The Opelousas journal. [volume] (Opelousas, La.) 1868-1878, 1874-04-24
"Rhe Louisville swindle."

the " Kentucky Library" is fresh in thu
public mind, we doubt not the reader
Of the Herald will enjoy the perusal O
the following trenchant and telling let
ter to the Cincinnati Commercial. /
one-haH of the allegation made by thi
correspondent be true, the managers o.
this concern should be wearing larceny
Jackets IN the Frankfort penitentiary
We hope some one in Kentucky has thu
courage and manliness to arrest the
whole concern on the charge of swind
ling!
! But here is the letter. No one wht
has finished.-[Vicksburg Herald.
LOUISVILLE, KY, March 81, 1874.
| The modern repetition of the Soutl
Sea Bubble burst here to-day. Two OF
three hundred thousand people have bitf
OF waste paper in their pocket books to
night, representing their folly and gull.
bility in equal proportions. AS an OBJ
server of this Louisville Library Draw.
ing and its acknowledgement not an
observer holding ticket either-I must
say that it has every appearance of being
a stupendOus sham and humbug. Yet
such is the pecuniary fairness of it's pa
! tronage that it has pretty nearly cap
tured the State of Kentucky, newspapers
and all. It is a pitiful sight TO see the
Journals of this city linked together in
the work of rObbing the poor filling thei1
columns with locals and double loaded
editorials, artfully appealing to the pas
sion for gambling in human nature.
| Their putfs and advance illusions have
been studiously romantic and Sc
ductive. The COurier-Journal this
morning ingeniously tells how New
/ York lady, who has invested heavily, is
at the Gait House waiting for the vast
| tidings, and how q certain Mr.. Pancake,
! who parts the rest of his name in the
| middle, and struck it rich in q previous
| drawing, is again on hand to try his
luck. These cunning little touches in
| fame the imagination of seamstresses,
| mechanics, and other humble people, a
| great army of whom are out of pocket
tonight, and can chiefly thank Louis
vile newspaper CANNON 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 Pub
| lie Library of Kentucky. A word here
about this library. The lottery adver-
vertiGement say the library has fifty
| thousand volumes, and twenty thous-
and more on the way. The highest
numbered book [ could find on the
shelves did not reach twenty thousand.
Comparing the shelves with other Ii
braries not associated with lotteries,
do not believe there are fifteen thous-
and volumes in the Louisville affair.
Many of these seem to have been rak-
ed out of secondhand collections.
duplicated volumes on the Sutr0 tun-
nel-big books, and about as valuable
as Patent Office reports. / asked one
of the Assistant Librarians for the
catalogue. He said the institution didn't
have any, but was getting one up. l
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 order
ed. The collection of curiosities at
tached to- the Library is we'll enough
as a beginning. There is certainly
nothing imposing about it yet. The
Library itself is. q habhy collection, of
odds and ends, that wouldn't fetch $10,-
900 under the hammer. So it's not in
to books the. tremendous profits of the
swindle are going.
Where two dollars are received into
this library lottery, only one is
paid out, in prizes. The victim virtual
ua p"g gol1ar Il ron preanhaeL % ~ The sale of
4;aIrafs fo,. 4ba T1rnsn,,f flTa v,,insr x.rou
A. noo a. eEn aaah This gives 8 total
~, 90 aSo nm TLa amnI1nf. na;d ont +,
,,,;gas, - ;s ;,,Si hale that ia. IN fo5 0a1
lHTI,a Hs,, 1o;,f ~ Whara fIis ,,sInaIia sos,ah
catcheS NJ o,,Iis Il IA ctfsr;Tg few 6aa.
vevVSS Srv yr;2as ~ BaIivers 81 in Ineix are MINER @
c;1s Nj trid ana with benevolerf newsnaT,ers ne
Ssss, ~ s,1inra I thero With aasv ninttIraS of
Snddan- ] woaIfh. thew ,rnsh into. fhe snare
,,aIl.snalI sI : The 1e1 anestion is what will
hecoIne r1 III the SI .195.100O left after the
lOrsg nr;ses IF this drawinc are settled
Agents selling tickets secure ten. per
cent. Their remuneration therefore
amounts to S225 900. Put advertising
and printing at an even 100000, and
other expenses at $4,000. This will
leave in the hands of the managers
anybody belieye that the purchase of
! AZ feW. We cart loads Of W shabby. Second hand
books can account for the expenditure
of over the one hundredth part of this
sum? Not much.
One feature of the drawing to-day
looked like bold and defiant swindle.
Not until this morning did the lottery
managers make a public statement to
the effects 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
that is TO 40, 900. The Courier Journal,
this morning, announced that this
would pc done but IL WASN'T zone.
sixty 6iloIisand IlcktEs WenI INTO the
wheel. here, then, on Gne very morn
ing OF the drawing, the managers made
an alterauon m plan OF @ @operaI1ons, an