and be brief. How can my poor brain hold all that you have said?”
“Don’t be alarmed, my dear, there is doubtless plenty of room in your brain yet. But I was going on to say that though there is a tendency in these degenerate days to lessen the great responsibility once imposed upon these publicans and sinners, and to insist upon greater care on the part of the guests, still statutes limiting the common-law liability of innkeepers should not be extended to include property not fairly within the terms of the acts. Where, for instance, as in the New York act, money, jewels, or ornaments are exempted, then all property of a different kind, including all things useful and necessary for the comfort and convenience of the guest—all things usually carried and worn as part of the ordinary apparel and outfit, as well as all things ordinarily used or suitable to be used by travelers in doors or out, are left in statu quo ante the statute.”
“And what may that be?” asked Mrs. L.
“At the risk of the innkeeper.”[191]
“But would not a watch be considered a jewel or an ornament?”
“The law is very watchful—”
“Very watchful, indeed, when it has so many watch cases that it considers pretty little Genevas neither jewels nor ornaments,” murmured my wife sotto voce.
“The law is very watchful,” I went on, “over benighted travelers, and has decided that it is not;[192] nor is a watch and chain,[193] although, by the way, the Wisconsin judges have decided that an innkeeper is not liable for the loss of a silver or a gold watch not handed over for safe keeping, their act speaking of articles of gold and silver manufacture.[194]
The exemption is intended to apply only to such an amount of money and to such jewels and ornaments or valuables, as the landlord himself, if a prudent person and traveling, would put in a safe (if convenient) when retiring at night. No one, possessed of half a grain of that scarce commodity, common sense, would suppose that it was the intention of the act to exempt the hotel proprietors from their old common-law liability, unless the traveler emptied his pockets of every cent of money and deposited it, with his watch and pencil-case, in the safe, for perchance he might want these identical articles ere sweet sleep his eyelids closed.[195] If, however, the innkeeper has complied with the requirements of the act, he is not liable for jewelry stolen from the bedroom, even though the guest has not been guilty of negligence, provided he has had time and opportunity to make the deposit.[196] My old friend, Mrs. Rosenplanter, was terribly unfortunate in this respect. In July, 1863, she and her worthy spouse were en route from Trenton Falls to Saratoga, and arrived at the Delavan House, Albany, at three in the afternoon. As dinner was on the table, they at once dressed and went to dine. In about twenty minutes they returned to their room and found that in the meantime their trunk had been broken open and $300 worth of jewelry taken out. My friend sued the proprietor, but the court ungallantly considered that she had had sufficient time and opportunity to make the deposit, (though she had not been there an hour) and so could not recover; although the judge admitted that no person, under such circumstances, would have been likely to have handed over his valuables to the innkeeper, and that there must always be a brief period after the arrival of a guest before he can make the deposit, and that during those golden moments the statute affords the publican no protection. And, by the way, I remember that in this case the court seemed to think that if a guest, on retiring for the night, removes a watch or jewelry from his person, or leaves money in his pocket, and neglects to deposit the same in the safe, the hotel-keeper, if he has complied with the act, is exempt from all liability in case of loss.”[197]
“You said,” remarked Mrs. Lawyer, whom the mysteries of the toilet had revived, “you said that if the innkeeper put up his notice he would not be liable to make good any loss of goods or property. Surely, if a watch is neither an ornament nor a jewel, within the meaning of the act,[198] it is goods or property, else it is not good for much.”