The Portland daily press. [volume] (Portland, Me.) 1862-1921, 1890-08-19
A CELEBRATED CASE.
[Fortune de Boisgobey.l

IuS youOu Vi Inc present. Know nothing
OF the fine times of the Royal lottery.
One must be very near the sixties to re-
member the sheets of white pasteboard,
on which the drawn numbers appeared
In enormous figures, the cries of the
ticket sellers the day before the drawing
and the serenades executed the day after
beneath the windows of the winners.
This institution of another age dlsap-
peared in 1887 with the public games
but in 1905 it was in operation Ia all the
large cities of France, and in Paris the
Rue Neuye-des-Pe tits- Champs, where the
lottery had its headquarters, presented
three times a month-the 9th, 10Th and
25th--a curious spectacle.
The 10Th of February of that memora-
BILE year which was to finish with the
battle of Austerlitz the crowd, as usual,
besieged the door of the hotel in which
the drawings were made. Noon had
just struck, and the late corners who
had been unable to get in were impa-
tiently awaiting the decree of fortune
in the street. At 1915 the door opened
and the official criers began to shout the
of a child had drawn from the urn-59,
SO, A, IS, II. The players received
them with groans and misses, for fate
had not favored single one among
those poor people. For some minutes
there was q frightful din. Then the
throng began to scatter into all the adj
iacent streets, and the quarter gradually
resumed its customary aspect
Among the victims of this unlucky
drawing was woman of middle age
whose attire announced competence and
whose features did not lack distinction.
She held in one hand huge wicker bas-
ket and in the other an enormous UNI
brella, which she brandished as she
strobe along talking aloud, although she
was entirely alone. She turned to the
right, went down the front steps of the
Palais Royal, entered the garden and
threw herself upon bench in the alley
which runs parallel with the Rue de
Valois.
"Brigand of blind manr' said she,
between her teeth, "rascal of beggarl
he promised me my three in the drawing
of the 18th without fail and yet my
numbers did not come outg
This vehement monologue seemed to
calm her little. She opened her basket
and took from it book which she fell
to reading attentively. 1t was yellow
covered volume and bore this seductive
title: "The Lock of the True Key of the
Imperial Lotteries of France. The Ger
tain Way to Win Annually AZ, 900 Francs
and More with Very Little Money"
While the unlucky gamester was alb
sorbed in this attractive reading a
spruce little old man, who had preserved
the queue and pigeon wings of the old
regime, came and seated himself on the
same bench.
He glanced at his neighbor out of the
corner of his eye and smiled with a
wicked air. A discreet cough revealed
his presence to the lady, who at once
moved as if to arise. The old man re-
strained her with polite gesture and
said to her in very soft voice:
"Kindly excuse me, beautiful lady,
for permitting myself to address you
without having the honor to be known
by you. Perhaps you will pardon my
indiscretion when you know that I am
the author of the book now claiming
your attention"
"Whatl You are
"Marseille Pere, mathematician and
professor Of luck, Carrefour de la Van
merle, 81, third floor, and shall be
charmed, beautiful lady, to put at YOU
service the fruits of mylong experience.
..oI I, y.
basket, 81 advise you to brag of your ex
periencei Yours is fine book 1t pu
it into my head to ask numbers of blind
men, and for three years I've been play
ing a triple combination given me by
that old rogue Bellanger, the blind man
of the Pont au Change, but never have
seen two of my numbers come out stimuli
taneously, and yet they call that animal
the blind man of good luck!'
Pardon, beautiful lady," said thu
professor of luck in an insinuating tone
sit is true that on page 1875 of my littl'
work recommend blind men, but OF
page 213 point out another class of cit
liens whose advice never fails"
ga famous class, indeed-guillotine(
personsl Where do you expect me t.
find them? How should l know an,
guillotined persons?"
"But, dear lady," resumed M. Mar
seille Pere, not in the least disconnected
''may it not happen that a person wht
n has given you numbers might incur cap
"A ital punishment and ascend the scaffold
g In that case my system is infallible-th
numbers will come out at the drawing
which follows the day of execution.
"If was only sure of itw mutteret
the irascible gamester, already trif
softened: "but l shall have no such goot
fortune. That scoundrel Bellanger vii
never ascend the scaffold. A blind man
Who ever heard of blind man bein
guillotinedY'
'The fact is that such a thing is hardl
probable, and it's very sad, for success
would be certain. But you might 6
elsewhere Persons sentenced to deaf
are not rare, and with influence one ca
visit them at Bicetre."
sob, yes! and abandon my triple CON
bination which is to bring me nearly
million! And what numbers! 1871
SO. The lightweight has not come out
for eighteen months. will put my last
ecu On the combination; it shall never be
said that the Baronne de Modem drew
back!"
With this heroic speech the woman
threw her book into the basket, seized
her umbrella, suddenly arose and went
off without even saying good-by to M
Marseille Pere, mathematician.
This strange dialogue seemed wholly
natural in 1905. The Baronne de Mol
den, an old maid whom the emigration
had not corrected of the habit of gam
bling, represented type very widel,
spread at that epoch when the lotter
had replaced lansquenet AS to the pre-
fessor of luck, the race has been perpet
uated and can still be found at Monaco
but it was then abundant in Paris
What will never be seen again, it is t.
be hoped, is a criminal trial like that 0
the blind man whom the baronne cursed
The Mardi Gras which followed Feb
10 that poor devil bundled up his littl
traps at nightfall and prepared to regail
the Hospice des Quinze-Vingts. Fo
more than twenty years he had occupie,
his place on the Pont au Change, whic,
he had come to consider his persona
property. =.
He was between 30 and go, sti
straight and vigorous. Blind at Dirt
he had commenced life by begging /
the streets. Later he had succeeded
getting admitted to the Quinze- Vingti
and thanks to some municipal protectlo