THE HOTEL THIEF.

Thames Star, Volume LVII, Issue 14726, 3 August 1921, Page 6

THE HOTEL THIEF.

AMAZING METHODS.

BOBBERIES ON HUGE SCALE. It is extremely doubtful if there is living by the exercise of his wits today a more clever and plausible fogue than the professional hotel thief (says a London paper). He is the essence of coolness: cunning and daring to a degree; and by the polish and veneer of his appearance gulls more people than it is possible to compute. As befits a thief who is “working” a high-class hotel, his dress and manners are those of a perfect gentleman; while the air of culture -i-nd distinction which he assumes disarms suspicion.

Recent big hotel robberies in England and on the Continent strikingly illustrate the cash value of these assets in the hotel thief. Just recently, for instance, jewellery to the value of £17,444 was stolen from a Russian lady staying at a Piccadilly hotel; property valued at £3OO1 — notes, cheques and jewellery —reptesentcd another West End hotel haul; a Bournemouth hotel visitor lamented the mysterious disappearance of jewellery and money worth more than £IO,OOO, which expert thieves had cleverly commandeered; and one of the biggest hotels in Bath was also lately the scene of the cool and crafty handiwork of still another daring thief. /

This “gent” Avent to Bath for a week-end, and stayed at the hotel in question. He behaved as an ordinary visitor, signing the register and giving a London address. On Monday he entered the room of a certain lady, while she was out for a walk, and rifled her possessions, taking three gold rings set with diamonds, two gold brooches set with diamonds, and miniatures of her two sons killed in the war. . The articles are valued at about £2OO. The thief promptly disappeared, leaving his luggage which, /when opened by the police, contained old newspapers and a complete burglar’s outfit. \ A CLEVER COUP. Only last summer, a certain fashionable seaside hotel was the scene of a very clever coup. For a week a guest, who called himself the Honourable John- , had been there with his valet, living luxuriously, and having no end of a good time. At the end of the week, however, he went to the manager in a state of great indignation, declaring that a valuable watch had been stolen from his bedroom during his absence, and that he would not spend another hour in the hotel. In vain the manager tried to appease him, promising that no stone should be left unturned to discover the thief.

“He refused to listen to me,” said the manager, when telling the story, “ordered his man to pack up, and within a quarter of an hour had departed to —‘put the matter in the hands of the police,’ as he. threatened.

“Before he had been gone half an hour, a lady, returning from a drive, discovered that her jewel-case, which she had placed at the bottom of a locked trunk, had vanished. She was terribly upset, because, as she informed me, the missing jewels were worth over £IOOO. And before the day was out two other ladies reported similar losses. The most searching investigation w r ns set on foot at once, but no clue could be discovered; nor were we able to find any trace of the ‘honourable gentleman who, I have little doubt, invented his story of the stolen watch to disarm suspicion and get away with over £2OOO worth of jewellery.” • “GENIAL' COUNTRY? SQUIRE.” Posing as a genial country squire, another smart rascal soon ingratiated himself into the good graces of several of his fellow guests. He was particularly attracted towards a retired city man and his young wife, who had the most beautiful jewels. Poker was the husband’s favourite game, and it didn’t take the hotel thief long to discover that whenever her spouse got settled down to play, the lady disappeared in pursuit of pleasure elsewhere. This arrangement was quite in accord with the plans of the “genial country squire,” who one evening, after seeing the gentleman comfortably settled at the card fable, coolly strolled into the lady’s bedroom, and a few minutes later as coolly strolled out, “to enjoy the evening,” with £SOO worth of jewellery in his pockets. Needless to say he never returned.

Dressed in broadcloth and fine linen, speaking several languages, these cosmopolitan bandits ape the gentleman so closely that the most experienced eye is invariably deceived by the imposture. And they stick at nothing. They take rooms always on either the first or second floor, where the richest rguests sleep. The doors are opened by means of the French instrument known as “quistiti,” by which it is possible to seize the end of a key left in a lock and turn it. CHLOROFORMING THE VICTIMA ( thief of this type will track any prey he has marked his own over the whole of Europe, until he finds a favourable oppportunity for

carrying out his projects. When all other methods fail, he pursues him until the two are in adjoining rooms. The modus operandi then is to pierce several small holes through the d'viding Avail Avith an instrument specially adapted for that purpose, in the middle of the night, Avhen everything is quiet, a long, thin metal ,tube is pushed through one of the holes in such a way that the further extremity is just over the head of the sleeper.

The tube is connected with a bottle of chloroform, and by means of a spray apparatus the atmosphere of the room is sufficiently charged Avith the anaesthetic to transform the yictim’s slumber from natural to artificial. All that is necessary now is to pick the lock of the bedroom door —mere child’s play for one of the class we are alluding to —and go over the property at leisure.