The San Francisco call. [volume] (San Francisco [Calif.]) 1895-1913, 1895-06-16
THE LOTTERY LAW AND LOTTERY FRAUDS.


istic from long years of official service is
that of reticence-the Chief of Police.
From the knowledge of facts brought to
this department by the officers detailed on
that work." said Chief Crowley yesterday
afternoon, ~ can say unhesitatingly that
about half the lottery tickets sold in this
City are rank counterfeits.
"Why, we have caught the rascals time
and again, red-handed, with the plates
and presses and the printed and half
printed tickets in their possession. In the
last seven years how many lottery tickets
do you suppose we have confscated in this
City? Just about half million. l think
that is the exact figures-50O 000-but you
can get the figures for yourself in the prop
erty- room.
CHOW, the lottery business is bad enough
in itself, but the worst of it is that the
buyer of lottery ticket takes even chances
in getting a counterfeit ticket, upon which
he could not collect cent should the
number win even from company that
pretends to pay its advertised prizes
Now, when you add the even chances of
being cheated on a ticket to the very small
chance that man has of winning even
from q reliable company (if there are such)
you can see what an unequal thing the
traffic is on the ticket buyer.
"It's playing good money against unfair
odds. You have about one chance in
10000 to win. It's not only criminal
lottery tickets
1t is undoubtedly fact that within the
past few months the Police Department
has been making even more than ordinary
efforts to stamp out the traffic in this City
and to drive the peddlers and agents out
of the business, or at all events beyond the
City limits.
"And it has been no easy task" says
Chief Crowley, because when the fine has
been paid the rascals go off to some other
part of the City and conduct their business.
1t keeps us busy following them around
from one nest to the other. And they
don't mind the fine imposed by the law.
The business is profitable and they can
afford to pay an occasional or even fire.
quently imposed fine.
81 think the best thing that could be
done under the circumstances is to have
the law changed so as to make the penalty
for selling lottery tickets an offense pun
not be for long term-that would compli-
cate matters and make it still more diff
cult to convict But these peddlers and
agents would not like to serve from, say
five to thirty days in the County Jail, and
a few convictions would drive them out of
the business for good
One who takes the pains TO inquire lit
tie will find any number of cases where the
holders of lottery tickets who fondly
thought, from the published reports in the
daily newspapers that they had won
large sums of money, learned at the last
moment, when they went to cash their
tickets, that the bit of printed paper they
held was utterly worthless.
There is the case of the poor old woman
on Howard street, near Eighth. Every
body who is posted about such things
knows how she was defrauded. She makes
only a bare living by peddling matches
and lead pencils.
a smooth-tongued peddler of lottery
tickets, armed with glazing circulars and
posters telling about the great wealth that
people gain by investing sums of dollar
and less, induced her to spend all her saw
ings, amounting to nearly So, in lottery
tickets.
Among the tickets she purchased was
one of the same number that was adver-
tised in the newspapers as having drawn
portion of the capital prize. She was
happy for day when she read the evening
paper. In the morning the papers corrob-
GRATED her good fortune still more-or
seemed to do so. But when she went to
the bank and sought to cash her ticket
they calmly showed her that the real win
ner on the number she held was a resident
of some other city. Her ticket was coun-
terfeit, and, of course, the agent who sold
it to her never appeared again.
There are hundreds of cases like this.
And there are thousands of tickets sold in
this City containing the names of COM
panies that never had an existence in
reality, never had drawing, never did
anything more in the lottery line, in fact,
except to delude the young and the foolish
into buying their fake tickets.