The Washington herald., 1919-11-01
NEW YORK CITY
By o. O., McNTYRE

New York. Oct. S1.-So clever
have the thieves become in the
hotel foyers that a woman in one
OF the most fashionable hotels lin,
town actually lost an anklet wallet
the other day. Her modification
was so great that the matter was
not reported to the police. She
does not know when it happened
but when she got home there was .
big slit in her skirt and her silk
stocking was also ripped and the
wallet was gone.
The smoothest crooks from Lon
don. Paris. Madrid and South
America. have suddenly nocked to
town where the word has gone
forth that the picking" 10 easy.
1t 10 ridiculous for the hotel man.
dick" or hotel detective can cope
with them.
The hotel detective for some rea-
son or other can always be spotted
a mile away. He wears the noun
famous toed shoes. the derby
cooked to one side and Invariably
has a bull-doE-Jaw. His name is
either Jerry. Terry or Mike. He
talks out of the side OF his mouth
and in the v-rnacular of the crook.
He thinks that is impressing and
shows he knows the ropes.
I met one the other night. He is
always just two steps behind one
of the international crooks. His
lingo was about like this: I'm
Jerry to his plant now. UPS and
downs his Moll buzzer at noon eats
ycstiddy. She was there with a big
chunk OF ice on a chain and l gave
her the once but she grinned. I
trailed her to the hatch and found
him waiting" ! nodded gravely
and with great understanding al
though II was all Greek to me.
In the meantime satin Inustached
men who know Thackeray as we'll
as Voltaire and who look as though
they had just been poured into
Immaculate evening clothes are
humping into ladies' and gentle-
men In hotel Hobbies and during
the confusion snatching watches,
pearl necklaces. purses and other
things of value.
There Is not even q dead line in
Manhattan any more. The crooks
work everywhere. They used to
stay away from the important no.
tells and the Waldorf even chased
the bond statesmen out OF Peacock
alley a few years ago. But there
is no restrictions now. The bar
rier is up and the crook is hop
ping to some saudy hauls.
From the morning and evening
journals here one gets q roseate
impression of the life of the Sob
Sisters. Their interviews are gen
orally followed or preceded. accord
ing to the stories. by the most
sumptuous repasts. While some
screen hero is putting a Sob Sis
ter wise to all the secrets OF his
career you read of her dallying
with a prune surprise or desiccat
ing a juicy chop. The next day
she Is questioning Mrs. Fiske' about
some fragrant Ceylon tea. Just to-
day l have read of young lady
breakfssting with Doug at l1:s0
while hot milk toast. poached eggs
and strips of rare bacon were
dawdled over. wish could give
these daily trivialities write a
running underplot of food. But the
fact is I'm always hungry and no
body asks me to eat. I paid SlcS
for a sandwich at the Ritz yester-
day and s6 for dinner for two at
the Majestic today.
Most dog shops in New York are
a blot on the vigilance OF the board
OF health. They are foul smelling.
unciean and breeding places for the
mango and other diseases generally
supposed to be the product of filth.
So it was a genuine Joy to stumble
into the cleanest, most beautiful dog
shop l ever saw on West Forty
sixth street between Fifth avenue
and Sixth the other afternoon. In
the white enameled window was a
large Russian greyhound Sleep
ing. Inside in glass receptacles
were Poms and Pekes and Bostons,
and Scotch Terriers and Collies and
not an odor about the place. The
attendants were spotless in white
suites. Each time I go to a dog
shop l make a solemn vow it is
the last visit. SO depressing is the
effect. My idea OF an orgy is to
go into a dog store and buy every
dog just to turn them loose out in
some wild and green spot.