. TWEEN.
ty-five Of my men We're thrown abou,
the hotel. They headed off at least
fifty men they knew to be anarchists
or fellows with DANGEROUS tendencies.
"In addition TO this precaution ev.
cry one of the big fellows had his
guard assigned to him. In each case
the detectives instructions were to fol.
low his nan wherever he went and not
to allow any one who didn't look right