HOTEL LIFE.
As we have said before, the majority of the better classes of New York
prefer to board rather than keep house. Of these, a large number board
at the hotels, the rest in private boarding-houses.
The principal hotels of the City are the Astor, St. Nicholas,
Metropolitan, New York, Fifth Avenue, and the Hoffman, Albemarle,
Clarendon, Everett, and Coleman Houses. These head the list, but there
are scores of first class houses, some of which are elegant in every
respect. The transient custom of the hotels of the City is enormous,
but the permanent boarders of these establishments are very profitable.
The rates are high, and the majority of these houses pay their
proprietors well. There are two classes known in the City--those which
are conducted on the old American style, or those known as "European
houses." The former provide the guests with lodgings and full board at
so much per day, or week, while the others furnish merely the room and
attendance, and are either without the means of supplying meals to
their guests, or charge for each article of food separately. It is hard
to say which system is the more popular, though it would seem that the
European is growing in favor.
THE GUESTS.
The proprietors of the city hotels are very active in their efforts to
exclude improper characters from their houses, but with all their
vigilance do not succeed in doing so. One is ever certain as to the
respectability of his neighbor at the table, and it is well never to be
in a hurry to form acquaintanceships at such places. Fallen women of
the higher classes, and gamblers, abound at the hotels. The proprietor
cannot turn them out until they commit some overt act, for fear of
getting himself into trouble. As soon, however, as his attention is
called to any improper conduct on their part, they are turned into the
street, no matter at what hour of the day or night, and left to shift
for themselves.
HOTEL SWINDLERS.
Quite a number of persons in this city make a regular business of
staying at hotels, and absconding without paying their board. This
class consists of both males and females, and is much larger than most
people suppose. We take the following descriptions of some of the best
known from the daily journals of the City. They will show also their
mode of operations:
A man by the name of D----, or R----, purporting to hail from St.
Louis, has enjoyed many years' experience as a hotel 'beat.' He is a
tall, not ill-looking fellow, of tolerable address, and generally
travels accompanied by his wife and three children, and by a large
trunk; his wife sometimes contrives to smuggle in the third child
secretly, and to hide it in the room allotted to them, so that only two
children appear on the bill. At any rate the bill is never paid
whenever settlement is demanded. Mr. D--, or R--, is always found in
his apartment seated at the table, busy with an elaborate assortment of
manuscripts, and so busy that really at present he cannot be disturbed.
To-morrow he will attend to every thing. But to-morrow the birds have
flown, or walked out, one by one, from the hotel, and when the trunk,
is opened, there is a beggarly array of brickbats, old boxes, old rags,
and carpets, the former having served to render the trunk weighty, the
latter to prevent any noise or rolling that might excite suspicion.
Another adventurer, a bachelor, by the name of M----, affects the
eccentric, and, as the day approaches for the handing in of his bill,
his eccentricity verges upon madness, till at last, when the document
is really tendered, he becomes absolutely crazy--shouts, sings,
performs in an antic manner, and declares himself to be the king of the
Jews, the President of the United States, or something of that sort. He
has sufficient method in his madness, however, to gain the advantage of
the hotel proprietors, having on one occasion beaten the Fifth Avenue
Hotel out of one hundred and seventy-one dollars in board and lodging.
He sometimes is to be seen on Broadway in the guise of a military
officer.
One of the most cunning and successful of adventurers is known by the
name of W----, _alias_ Jones, _alias_ several other titles. This fellow
is an undersized man, blind of one eye, but of very genteel and
prepossessing address, and is generally accompanied by his wife. The
two practice the bundle game, which is a very adroit performance. Their
_modus operandi_ is as follows: They travel with a large Saratoga
trunk, which is really well stocked with linen and clothing. Of this
fact they contrive to render the detective and officials of the house
aware, so as to quiet any suspicion. Having thus tolerably opened the
ball they keep it rolling as long as possible, till within two days or
so of the period of final settlement. Suddenly Mrs. W----, or Jones,
appears to be seized with a mania for going up and down stairs, and in
and out of the hotel, carrying little parcels in her hand to and fro to
the milliners and dressmakers, etc. Her husband also discovers that his
clothes need revision, and sends them to tailors. Messengers also come
to their rooms for bundles, etc., and at last Mr. Jones, or W----,
announces at the office that he is about to leave the next day, and
would like his bill made out up 'till to-morrow night.' Meanwhile he
goes on to state as his trunk requires some repairs he has removed his
wardrobe into the bureau drawers, etc., and has sent for a trunkman to
convey it to the nearest establishment, will they allow him a servant
to assist the trunkman with it down stairs. The servant is sent to the
room, sees that nothing is taken away but the empty trunk, and all is
well. The adventurer and his female confederate eat with gusto, walk
out arm in arm from the hotel, and are seen no more, neither their
trunk, neither their wardrobe, which examination shows has not been
removed into the bureau drawers; in short, the clothes of the worthy
pair have been taken away bundle by bundle, parcel by parcel, and left
at convenient places in the neighborhood, to be called for, while the
trunk has been deposited at a friend's till further notice.
