Knots Untied; Or, Ways and By-ways in the Hidden Life of American DetectivesMcWatters, George S.
General
Knots Untied; Or, Ways and By-ways in the Hidden Life of American Detectives
McWatters, George S.
Detectives
YOUNG MAN OF LARGE APPETITE AND SMALL CONSCIENCE.--The necessity of
eating is a strong one; the demands of appetite are peculiarly and
pertinaciously potent. There are many fleshy-looking young men in New
York whose appetital demands are largely ahead of their pecuniary
resources, the latter being of a limited nature, like their
consciences. Our leading hotel diners are appreciatively affected by
these unconscionably-stomached and conscienceless individuals; and it
requires all the devices of the proprietors, and ingenious watching of
sharp-sighted detectives, to guard against their stealthful
appropriation of dinners. In the multiplicity of guests daily arriving
at first-class hotels, and multiplied disguises assumed by the unpaying
diners, it is easy to conceive that the labor of watchfulness is no
light one, and the guarantee of detectives by no means sure. There is
no keener man in the Police Department to scent out a rogue than
Officer McWatters. He can tell a rascal by a sort of instinct. A
stranger to him is like a piece of coin in the hand of the skilful
medallist, who tells the spurious from the genuine by the feeling--by a
glance even.
Officer McWatters measures a man at a glance. He sees the latent
roguery peering out of the corner of the eyes, lurking in the smile,
hiding itself in the cultivated mustache and careful whiskers, strongly
and unconsciously developing even in the gorgeous watch-chain, flashy
vest, showy cravat, elaborately-checked pants, and brilliantly shining
patents, or, _vice versa_, suit of puritanical plainness. His
penetrative optics permeated, yesterday afternoon, the disguise of that
most notable and audacious of non-paying hotel diners, Jack Vinton.
Jack had taken dinner at the Metropolitan Hotel. His brassy impudence
had enabled him to pass muster, as a guest of the hotel, the Cerberus
at the dining-room door. Not to betray a dangerous haste in leaving, he
sank back leisurely into a soft-cushioned chair in the gentlemen's
parlor, and read a newspaper for a while. He was going out of the hall
door, when Officer McWatters spotted him.
"Are you stopping at this hotel?" asked the officer (who, by the way,
was in citizen's dress), in that tone of politeness, for which he is
remarkable.
"I am, sir."
"How long have you been stopping here?"
"Ever since I came here."
"Is your name registered?"
"Registered? I never heard of such a name. Mine begins with an initial
letter of higher alphabetical rank."
"You misunderstand me. Is your name on the hotel books?"
"The bookkeeper is the proper informant."
"Have you a suit of rooms here?"
"Am suited perfectly--all the rooms I want."
"What is the number of your room?"
"A No. 1--first-class, sir. First-class hotel has first-class rooms,
you see, sir. This is a first-class hotel--the _ergo_ as to the rooms
is conclusive."
"You are evasive."
"Only logical, sir!"
"You took dinner just now up stairs?"
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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