HOTEL THIEVES.

Poverty Bay Herald, Volume XXXIX, Issue 12883, 2 October 1912, Page 5

HOTEL THIEVES.

The detachment of well dressed confidence men, -that have descended on Sydney bel^jg+ito what is perhaps the most dangerous species of the genus thief. In tbettO'ld' World the criminal who moves freely among wealthy people, arid has an appearance' and manners not to be distinguished from those of the more respectable people about him, is a perennial trouble tb the police. He causes hotel keepers m JEngkind - and pn the, Continent no end of anxiety, for he does not stay at their hotels for pleasure. It is the valuables of the guests he is after, and he resorts to ,ma,ny devices to secure them. He will live ,m .expensive style to disarm suspicion. A great deal of this kind of crime is done T^y gangs, .which generally i include a woman, Ipr a N woman can ahyays find an excuse for j. being found' m another woman's 'bedrooin, m the day time, and it is a very dangerous thing to .accuse a giiest of theft.- . Some of these gangs follow a, likely victim about the' Continent uhtil"" a favoyablo oppor A tuhity presents itself, wh^'n the lesser lights retire into the background, and the.' experts finish' the business.; Most of the proprietors^, big hotels, keep a detective on the.: premises ; ihe' niay be a waiter, or he piay 'come, arid go like ah ordinary gues;fc. „ K Managet's have also combined to publ^ixi descriptions of thieyes, but m spite of these precautions they lose thousands, pf pounds a year' by the operations oi these people. Most of the opera<tors carry^ a small instalment with; which a. Rey\-,on the inside can be turned from the outside. The, thefts are. made m t|ie early morning^ when sleep is 'heaviest?; and the loot is distributed,. nes;t day, 1 , the^ thief remaining m the. hotel as ji iic\thiiyr" ; lipid happened. A,, simple devjce tp prevent the 1 , entry of the tjiief, is £0 put a chair against the door, with the back imd.or the handle, and. sonic hotels!', provide wedges of metal or wood, to be inserted under the door. thieves have been knpwn to bore a holftt m the wall of a bedroom, and spray chlbrbforin through' it. over the victim's face. The rest is easy, provided the room can be entered. A, theft means much to ihe proprietor, fpr , it upsets the whole hotel. Guests leave as soon as possible, and the room yyhere the theft has been committed .gets a bad name. ,The lesson is, -when travelling abroad, not to depend too Hiuoh on the key of one's door.