By this system of operations the St. Nicholas, Lafarge New York, and
Howard Hotels were victimized. Their triumphant career was checked,
however, at the Fifth Avenue Hotel, by efforts of the special detective
of the house, who discovered one day a piece of paper containing W----
Jones' private memorandum of the places at which he and his wife had
left their different bundles. By confronting Jones, accusing him of his
dishonesty, presenting the paper and accompanying him _nolens volens_
to these various places, the detective contrived to recover the bill
due to his hotel.
There are many adventurers hanging round a hotel, who are not enrolled,
however, among its regular lodgers. There are numerous 'beats' who
merely direct their energies to obtaining meals gratis, taking
advantage of the rush to the tables during meal hours. As many as
thirty-four of this class were detected at the Fifth Avenue Hotel in a
single month. These adventurers often practice the hat game,
depositing, when they enter the dining-room, a worthless chapeau, and
taking up, when they pass out, a valuable one--by inadvertence, of
course. The Metropolitan Hotel has a colored man in its employ
stationed at the door of the dining-rooms, who has proved thus far too
much for the efforts of any of these gentry, consequently this hotel
has been, in this respect, peculiarly fortunate.
A man named W----, lately gained the advantage of a hotel detective in
a rather amusing manner. He was in the habit of stealing his meals, and
was detected so doing, but as he was one day also seen to draw from his
pocket a gold watch, attached to a heavy chain, it was determined to
give him a little longer indulgence. At last his time was up, and the
officer, advancing to him, told him that he had been waited for; that
he had taken just so many meals, and must just pay so much money. "But
I have no money." "Then I will seize your watch." When, lo! the watch
had disappeared, and all the detective could find, in its place was but
a bunch of keys--the watch itself having been originally borrowed for a
purpose which it had fulfilled.
HOTEL THIEVES.
All the first-class hotels employ private detectives and watchmen. The
business of these men is to keep a watch over the upper part of the
house, to prevent thieves from entering and robbing the rooms of the
guests. Suspicious persons are at once apprehended, and required to
give account of themselves.
A friend of the writer once called on an acquaintance at the St.
Nicholas, and, being on intimate terms with the gentleman, went
immediately to his room, without making the customary inquiries at the
office. Although he knew the house very well, he missed his way in the
long corridor, and failed to find the stairway. While endeavoring to
"get his bearing," he was accosted by a quiet-looking individual, who
told him he must go with him to the office and give an account of
himself. The man was the private detective of the house, and seeing
that the gentleman had lost his way, supposed at once that he was a
hotel thief who had become bewildered in trying to make off from the
house. Fortunately, the gentleman was well known at the office, where
the mistake was at once discovered and apologized for.
AN AGILE THIEF.
Some time ago, a man entered the St. Nicholas and robbed the occupant
of one of the rooms, during his sleep, of a gold watch and chain, worth
about one hundred and fifty dollars, a small amount of money, and a
gold shirt-stud, with which he escaped to the hall-way. Succeeding so
well, he concluded to try again, and proceeded to room 175, occupied by
the cashier of the hotel, lifted that gentleman's clothing from a
table, and stole some money from the pockets. As the thief was in the
act of leaving the room, the cashier awoke, and, seeing a stranger,
asked, "Who's there?" To which the robber replied, "I beg your pardon,
sir; I have made a slight mistake." Upon which he hastily left,
followed by the cashier, who cried, "Stop thief!" At that moment,
detective Golden, employed in the hotel, appeared on the scene of
action, and pursued the fugitive. The latter, in his haste, leaped down
a whole flight of stairs, when detective Golden cried out to the men
below to stop him; and accordingly he was seized and held till the
detective ran down and took charge of the prisoner. On searching him,
the gold watch and chain were found in his possession; also five
different parcels of moneys, doubtless stolen from as many different
rooms.
[Illustration: St. Nicholas Hotel.]