Italian "Hotel Rats"

Taranaki Daily News, Volume XLVII, Issue 7930, 20 September 1905, Page 3

Italian "Hotel Rats"

TOURISTS CHLOIIOFOItMEIi WHEN ASLEEP. The danger of Continental travel •M the daring methods adopted by toe international -thicvm «h Q haunt «c principal tourist rescrts forms toe subject of a remarkable lettei f rotn * n "»l'an cormpondent in a nerot issue «f the Lancet. Nilploi, Homo, Florence, Milan! «nd \enice." savs the correspondent a*\e all t*-rn favour.*! with th,* c thieves' sonny of late, till scarcely * Passes without their journal* potting on record an ■ incident" pf which the following is a t\pical t.\•mplc HJwnj secured o Ivrfri j«u contiguous tc that of hi* mtended P«*y. he begin* operations ly per foratiag the wall near where his unconscious neighbour lays his hem!. (instruments for the purpose he postn abundance), and at night through the aperture thus made bt IWMM a cannula, Jong and fine, bv which be anacthetises'the sleeper gjeoerally with cholorofonn, He then forces the door, and 'at his leisure helpa himself to whatever he wants. *nd dccafcnp* in tho early tqornintr in time for Hie 'through express.' Another method of the cosmopolitan thief is to find means during the day °| introducing himself into the victim's room. He gently undoes the fixings of the lock. and. again at night, be brings into play the other resources ol his profession—tin' 'ma.v thera cloformizzata' (the mask with the chloroform), the eel-skin loarte<\ with small shot vherewith to stun the victim by a sudden Mow : ami even the finely-pointed stiletto. «ith which to reach the heart in a twinkling should resistance be offered The landlords, particularly on the French and Italian Riviera, are ■now familiar enough with this type of thief to give him a special name—'topo d' t albergo' (hotel rat) being the title ha is known bv in Italy "