Mower County transcript. [volume] (Lansing, Minn.) 1868-1915, 1889-06-26

Clara StuIhens, in Once a Weel,
OLD-T!ME LOTTERIES.

The fact 4s not generally known that
Connecticut legislation was thoroughly
tainted with lottery schemes for one
hundred years prior to 1880, when lot
te'ies were abolished by statute. This
was thirty-siX years after the State Of
New York had prohibited foreign lot
teries. Attention has recently been
called to tho matter by the discovery
here of Il block of three tickets issued
in 1874 in a lottery authorized by the
State for the purpose Of raising funds
to assist in building the old State
Capitol Ill this city, now owned and
used by the municipality. The
tickets are signed by John Cald
we'll, and the number issued exceeded
seventeen thousand. There were
the scheme unproductive. The first
was the prevalence Of yellow fever in
New York and along the Connecticut
coast at the time, disastrously affect
ing business and commercial rclati ions
through the North. The second was
the fact that the New York Legislature
passed law that year prohibiting fer
eiTn lotteries This vas an insur-
mountable drawback, as the bulk Of
the tickets were to be used in that
State So l;,- IS known at present only
five Of these l,SLets arc now cXtuut.
Two of them are in the possession Of
the State Librarian, Charles j. Uoa.lly,
and the remaining three were fouad
u few months ago in the uphcuva' IF
an old garrct in this city.
john Caldwell, by whom they 5~:'a
signed, belonged to an old and ari;.;t.-
cratic family, and was a man Of public
distinction here in 1874. His name l.;
still preserved in some Of the leading
mon in this city, Caldwell H. Colt be,
ing one in which it appears. Major
John Caldwell Parsons is another
i he lottery spirit not only affected
the churches, but also gained a strong
hold in Yale College. As far back as
the May session Of the Colonial Legis-
latura in 1747 the college was made
tho beneficiary of a lottery authorized
by enactment. In the language Of
that period it was represented
that 1.-The college house was not
large enough to entertain one
half the students" \ lottery was Or
dered By the Legislature for the pur-
pose Of securing funds to build a new
house, which should be 10 feet long,
3S "broad' and three stories high.
Captain John Hubbard, Samuel Mix
and Chaunccy Whittlesey were made
the directors and managers Of the lot
! terry. Captain Hubbard had received
an honorary degree from the college
in 1880 and Samuel Mix was gradu.
ate of 1920. At the time of the lottery
| President Thomas Clap was ut the
head Of the college. Ten years after
the Yale lottery one was ordered for
the benefit of the public treasury OF
the colony. The government had
engaged in the French and In
| dian wars with great patriotism,
supplying moro than it's full quota O.
| troops for the service. In corse
quence the public treasury was de.
| pleted in 1857 and the credit of the
| co ony endangered. In this emergen
cy the legislators made a public cal
on the cehrches in the colony for con
tributious, and also authorized q lot
| terry for the benefit of the treasury.
| One of the briefs read in the churches
is still extant, being possessed by State
Librarian Hoadly. The church offer
ing aggregated ELISA Is. I'D. The
lottery was intended to raise
$4,000, and WAS drawn on the
first Tuesday n June, 1857
/ Inc church offerings were
received on March 20 throughout the
colony. The difficulty IN levying al
immediate tax to meet the demands or
the treasury made the lottery, which
wes then a popular way for obtaining
money, a necessity.
In October 1850, a lottery was or
dered blythe Legislature for the benefit
of tho New London lighthouse. One
year later lottery for the raising OF
funds to be used in improving the
Housatonic river, then written Ousa
tonnic, received legislative sanction.
After l775 the lottery grants from
the Legislature we"e not published,
/ and the records concerning them
are practically inaccessible. The
Legislature in 1880 enacted statute
| forbidding lotteries in the State, and
that law is still unrepealed In actual
practice, however, the statute is dor
mant If enforced 1t would seriously
cripple the sources of income relied on
by hundreds of churches, city missions
and benevolent organizations, secret
orders and military commands in the
State. The public conscience is at a
very low ebb at present in this State
in regard to lotteries. Hartford Cor.
n. Y. Times.