Washington standard. [volume] (Olympia, Wash. Territory) 1860-1921, 1880-04-09
Lottery Swindles.

WIZ A0VO SC4utIC WCoAeus wa uhO ACR0>
tAtion Of it, Is the discovery that their
are very DESTROYS of
helping them to spend it. There was
wisdom in the command that We should
not let our left hand know what our
right hand does beyon the discourage.
meDt of ostentation in giving. No SOON
er has man acquired the reputation Of
q philanthropist than LIE is beset with
applications. George Peabody, while
in this country, daily received begging
letters by the bushel, and was therefore
compelled to turn deaf Ger to worthy
and unworthy causes alike. Edward
Everett Hale, If we remember rightly,
is the anthor OF story, the hero of
which resolved on his marriage day to
do his best toward his fellow-men. He
therefore denied no Representative of .
worthy cause, and in the end found
himself, with his family, in the poor
house. 1t is the duty Of all to be be-
nevolent, liberal even, but there must
be discrimination among the best of
objects. A Cr1sus would be psuper-
izsd if he did not make selections, or,
at least, minute subdivisions in his do
nations.
1t is not the rich alone, however,
who are likely to be offered assistance
in getting rid of their money. The
poor are even more common victims.
Their desire to better themselves, and
that confidence in coming luck which
is frequent delusion, render them an
easy prey to swindlers. Sometimes, it
must be added, their own lack of prin-
ciple unites with want of judgment in
leading them astray. The men who
listen to the offers of persons whom
they guess to be counterfeiters to sell
them good money for fraction of its
face value /; the boys who pay their
money for books advertised as racy"
and get tract in return, are not at all
to be pitied. There are others, never
theless, who are sadly deceived, and
who need the protection of the law.
Stock gamblers cannot profess any
moral superiority over lottery dealers,
though they have the quasi respectable
ity which example and legal liberation
afford, and it Is not astonishing that
the regular" operations of the Ex-
change have their disreputable aud
tricky imitators. Against lotteries and
the last-named kind of trickery an ear
nest warfare is now being waged. The
postmaster-general has denied the use
Of the mails to the lottery men. and
other swindlers are exposed by the de-
partment. Anthony Comstock has been
doing good work in arresting some of
the Wall street swindlers, AZ we'll as
sellers of lottery tickets, and if people
will insist on sending their money to
those who promise tn fortune il u
few weeks, they will only have to thauk
their own gulllbility.
On the 18th instant the postmaster
general submitted long report to the
House of Representatives i'll response
to resolution of that body, in which
he i, scribed the Kentucky and Louisi-
ana lotteries III no way complimentary
to them. Most of these organizations
are declared to be illegal. Among the
miscellaneous swindles are those of
Edgar w. Jones, alias the Union Pub
fishing Company, alias the Magnetic
Watch Company, of Ashland, Mass,
and having several other aliases under
which he sent through the mails in 1876
so 900 circulars and advertisements of
obscene books and q "Genuine Swiss
Magnetic time-keeper," which was, in
fact. brass compass of no valne.
This concern has been broken up by
Mr.. Comstock. H. d. P. Allen, alias
the National Banking Company, of
Nassau street, New York, who sold lot
terry tickets and protected investors
against sharpers," has been arrested.
The Texas Gift Concert Association, of
Denison, Texas, which had received
500, 900 from its victims, has been in.
dicted, and the Denver Land Company
and smaller imitation which pretend
ed to give away lots on the pay ment of
small registration fee are also in the
clutches of the law. All letters ad-
dressed to Baxter & Co., "bankers and
brokers, of New York." who profess to
help people in their investments, have
been ordered to be returned to their
senders. This firm issued circulars
and letters Offering great prospects of
gain to their customers, and afterward
explaining disastrous Investments.
These enterprises have been checked,
aud others of their class will be sim
ilarly dealt with as soon as they are
found out, but numerous frauds of the
same kind are constantly occurring.
People cannot be too cautious in deal
ing with parties OF whom they know
nothing. and it is only safe to presume
that when $40 worth is offered for fifty
cents there is at least Good deal of
exaggeration, and that there may be
worse. A few years ago sharp trick
was played on a Cincinnatian. He saw
an advertisement of splendid full
jeweled gold lever watch for SIS. He
sent his money to New York, and re-
ceived a miserable brass affair that
hardly kept time at all. While smart
ing under his disappointment, he re-
ceived letter from the firm of which
he had purchased saying that its clerk
had been detected in exchanging good
watches for bad, and that if he had
been included among those swindled
he would receive good watch on send
ing back his bad one. He at once for
warded his piece of brass, and that was
the last he heard of it or from the firm.
He had been cheated. AMI had given
up all evidence against those who had
defrauded him. His experience may
benefit others.-Cincianati Gazette.