Herald and tribune. [volume] (Jonesborough, Tenn.) 1869-current, 1874-04-09
The Louisville Lottery.
LOUISVILLE, March 81, 1874.

oea bubble burst here to-day. Two or
three hundred thousand people have bits
OF waste paper in their pocket books to.
night, representing their folly and guilt
bility in equal proportions. AS an obsOr-
yer of this Louisville Library Drawing
and its surroundings-and not an obser-
yer holding a ticket either-I must say il
has every appearance Of being a stupen>
dous sham and humbug. Yet such is the
p%ecuniary fatness Of its patronage that il
has pretty nearly captured the State Of
Kentucky, newspapers and all. 1t is a
pitiful sight to see the journals of this
city linked together in the work of rob-
bling the poor by filing their columns
with locals and double loaded editorials,
artfully appealing to the passion for gam.
bling in human nature. Their puHs and
advance illusions have been studiously
romantic and seductive. The Courier
Journal this morning ingeniously tells bow
a New York lady, who has invested heav-
ily, is at the Calf House waiting for the
yast tidings and how a certain Mr.. Pan
cake, who parts the rest cfhis name in the
middle, and struck it rich in q previous
drawing, is again on hand to try his luck.
These cunning little touches inaame the
imagination of seamstresses, mechanics,
and other humble people, a great army
o. whom are out of pocket tonight and
chiefly thank Louisville newspaper gam.
mon for it.
ALL day ! have watched the big fraud
called the drawing, except during the
noon intermission, when | looked through
the other fraud called the Public Library
of Kentucky. A word here about this
library. The lottery advertisements say
the library has Fifty thousand more on
the way. The highest numbered book |
could find on the shelves did not reach
twenty thousand. Comparing the shelves
with other libraries not associated with
lotteries, | do not believe there are Gfteen
thousand volumes in the Louisville af>
fair. Many of these seemed to have
been rakel out Of second hand collections
Trash is profusely abundant such as du-
plicated volumes on the Sutro Tunnel
big books, and about as valuable as Pat
ent Office reports. | asked one Of the
Assistant Librarians for the catalogue
He said the institution didn't have any,
but was. getting one up. | requested him
to tell me how many books were in the
Library. His reply was that he didn't
know, but that q great many new ones
had been ordered. The collection of Gu.
r%iosities attached to the Library" is well
enough as a beginning. There is GER.
family nothing imposing about it yet
The Library itself is a Aabby collection
Of odds and ends, that wouldn't fetch ten
thousand dollars under the hammer. SO
it was not into books the tremendous prof.
its of the swindle are going.
Where two dollars are received into
this library lottery, only one is paid Out
in prizes. The victim virtually pays q
ten dollar greenback for a five dollar
greenback. The sale of tickets for the
present drawing was $4,000, at $50 each
This gives q total of $2,250,000. The
amount paid out in prizes is just one-hali
that is, 81 .125,0C0. The point where
this payable grab catches gulls is in Of
fering q few heavy prizes. Believers il
luck are numerous, and with benevolent
newspapers to allure them with easy pic
lures of sudden wealth they rush into the
snare pellmell. The question it what
will bscome of the $~l,l25,000 left aftol
the prize Of this drawing is settled
Agents selling tickets secure ten per cent
Their remuneration therefore amounts tc
$225,000, Put advertising and printing
at even $t00, 900, and other expenses al
$4,000. This will leave in the hands
of tho managers the immense sum Of
$750,000. Does anybody believe that
the purchase Of few carts loads Of shabby,
second hand books can account for the
expenditure of over one~-hundreth part
of this sum? Not much.
One feature Of the drawing to, day
looked like a bold and defiant swindle.-
Not until this morning did the lottery
managers make a public statement to the
effect that only three.fourths Of the 10000
tickets had been sold, and that all the
prizes, consequently, would be scaled
down twenty-five per cent. Of course
tbe number Of tickets placed in the wheel
should also have been scaled down TWEEN d,
ty-fve per cent,-that is, to 45, 000.-