‘Traveling Bellhop’ visits Glens Falls in 1916

It started with a wager.

A “New York sporting man” bet bellhop Harry Weinstein that he couldn’t circle the globe, working his way from place to place.

“He was to start without a cent or any other possessions except the clothing he wore and return to New York in the same condition,” The Post-Star reported on July 28, 1916.

Weinstein, who became known as the “Traveling Bellhop,” accomplished the feat, gave away $7,000 of the $10,000 winnings he collected, and started out to circle the world again.

In between his second and third world tours, the latter delayed by the outbreak of World War I, he stopped in Glens Falls, staying a few days at the Hotel Madden on South Street, which was located where the Glens Falls National Bank administrative office building is located now.

Hotel owner John H. Madden had met Weinstein some years earlier when Madden was vacationing in Florida at a hotel where Weinstein was working.

“Mr. Madden, one day, yanked a baby elephant of the finny tribe (a big fish) out of the water with the assistance of Mr. Weinstein who used a long carving knife to kill the sea monster which threatened to get away from Mr. Madden and thereby spoil a fish story which is still being told along the Florida coast.”

Weinstein said he was impressed with Glens Falls,

“I’ve been in most of the countries in Europe, Asia and on the continent,” he told a Post-Star reporter. “He plans to make another trip to Europe as soon as the war is over, as he is anxious to revisit the places which have been made historic during the last two years.”

Click here to read a previous post about the Hotel Madden.