Wilmington journal. [volume] (Wilmington, N.C.) 1844-1895, 1867-02-08
The Lottery Mania - Another Great
sE.uteruriSe.''


It was expected that the success Of the
late Crosby lottery, as a mOnev-makine
concern, would turn the attention of a good
many enterprising gamblers to that brancl
of business. And now. following close
upon the brilliant Chicago affair." we have
another incentive to dashing and compre
hensive efforts on the part of the gambling
fraternity, in the drawing of what is called
the great - Union Home and School " lot
terry, in New York city, on Monday !; all in
the sweet name of charity, benevolence,
and good morals. The drawing took place
at Cooper Institute, which was crowded
! to repletion with anxiously expectant tick
ct holders, male and female, the bait
being an array Of prizes ranging from
| $40, 900 in greenbacks down to 81, the in.
termediate morsels being an IS, ZOO Harlem
residence, $7,250 ditto in Brooklyn, and
others at So, 600, town lots at 81, 500 car
riage and horses at 50, 500, greenbacks in
81, 900, $500, $3.50, and 500 lots, with
grand pianos, watches, tea-services pic
lures, books, &c. Such were the irresisti-
bic materialistic attractions, apart from the
appealing charity in behalf of the "Home, .
which humane and patriotic people would
not attempt to resist. OF course there was
no little gentleman in black at the elbow of
any one, prompting cOyetOus spirit OF ac-
QUESTION in regard to the $4,000 of green
backs or any other of the attractive prizes.
when a ticket was purchased it was all for
the good Of the Home and its inmates.
Ticket $50, 1852, won the ten thousand dol
lars, and some thirty other prizes, ranging
downwards to $3.50, were drawn, besides
innumerable lesser ones the scheme being
SO muniticent that everybody was to have
something. Thus lottery gambling, under
nf r.,
flourish, and the indications are that unless
the laws are enforced against it wherever
such exist, it will soon become quite COM
mon III all parts of the country. The New
York Sun says:
''ln our own city two or three establish
ments of this kind are now in operation,
and we understand that as many more are
preparing for business. The plan by which
these gamblers work is very simple. Two
or three OF them, under tie style of firm,
go to the managers of some charitable So
cicty, under the control OF ltuies, and pro-
pose to get up a gift prearHo''ion for the
benefit Of the said society," i'i,e gamblers
being sharp and shrewd, a.. the ladies in
genuous, it is not difficult for the former to
get permission to use the names of the lat
ter in connection with the enterprise. The
consequence is that scheme is presented
this noble charity" and the gamblers
soon find money flowing in upon them
But it never flows out again, except in
comparatively small amounts, for the gam
bIers take the lions share. This species of
rascality has become SO common that it is
high time for the authorities to interfere
and put stop to it. It is just as unlawful
as faro playing, and there is no reason why
it should be longer tolerated It is swim
ding many poor people out of their money,
spreading taste for gambling, drawing
the unWary into the meshes of rascals, and
we therefore call upon the authorities to at
once close them up, by injunctlons or 9TH
erWlSe.
Other Journals also, having the good of
the mass of the community at heart, are
expressing their fears that the eXtraordna-
ry success which has attended the efforts of
the getters-up of the two great lotteries, and
the prodigious sums which have been real
lied by their projectors, will lead to the
sudden multiplication of schemes of SINH
lar and illegal character, and to a still furth-
er extension of the gambling practices now
spreading so fearfully in this country. For,
in both cases-that of the Crosby Opera
House and the ''UniOn Home the big
gest prizes did not fail to the lot Of any tick
etholder. Crosby, according to the ac-
counts sent us from Chicago, has cleared
on his operation something over half a mil
lion of dollars or if we admit the valuation
now put upon the Opera House, which he
has bought back, his prize was nearly thrice
as heavy as that won by the famous A. H.
Lee. In like manner, the amount that will
accrue to the ''Union Home " from the lot
terry of Monday is estimated, the New York
Times says, at from eighty to one hundred
thousand dollars-Or ten times as large q
prize as fell to the winner of the ten thou
sand greenbacks. Of course this is not a
novel feature in the lottery business. 1t is
the result in all sharply conducted lotteries,
and it is the hot stimulus which is forever
leading their projectors to such desperate
efforts to override or evade the State laws
prohibiting them.
On this the New York Times says:
eff every man who has an opera house
or any other house to dispose of, can issue
and sell tickets to ten times it's value, and
pocket more than half the proceeds; and if
every 'charity that needs to replenish it's
Golfers can do so after the fashion OF the
Union Home, then certainly all business
and benefcence will very soon be conduc-
ted in this style-unless, indeed, the pro-
hibitory laws should somehow get them
selves enforced.
AT Lne drawing III New 1Ofk nlSn OCate
functionaries and generals took part in
conducting the affair, and Gen. Van Vleit
who presided at the drawing, said "The
object was SO noble that We devoted our
time freely and lent our names to the un-
dertaking, when otherwise We would not
have had anything to do with it," But
we canuot see that this alters the case in
legal any more than i'll a moral point
of view Every subsequent scheme will
claim, or will have, a charitable object,
if it be necessary-just, indeed, as used
to be the case with great part of them
when lotteries were legalized by our State
laws. The Times says it already hears of
others under way with the "noblest "
pretensions, although the schemers who
are at their bottom would never be sus-
pected of devoting themselves to such
purposes. .-BaAo Sun.
Destruction OF Bonds.