The Ottawa free trader. [volume] (Ottawa, Ill.) 1843-1916, 1890-01-18

RESPECTFULLY SUBMITTED TO THE
GRAND JURY OF LA SALE co..
NOW IN SESSION.

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made then still holds good, no power
on earth can stop us from fulfilling TO
the letter our contract. We have
GIVEN to each subscriber a premium
ticket which shall entitle him or her
to one share in the premiums when
they are distributed. The time Is
growing short and due announcement
will be made Of the date Of distribu-
ton, which will be before the flowers
of May and earlier II the required
number OF subscribers are secured
Ottaua Journal, Sunday, january IL,
1889, Lester A. Rose, Editor and Pro
prietOr.
Rose certainly has unlimited conf
dence in his ability to brazcn his case
past you, gentlemen of the grand jury,
or he would hardly dare, on the Sun
day morning before you opened your
sessions, to print the above announce
ment. The States Attorney has said
Rose says, that he has refused to
bring the matter Of the Rose lottery
before you in the past. Coming as
that statement did come, 1t comes as
"A challenge to you, the grand jury,
and as an official endorsement Of the
Rose lottery in spite Of its rank viola
ton Of Sections 180-lS5 of the Criminal
Code Of this state.
| Lotteries are so universally recOg-
nized as debasing in their moral eff
fects, as having natural tendency to
make gamblers and thieves rather
than honest men, that the United
States government has forbidden the
use OF the mails for circulating their
advertisements or for carrying money
to them or their tickets from them;
and the State Of Illinois, in the funda-
mental law, the Constitution itself,
has forbidden their existence in this
state See Article ~, Sec. q, which
reads as follows:
The General Assembly shall have no
power to authorize lotteries or gift
enterprises for any purpose, and hdU
pass laws to prohibit the sale Of lot
terry or gJt enterprise tickets in this
state.
In accordance with that command
of the Constitution, the General As
sembly incorporated in the Criminal
Code SectionshSO- Section 1874 de-
scribes and prohibits just such swind-
lers as Rose has perpetrated on the
community for period of 'less than
a year" Section 1870 reads as follows:
SEC. 1870. Whoever sets up or pro-
notes any lottery for money, or by
way of lottery diSpOses OF any prop
erty of value, real or personal, or UNI
der the pretense of sale, GIFT or
delivery of any other property, or any
right, privilege or thing whatever, dis
poses of or offers or attempts to dis
pose Of any real or personal property
with the intent to make disposal OF
such real or personal property depend
ent upon or connected with any chance
by dice, lot, numbers, game, hazard or
other gambling device, whereby such
chance or device is made an additional
nducement to the disposal or sale OF
said property, or whoever aids, either
by printing or writing, or Is in any
way concerned in the setting up, man
aging or drawing Of any such lottery,
or in such disposal, or offer or attempt
to dispose OF property by any such
chance or device, shall, for such Of
Tense, be fined not exceeding $1,000.
[The code, in the subsequent sec
tions, makes the seller of tickets
equally guilty with the principal, If
the seller be not the principals; makes
special provision to prohibit the pub
LEGATION Of the advertisements OF such
lottery by anyone, for himself or an
other; and for the cOnilScatiOn OF the
property so rallied Off, or disposed of
by gift enterprise.
Rose has for 'lesS than year been
selling tickets on this lottery. AS he
says the distribution will take
place "before the flowers of May, and
earlier If The required number Of s,bscriJ-
ers are secured, it is evident he is still
selling tickets or is lying to deceive
those who have bought tickets in the
past and are waiting for the drawing
advertised to take place in August
last.
What il his object? TO get sub
scribers to his weekly paper-inducing
men To subscribe by the bait of gift
or device made see the statute as
IAN additional inducemcnJ to the
disposal or sale of said property"
There can be no question of the IL
legality OF this kind of business. He
made his drawing contingent on the
selling of 5000 tickets representing
$4,000. Is there any other man in the
community who would dare to per-
petrate a swindle of this size in this
county in the face of the unmistaka
bic language Of the statute and
brazenly say, the day before the grand
jury met in this city, that "no power
on earth can stop u.s.? DO you,
gentlemen of the grand jury, propose
to supinely sit silent while such a
challenge of law-breaker is flung
il your very faces? viii it be pos
sible for men to say OF you as they do
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