The Indianapolis journal. [volume] (Indianapolis [Ind.]) 1867-1904, 1884-04-14

tickets that draw the prizes than do the by
standers-all there is Of it. when the ticket is
! presented the holder receives "a check on the
! New Orleans National Bank for the amount it
calls for and the transaction is over 50 far as
| the company is concerned.
The drawing that | witnessed took place at the
Academy of Music, March II. The theater COM
menccd filing up at about 10 o'clock, with PEG
| pie of all grades. from the wealthy merchant
! who has wine at his dinner, to the bootblack
| whose days are skirmshes with hunger. They
! all had an interest in the proceedings. At about
| 1870 dozen men appeared upon the stage, two
| evidently in charge. One of these two, a rather
understood man, with a sparkling black eye, legs
| slightly curved, a not large, but exceedingly
| well-proportiOned body, face expressive Of pc
cularly quick intelligence, hair, mustache and
| imperial silvery white. That is Gen. G. T.
Beauregard of whom the United States knows
much. He swore to water his horse i'll the
| Tennessee river, or, if not, in other place,
on one particular night. He didn't water his
horse in the Tennessee that time, owing to cir
cumstances over which he had certainly no con-
| troll But he tried.
| The other of the two is a very tall man, with
| head as bald egg on the top, and long
| white beard that sweeps his bosom, slightly
stopped with white slouched hat under which
there is face that would mark its bearer as
| Baptist clergyman rather than a sanguinary
| warrior 1t is a kindly face with nothing
pecially chivalric or boodthrsty in it, the face
of rather prosperous planter, who attended
| strictly to business and worked his land well.
This is General Jubal A. Early, of Virginia, who
had the honor of having difference of opinion
with General Phil Sheridan, in which Sheridan
reaped plentiful crop of honors and Early did
not, except as it is no dlshOnOr for any man to
be beaten by Sheridan.
These men were in the public gaze twenty
| years ago-they are not now. They to-day
the commissioners who supervise the drawings
| of the Louisiana State Lottery, and they are
| responsible for everything connected with it.
There are two wheels on the stage. Into one,
an immense affair, are emptied tubes of paste
| board, which contain slips of paper, on which
| are numbers running from one to one hundred
thousand. The other wheel, much smaller, con-
tains tubes to the number of 1857, which is the
number Of prizes to be awarded. There is
tremendous difference between the wheel con-
tanning the prizes and the wheel holding the
| numbers The one requires the muscle of two
stalwart negroes to turn it, while the other
child might wh;gL One represents the blanks
in life the other the prizes. The proportion
runs about the same in everything in this inn
perfect world. 1t takes great many thousand
men to build railroad, but only one Vanderbilt
to own it.
The numbers are placed in the wheel they are
turned so as to be thoroughly mixed One boy,
bndfolded at the great wheel takes out tube
and hands it to Gen. Early, who opens it and
announces it 1.-TWO thousand, one hundred and
sixty-four' boy, also blindfolded, at the
other wheel takes out tube and hands it to
Gen Beauregard who, opening it, announces
fifty dollars" The number Of the ticket and
the prize it has drawn are both recorded, and
the operation is repeated till the 1867 tickets
are taken from the smaller wheel.
| Those present sit and watch carefully. There
is no sensation while the smaller prizes are be-
ing drawn. AS a matter OF course, there Will be
five or ten minutes during which the prizes will
be $25s and sos, with an occasional 500. These
| excite special attention. But there comes
| one which does excite attention. Gen Early
| pronounces number, and Gen. Beauregard,
| when the corresponding number is drawn, hest
tates for a moment and slowly announces six
thousand dollars!" There is perceptbe move
ment among the audience, for $4,000 is very
tidy sum of money for any one to have, es-
pecially when the investment that procured it
| was only So.
Presently there is another sensation. A num-
Der is drawn and General Beauregard is a trife
more slow, as if to whet the impatience of the
| throng ''Twenty five thousand dollars!' is an
nounced. That is something like it, Six thou
sand dollars does very well as a starter in life,
but the lucky winner of $25 900 cam if he be
man of moderate tastes, retire on that
Still, this is nothing, at least it isn't what
they are all waiting for. Presently a number Is
| announced, and General Beauregard, with pro
five thousand dollars" There is a sensation,
for that is the capital prize. The one that every
body who buys a ticket hopes to draw. Only one
| gets it, however 1t is Vanderbilt and his labor
| ers over again.
In this scheme there is one prize of $75, 200,
one of $50 900, one of $4,000, two of $4,000 FIVE
of 81 000 ten of 81 600 twenty of $500, 100 of
$780, and so on down to 900 of $23 each, with
approximation prizes of $3.50, $500 and $3.50.
Who bagged the great prize2 Who was he
or sheg No one knows. One man may hold
| the whole ticket and will receive the whole
amount, or it may be divided into ffths, and
may be held by five persons, in which event the
comfortable sum will be divided into five parts.
Tho successful numbers, with the amount
| they have drawn, are published the next day
after the drawing, and within week or two
the prizes mostly claimed and paid. In
this case, the capital prize went to some one
| in Illinois, who sent for it through the bank
1 DC, thn can't IN
draft.
What will he do with itl 1t is a comfortable
sum to have for any man, old or young, and it
may make him or mar him, according to his
bent. Invested in first mortgages at 6 per cent,
he has 81, 500 per year to live all his life IL
he becomes infatuated and goes to Chicago to
| gamble in grain, OF to New York, in stocks it
| will last him a few weeks, and he will be no
better off than before
One journeyman machinist in New York last
year settled down upon $40, GOO, paid him by the
| company and barber in the same city received
| $25, 600 What they do with their money is his
tory that will never be written, because no one
knows.
The drawing requires about four hours of
time, for it is done with the utmost exaetness
| and system Several records are made of each
number drawn, with the prize accompanying,
and there are so many checks and counter
checks that mistake is impossible.
Then the announcement is made up and pub
lished in the official papers of the company, and
the prizes are paid as fast as the holders present
their tickets. Those near by come and get
their money Those at distance send their
tickets through their own banks to the banks
here who collect and remit.
Everybody in New Orleans invests in this
lottery just as regularly as they pay their rent,
and the sale of tickets is considered an entirely
| legitimate business. | saw men on the morning
of the day, at within five minutes of the time
! the drawing commenced, send out fora fifth of a
| ticket, they having forgotten that, TO Them inn
portant duty. There is one chance in twenty of
a prize, and they figure that if they lose nine
teen times, they will win enough the twentieth
TO get their money back. And the grand przei
| Who knows but they may strike thatl
The Louisiana State Lottery is as much of an
institution in Louisiana as the Legislature, and
/ L. IL, L..