The New Orleans crescent. [volume] (New Orleans, La.) 1866-1869, 1869-03-28

putting one leg over to gain partial support.
Then inside the railing platform from wall 70
wall and about three feet above the n0or. here
Fortune has erected the parsphernalia OF her
state. Toward either end stands . revolviog
wheel Of Furnished brass rim and glass sides:
One s about four feet in diameter, the other bali
that size. At each stands . blindfolded boy, and
at the larger stand also two colored men TO AID ID
its revelations. At either wheel, too, 10 sworn
commissioner, while between, at q table, Is seated
another who records the numbers and prizes 40
Well. the wheels are turning now. In the
smaller are six hundred billets Of paper, say two
inches in length, rolled up tight. and each In
closed in little tube These are the prize tickets,
and upon each Of them is printed legibly the
amount OF some one or another OF the prizes
promised. But what is in the other wheel! Why
simply thirtytwo thousand similar pieces OF
paper, similarly rolled and inclosed, numbered
from one To thirty-two thousand. Can you
imagine how long 1t has taken to prepare and put
all these into the wheel, Here 10 the computa'
ton Three minute or hundred and eighty an
would show only eighteen hundred Ia the wheel
al the end Of o good long days work. So 1t Will
require ct least eighteen days to put In the whole
thir,y-two thousand Of them. II did, IN reality,
The drawing has begun. you see. "How about
that fifty Thousand dollars? says everybody.
There Il is, sure enough. One olindfod boy
puts his hand in the big wheel, pulls out ticket
aO.o"
il no and calls out so that all may hear !:
"Twenty-one thousand seven hundred and
seventy-seven -. At the same time the blind.
fold boy at the smaller wheel has also been ex'
rraetipe ticket which he hands also to the com.
missioner on his side. The latter opens II and
holds 1t up, exclsiming: Fifty Thousand dol
lars !"
) Good gracious, what racket there is! Men
stamp and cheer, and deafeningly shout, Bully
for him." But for ell this, that platform looks
less attractive now and the holders Of tickets fall
| back on the certainty each one Of them, Of get
| ting hand in at the SIS 900 prize anyhow.
But it was too bad to have TO relinguish the
hope Of that big sum or . slice Of IL. Twas pitt
fol, twas wondrous pitiful to think that 2l,777
should have. in all probability been hanging 10
| some shop window day after day. and they not
| have stepped IN and bought II. Why any one
might have known it would draw the prize. Three
sevens make twenty-one, and here you have
| 2l,777. Could anything be palmer, Well, never
| mind The $25 900 isn't out yet. So on goes the
| drawing and hundreds. five hundreds. thousands
and FIVE thousands come out In rapid succession
| TantaliziDg il Is to see so much wealth almost
within ones grasp so near and yet so far, as We
| have heard young ladies scream in the high notes
| at the piano-forty. Psbaw there comes the sec
| ond prize. "Sixteen thousand four hundred anc
| ten . said the frst commissioner. "Twenty-nve
thousand dollars" exclaimed the second, ore 70
tundo, as he displayed the particularly beautifu
figures, to the particularly excited assemblage
"Ohr' "Ah r1"D-nitln "Oh, pshsw ~ " AL
| gone TO h-l!" and worse, were the eupnomou'
expressions which succeeded the announcement
IL was all up then with fortune seekers. II the
pcssessor Of either of the Two big tickets was II
the room he took good care not to let anybod.
know it; Ike kept mighty quiet about It,. Certain
1t is there were plenty In the room who hadn'
drawn it, and kind of disgust was evidentl.
creeping over them. They waited and wste'
patiently, q good many staying until sll the s
hundred prizes had been drawn. The writer
however, fell weary OF the monotoneus (for It eel
| "a ho aft ba
we're knocked down. process and came away
well contented to await as far as the little eight
be held in his pocket was concerned, until th
| official announcement is made. fI
We append the numbers which drew the prize
4 Of $500 and upwards. The official list was nc