Knoxville daily chronicle. [volume] (Knoxville, Tenn.) 1870-1882, 1882-12-21
Lotteries.

tennessee has very stringent laws
in opposition to lotteries There is
scarcely single method of patron
izing these institutions that is not
covered by restrictive and penal laws.
According to law lottery cannot be
! drawn in the State, a man cannot buy
ticket, an agent dare not ayow his
| occupation as a vendor of lottery
tickets, and yet there are more tick
cts openly sold and bought in Ten
nessee than is in the mind of any
man. Thousands of dollars find
tLeir way every day to the vari>
GUS establishments in the coun-
try. Formerly Havana reaped a
golden harvest from the sale of
tickets Now the lottery of Louisi-
ana takes the place of that foreign
Office Alluring accounts of poor
clerks, railroad hands and farmers
who have drawn capital prizes,
charm the eyes and the imagination
of the young. These successes are
blazened in every paper in the coun-
try, but nothing is said of the poor
fellows who, in almost despair, rake
up a few cents which is like shedding
drops of blood, send them on and
are never again heard of. While one
man draws prize of ten or fifteen
thousand dollars, there are a hum
bred thousand if not more men who
get nothing. The man who draws a
prize seldom derives any permanent
benefit from it. There is one man,
young one; In West Tennessee, who
drew a few years ago 100000. He had
good place at the time in pros
porous business house, was happy
and contented. Crazed with such
stroke of fortune, he quit business
and plunged into the most reckless
extravaganza. He denied himself
nothing that money could buy and
soon became the victim of a set of
sharpers whom he regarded as
friends. In two years time his
money was all gone and he had &C
quired a taste for drinking and
gambling, and was utterly incapable
for any trustworthy occupation. He
could get no employment, and he is
now one of the great army of dead
beats. Another victim drew $1,000
He was at the time married to
beautiful girl, had lu>
crative position, and with his
wife and child, formed a happy
household. He belonged to one of
the best families in the State and was
a marvel of steadiness and sobriety.
But that money destroyed him He
believed it inexhaustible and drew
from it recklessly. He went into
business on his own account, but
soon acquired habits of dissipation,
gambled and drank to excess. He,
like the other, very early found the
bottom of his purse, lost his bust.
ness, made several efforts at reform,
but all were abortiye, and finally he
separated from the dear woman and
went off to no one knows where.
These are only two examples among
maHy we could cite of the successful
lottery patrons. The poor widow
scrapes together, by close economy.
the money to buy tickets and is still
poorer from the blank she gets. One
man in this county actually spent a
good patrimony in trying to get
capital prizes he never got. He taught
school, and spent all his fees in the
same way. He bought tickets every
day; it became life's passion worse
than drinking or gambling; follow
ed it up for sixty years and never
drew one single dollar, and finally
went to his grave with the passion
undated. The amounts he had dis
sipated in that way would have made
small fortune.
For every dollar drawn from a
lottery there are a thousand blanks,
if not more. And yet there is some
thing so attractive, so promising for
the next time, that the devotee never
cease to worship at the shrine
Disappointment in receipts for any
other business would deter men from
investing, but in the lottery they
never will believe that they will draw
blank until it comes, and then they
will have better luck next time
Nashville Banner.