Persistence by two New Jersey women appeared to pay off yesterday when Police arrested a man in connection with a purse-snatching in the lobby of the Princess Hotel in Pembroke.

But the two women -- one of them a travel agent -- are angry with the response to the crime by both Bermuda Police and hotel management.

Ms Nancy Kath of Uniglobe Metropark Travel in Edison, New Jersey, said Police seemed uninterested in catching the thief and the Princess Hotel appeared unconcerned about what she saw as lax security. She and her travelling companion Ms Joan MacKinney say they were repeatedly rebuffed in their efforts to talk to Police investigators and hotel management.

"Anybody who will listen in New Jersey, I tell,'' Ms Kath told The Royal Gazette on Wednesday. "That's how outraged I am.'' "It's not against Bermuda,'' she said. "We love Bermuda, but it's people like this who aren't stopped that really hurt the Island. We don't want Bermuda to become a Jamaica.'' She estimates that her travel agency -- run by Bermudian Mr. Derek Moniz -- sends about 100 clients to Bermuda each year.

A frustrated Ms Kath approached The Royal Gazette on Wednesday afternoon. The newspaper contacted both Police and The Princess. Yesterday morning, Police arrested a suspect in the theft. Ms Kath attributed that development to "the power of the Press.'' Ms MacKinney's purse was yanked out of her hands in the elevator in the main lobby of the Princess early in the morning of August 12. Concerns of the two women include: The thief followed them through the front door of the hotel and past a hotel security officer at 3.20 a.m. without being questioned or stopped.

The security officer said he assumed the man was with the women, despite the fact they did not know he was behind them.

The security officer, who greeted the women with a `Good morning,' said he could not identify the man.

Images picked up by a hotel surveillance camera were too grainy to be useful to Police.

Although their key was in the bag the man stole, the women had to ask at the front desk before they were given another room.

Neither hotel staff nor Police accompanied them to their room when they gathered and moved their things.

There was a half-hour delay between Police being called and arriving at the hotel.

At their insistence, Police showed them only a slim book of mug shots.

Repeated visits to Hamilton Police Station and attempts to meet with investigators and examine more photographs were unsuccessful.

The women, who returned to Bermuda this week aboard the cruise ship Horizon , had flown to the Island in August to celebrate Ms Kath's birthday.

They walked back to The Princess after an evening at The Club, arriving at the hotel at about 3.20 a.m.

Unaware that a man was walking behind them, they said both a worker who was sweeping between the hotel's front double doors and the hotel's security officer greeted them as they entered.

The man grabbed Ms MacKinney's bag, which contained about $80 in cash, as soon as he followed the women into the elevator.

The man was out of the elevator before the doors closed, followed by the women. But he quickly disappeared, and neither woman thought he could have exited the hotel the way he entered.

Ms MacKinney's screams alerted the security guard, who called Police. Ms Kath said they waited 30 minutes before Police arrived.

While they waited, the hotel security man told the women he assumed the man was with them.

"I said: `How could you say that? He would have been walking beside us and we would have been talking to him','' said Ms Kath.

And management of the 447-room hotel showed a poor attitude about lax security, Ms Kath said. She tried repeatedly without success to talk to hotel general manager Mr. Peter Komposch.

Mr. Stephen Barker, regional vice-president of Princess Properties International, said the mugging was "an unfortunate incident.'' "There's never been anything like this in the lobby,'' he said.

"The perpetrator was not stopped and perhaps he should have been,'' Mr.

Barker said. "But it's a very, very difficult judgment to make. You can't stop anybody who comes into the hotel. They very easily could be a guest.'' Ms Kath and Ms MacKinney said at 3.20 a.m., they felt the security guard should have stopped them as they entered the hotel as well.

The Princess was "looking into'' why the surveillance camera did not provide useful images, Mr. Barker said. The hotel's policy in such a case was to offer to move the guest to another room, he added. "I'm surprised this didn't happen.'' Mr. Barker said Mr. Komposch said he left a message for the women on the day of the mugging. Both women denied this.

After taking statements from the women, Ms Kath said one of the two officers told them: "We have a fairly good idea who this guy is.'' Although their room key was in the bag, neither officer checked the room, Ms Kath said.

Ms MacKinney felt she would recognise the man if she saw him again and on August 13, before boarding a flight back to New York, the women attended Hamilton Police Station and asked if they could look at mug shots. They said they were disappointed to be shown a small book of photographs. "Half of the book was white guys,'' Ms Kath said. "I said the man was black.'' Sgt. Chris Wilcox of Bermuda Police said mug shots are sorted into books by type of offence committed. In theory, "people commit specific types of offences,'' Sgt. Wilcox said. For example, "people will steal handbags but they won't break into houses.'' Ms Kath told Police they were returning to Bermuda aboard the Horizon on September 4 and wanted to follow up. She said they were encouraged to attend the Police station on the Monday, although it was the Labour Day holiday.

The women said they were willing to spend a Bermuda vacation already planned for September looking at all Police mug shots. But they could not get anyone to show them the pictures.

When they arrived at the Police station on Monday, they were told the investigating officers were not in. The same thing happened when they returned on Tuesday.

On their third visit, one of the investigating officers was in, but "the man did not even have the decency to come down the stairs,'' Ms Kath said.

On Wednesday, before calling on the Gazette , they attended the Police station again and asked to talk to the officer in charge. A sergeant told them to write to the Police Commissioner, give him the case number, and Ms MacKinney would be reimbursed through an insurance company.

"They're making like we're wasting their time,'' Ms Kath said.

On both Wednesday and Thursday, the women took taxis from St. George's to Hamilton to visit the Police station, after the Horizon made its regular shift to the East End. "We could be doing other things, but we thought it was important,'' Ms Kath said.

Yesterday morning, Police arrested a 41-year-old Souuthampton man in connection with the incident, a spokesman said.

The man had yet to be formally charged yesterday.

Sgt. Wilcox said the women should have been told to call the Police station and make sure officers were in before they visited. At his suggestion, they met yesterday morning with Det. Ch. Insp. George Jackson, who advised them of the arrest.

UNHAPPY VISITORS -- Travel agent Ms Nancy Kath (standing) and her friend Ms Joan MacKinney were unimpressed with Police and Princess Hotel management after Ms MacKinney had her purse snatched in the lobby.