The Cecil Whig. [volume] (Elkton, Md.) 1841-current, 1895-07-27


axiom still-that wise men run lotteries
and fools buy tickt is in Them But the
fools outnumbered the wise men, and all
fools bought tickets. Soon the capital
prize was made $75, 000 and the aggregate
monthly ''out putt of the company was
S251 500. Then there were 100, 900 tickets
as before. bnt they cost S. each. So the
company's gross profit was S24S, 800 per
month, provided all tickets were sold. All
tickets were not sold however, but 80 per
cent. of them went into the hands of the
fools The lottery, of necessity, continued
to prosper. Then the last grand scheme
was devised The regular monthly draw
ing was to have capital prize of $500, 600
with other "trimmings" aggregating, in
round figures, $3.50 600. There were still
100, 900 tickets, hut they rose to $40 each.
The gross profit each month, Therefore, was
$3.50, 600, in the event that all tickets were
sold. And nearly all of them were sold
The census cf fools who wished to buy
tickets was taken with each change in the
scheme, and, from the lottery's standpoint
it showed, in every instance. a gratifying
increase Besides this regular monthly
drawing. when the capital prize was
$500, 600, there were two grand semi-annual
drawings-one in June and one in the
December, Christmas season the "addenda'
made grand total of S1,O51 600. The
tickets were still 100000 in number, but
the price advanced to $40 each. &c. if all
tickets were sold the conn any gathered in
- 600, 600, and paid ont in round figures,
Il OO 600. The gross profit was, there
fore, 81 900 600 in these grand Semi
ANIMALS. y
THE MASTER MIND.
All this time the Louisiana State Lot
terry Company was dominated by its master
mind John A. Morris Every drawing
must be scrupulously honest, he said, and
so it was The ticket buyer got his chance
albeit a slim chancellor a prize, and,
though he played against great odds, he got
a "spuare deal'-the identical deal which
the company advertised.
But such dazzling prosperity was not to
last. The original charter of the Louisiana
State Lottery Company, granted in lS6S,
was to run twenty-five years 1t was to
expire, therefore, in l~9}-at the close OF
the year. The condition of the original
charter was that the company should
contribute 100000 annually to the
great Charity Hospital in this city.
When the time came for the expira-
ton of the charter the company, or, rather
John A. Morris personally, asked for il
rene val foI twenty-five years. lie offered
81, $50 600 per year for the exclusive privi-
lege of running a lottery in Louisiana. The
Legislature of 1890 passed his bill, submit
ting to vote of the people constitutional
amendment giving him a lottery charter
There is no question OF doubt that the peo-
pie of Louisiana wanted to give the charter
to him, and take his 81, $50 600 each year.
But the lottery's enemies, led by justice +
d. White, now on the Supreme bench OF
the United States, recognizing the utteI
hopelessness of defeating John A. Morris in
| Louisiana, sought the aid of the Federal
Government to crush him. Late in 1890
Congr' IS passed the anti-lottery postal law,
which took from the lottery company the use
of the mails, and thea the charter was no
longer worth million and quarter per
annum. John \. Morris, in IA letter which
he himself framed, and which is a model OF
literary excellence, withdrew his PROPOSE
non, and the Louisiana State Lottery had
its epitaph written.
1t is not EASY to figure what the profits
Of the lottery were during its existence in
Louisiana. \ fair estimate is that it made
$40, 600, 900 from first to last. John A..
Morris contract with the original company
organized in 1865, provided that he was to
receive seven-twelfths of all the profits. If
the very modest estimate of $40, 600, 600
holds good, Morris share was fully
1913, OoO,O 900. Fairy stories have been writ
ten with regard to the amount which
Morris drew out of the lottery
have told of 500, GOO 600 and other inan-
cial impossibilities, but conservative men
know that all such figures were guess work
pure and simple.
HOWARD'S BLACK BOOK.
The local manager of the lottery for
many years was Charles T. Howard.
Howard was Bashi- Bazouk, ever in the
saddle. and and ready for brush with the
enemy. With a long memory for friends
and an equal long memory for foes, he is
said to have kept a black book, in which
were inscribed the names of those who had
proved treacherous or untrue to the com
pany, and many is the aspiring statesman
in Louisiana whose ambitious head fell
headlong into the basket of Charley
Howard's vengeance. There were none so
humble that his mailed hand did not strike
when the time came to strike-provided
always the object of vengeance had SHE'D
his castor in the ring and given battle to
the Louisiana State Lottery Company. But
one day in the later sos, while Howard was
ridinU a spiritp1 animal IN tbe banks IF tba