As he walked into the room, he found a neatly dressed young man rifling his dresser.
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Case of the Unlucky Number
by William T. Brannon
Art by Bill Neebe
I he Chicago hotel clerk glanced up
politely as a man approached
the desk. "Yes, sir?"
"The key to 1121, please."
"Yes, sir." The clerk turned to the
slot assigned to No. 1121 and frowned.
"I'm sorry, sir, the key to 1121 is not
here. Did you leave it at the desk
when you went out?"
"I'm sure I did," the guest replied,
but he rummaged in his pockets nev
ertheless. "No, I don't have it. I know
I left it here when I went out."
"Maybe it was put in the wrong
slot. I'm very sorry, sir." The clerk
rang for a bellboy. "The key to 1121
has been misplaced. Please see that
this gentleman gets into his room."
The guest was admitted to 1121 with
a master key while the clerk began
checking the slots in search of the
original key. Before he had completed
the task, the guest, now irate, stormed
back and demanded that the room
clerk call the hotel manager.
During his absence, he told the
manager, his room had been ran
sacked. Somebody had gone through
his luggage; bureau drawers had been
upset. Several valuable items were
missing. The guest hinted at an in
side job, since the door had been
locked and there was no sign of forc
ible entry by the thief.
The manager promised to make
good the losses, and the guest, molli
fied, departed after being given a new
key. The desk clerk continued his
search, but the missing key wasn't
found. The whole thing remained a
mystery to the staff.
About a week later, at another Chi
cago hotel, a dapper, neatly dressed
young man with a brisk air stopped at
the desk and said:
"The key to 1121, please." The key
was handed over.
The young man had hardly disap
peared when another man, tall and
muscular, approached the desk. "The
key to 1121, please."
The clerk looked at him in surprise.
"I just gave out that key, sir, to an
other man! He just went up in the
elevator a few seconds ago."
The big man, W. J. Kane of Dayton,
O., a former pro football player with
the Green Bay Packers, looked puz
zled. But he shrugged and went to
the elevator. A maid used her passkey
to admit him to Room 1121.
As he walked in, he found the neat
ly dressed young man rifling his dress
er. Kane grabbed the intruder and
pushed him into a chair while he
phoned for a house detective.
Suddenly, the captive jumped up,
threw the chair at Kane, and fled. He
was out of sight when two house de
tectives arrived.
Taking Kane with them, they com
mandeered an elevator, which started
downward, stopping briefly at each
floor. At the fourth floor, the thief
stepped in; when he recognized the
other occupants, it was too late to
make an escape.
The prisoner gave his name as Jack
Hartford. He said he had run down
the stairs, pausing only long enough
to drop some keys in a sand bucket on
one of the floors. He had almost
reached the street when he discovered
he still had the key to 1121 and the
key he had discarded was to his own
room at another hotel. He went back
to retrieve it, found it on the fourth
floor, and decided to take the elevator.
In Hartford's room, police detectives
found loot from dozens of burglaries,
mostly watches and jewelry. In a
dresser drawer, they found keys to
rooms in 39 large Chicago hotels.
Most of them were to Room 1121!
Hartford said his scheme had been
simple. He walked up to the desk and
looked in the slot for 1121. If the key
was there, he asked the clerk for it.
Then he would call the room on the
house phone to make sure it was un
occupied. If there was no answer, he
went to the room, entered with his
key, and looted it at his leisure.
Although he had entered some rooms
with other numbers, 1121 was his
favorite. After his initial success in
hotel burglaries, he came to regard
1121 as his lucky number.
As he was taken to the lockup, the
detectives paused outside police head
quarters on South State Street. "This
is going to be your address for a
while," the prisoner was told. "But
you won't have the key."
Hartford glanced at the number over
the'door. It was 1121!
10
Family Weekly. January 19. 195S