The times. [volume] (Richmond, Va.) 1890-1903, 1894-04-29
NEW LOTTERY DEVICES.
sHAgPERs VINO UsE tn ~ MAfLsFOR
PURPOSES OF FRAUD.
LOTTERY Busipess Has Fallen O0-Ihe
Stamp Collecting Mania and inc
Columbian Issue.

A Fraud order" will issue Immediately
from the Post Office Department against
the so-called Louisiana State Lottery
Company Of New orleans and Kansas
City. directing postmasters to deliver
no registered mail and TO pay no money
orders TO that concern. This is a rake
enterprise, which has flooded the coun-
try recently with advertising literature.
1t sends out all such matter by eX-
press. so as to avoid infringing the postal
laws. To individuals picked out to serve
as agents IN various cities and towns
il addresses the following ingenious and
attractive communication, marked CON
fdental:'
My Dear Sir: We want to do some
business in your locality. and have Sc
lected you TO represent us. We fully
understand why your people have almost
stopped buying lottery tickets; Ii is be-
cause there has been no prize of value
drawn In your neighborhood for years,
and many have thus become discouraged,
and have ceased TO patronize lotteries.
There is but one way TO revive the old
time interest and excitement, and that
is for some one to draw a prize large
enough in value TO stimulate and induce
others to start buying tickets again. We
give 1000 more prizes than any other
company in the world, and will guar
antee that the sale OF a few Of our tick
cts will result in some ones drawing
a prize, as in our company one number
in every eighteen wins. IL some we'll
known man like yourself should draw
SIS GOO, So, 900, $1,000, or even $500 in our
| lottery, it would be the means Of selling
thousands of our tickets in your part OF
the country. Now, we give you the In
closed s. ticket free, hoping that 1t may
win such a prize as the above, and fully
believing that, should you draw any of
the amounts mentioned the increased
| sale of our tickets in your vicinity would
| more than pay us for the money thus eX-
pended We inclose fifty one-dollar tick
! cts, and We want you TO sell every one
| of them If you can as we want as many
| as possible i'm your town Interested In
| our April drawing. DO not sell your 8
! ticket. Keep that for yourself, and, II
| you will look out for our interest, we
| Will look out for yours. We will send
| you prize lists of the drawing immediate
| ly after 1t takes place. Your commission
| will be - per cent. 1t being unlawful
! to use the mail for lottery purposes, We
| caution you against sending IS any mat
ter by mail. as all such mail goes 10 the
dead letter Office at Washington. Send
! money and all other communications by
! express only. Do your best and leave the
rest to us. Sincerely yours,
IN. DAUPHIN, President"
Observe how artfuly the addressee is
| led to imagine that, in return for his ser
| vices In selling tickets, the company
will so manipulate the drawing TO throw
/ him a prize of 5000 or perhaps S5,Vo. lie
| can afford to be Indifferent as TO the luck
of his acquaintance, among whom he Is
! expected to dispose Of the fifty one-dollar
securities. The latter are quite clabo-
rately got Imprinted, most appropriately.
! In green, with a careful imitation OF
| lathe engraving. and numbered coasecu-
lively. Supplementary instructions say:
Employ all the sub-agents you can use
/ TO advantage. Most Of them Will be sat
| ished with ten cents on the dollar. DC
casonally, in small towns, there is a
( foolish prejudice against lotteries, and
agents do not care 10 be known as such.
When this is the case, We suggest that
| the agent get up club in which each
member would be interested in proper
ton TO the money put in. II you should
need more tickets than we have sent you,
telegraph us for the additional number
you want, at our expense. DO not use
the mails under any circumstances"
Now all this is a swinde from begin
ming to end. To begin with, there Is no
such person as NJ. Dauphn. That was
| the name OF the president Of the real
Louisiana Lottery Company, recently
elected from this country. and now do
| ing business In Honduras. He is dead.
| Secondly, this fake concern makes no
drawings and distributes no prizes. The
sole object OF its existence Is to gather
/ in dollars from persons who arc so fool
ish as to purchase it's tickets The
agents employed whose Stupidity Undue
es them to act as stool-pigeons, never re-
| ceive the . per cent. commits
sion. The s. tickets bestowed upon them
as special brides are worthless, Of course.
Nevertheless. the extensive distribution
OF the tickets and literature throughout
the country proves that there is money in
the business. Men of good reputation are
l. easily got 20 serve as agents and collect
the dollars from victims. The lottery"
has its headquarters at Kansas City,
Kans. Frauds of a like description have
! given good deal of trouble OF late to
the post-Oflice authorities They send out
all their stuff by express. but great
many letters are addressed to them by
mail. Such communications so long as
they are under seal, cannot be interfered
with. There is no way to punish the
| swindlers so long as they refrain from
| violating the postal laws. The original
Louisiana Lottery Company Is still do
ing business all over the United States.
! though its drawings are made at Puerto
Cortez In Honduras. Ii has an office at
Port Tampa. Florida, from which a boat
OF its own runs TO Puerto Cortez All
OF its ADVERTISING literature is set UP in
type at Port Tampa. but the printing is
done at Puerto Cortez. The printed stuff
Is brought TO Port Tampa. and forwarded
thence by express 10 all parts OF the
country. The tickets are sold through
agents. who return the money by express.
| No registered letters are deliverable to
the company. and no money order will
be sold by any postmaster payable TO
the concern. The Canadian post-office
authorities have recently adopted equiya-
lent restrictions against the lottery. Its
Industry as now conducted, IL safe from
Interference from the law. but the profits
derived from II are only small fraction
OF what they used 10 be The express
system Is expensive. and money cannot
be sent in that way from every small
| town.
A good many postmssters have got into
trouble about the Columbian stamps ow-
Ing to the eagerness OF the demand by
collectors for those interesting Issues. In