The Springfield herald., 1899-07-07
LUCK IN LOTTERIES.
Strange Franks Played BY Dame
Fortune on Her Wooerss
InstasaSes of Poor Persons Beink
Suddenly Made Rioh and MIS-
fortunes Of Winning
Ticket Holders.

When she Is turning lOttery-whoel;
and a whole library might be written Of
the strange pranks she has played with
those who have wooed her in this guise.
She was in strangely capricious mood
| when it pleased her to convert Dublin
shop assistant into u man OF fortune
and the founder of noble family. -
Luke White, the father of the first
Lord Annaly, was poor Manxman, who
had drifted to Dublin to serve behind
the counter of booksellers shop. In
the hope of adding to his scanty earn
ings he bought number of lottery
tickets for sale, but found himself un-
able to dispose of them. AT the last mo-
ment he decided to send the upsold
tickets to Belfast, in the hope of find
ing a better market there; but when
the coach had been day on its journey
he received letter informing him
that the despised tickets had won val
liable prizes.
| Although the news came in the dead
of night, Luke White got up immediate
ly; saddled horse, and raced madly in
chase of the coach. He rode through
the night and the whole of the follow
ing day. and overlook the coach within
few miles of Belfast. He rescued the
bundle of tickets, and, returning home,
exchanged them for prizes Of the value
| of 100000.
Fortune was less kind to Charles
Rotter, tobacconist of Chicago, who
purchased lot of tickets last year.
Rotter thought so lightly of his pros
pect of winning anything that he gave
his ticket, in a spirit of fun, to friend,
| Joseph Dost, as birthday present
On the very day on which he parted
| with the ticket, its number was an
nounced as having won a prize of $751;
900. Rotter felt the blow of his mis-
fortune so keenly that he died from
heart disease, from which he had suf-
fered for some time, on the following
day.
An amusing story is told of n wicked
trick which fortune played, a short
time ago, on lady. The lady and her
husband, who were travelling, called
at the shopof q country draper to make
few purchases. They were about to
leave the shop, when an attractive bon
net arrested the lady's attention, and
she induced her husband to buy it for
her.
When it came to payment, however
the husband found to his disnay that he
had not sufficient money to pay for
it. In this dilemma he offered the
draper an eighth-share ticket in Ger
man lottery which he had in his purse,
and finally induced him to accept it
in part payment. A few days later
! the lady learned, to her disgust, that
the lottery ticket had won an eighth
of $4,000; and that her darling bon
net" had thus cost her the record price
of over $4,000.
| 1t was happy inspiration that
tempted a young lieutenant on the ltal-
ian battleship Lepanto to turn his at
tention to the Spanish Christmas lot
terry couple of years ago The ship
was cruising off the coast of Spain,
and it occurred to the lieutenant to
induce all on board, from captain to
cabin boy, to join in purchasing a lot
/ terry ticket. The ticket was bought
and to the delight of all, was fortu-
nate enough to win the first prize of
100000, which was divided among the
lucky owners on Christmas day.
! A very curious piece of good fortune
fell last year to the lot of poor widow
who kept small shop in the suburbs
OF Berlin. One evening as she was
serving a customer a working man
stepped into the shop and begged per-
mission to light his pipe. Drawing a
piece of paper from his pocket, he
twisted it up, lit it at the gas jet. and,
after lighting his pipe, threw down the
spill and walked out with word of
thanks.
When sweeping the floor the next
morning the widow took up the charred
paper out of idle curiosity, and. unfold
/ ing it, saw that it was lottery ticket,
only a fraction OF which had been burnt.
She folded it up, put it away in her
pocket, and had almost forgotten it,
/ when the result of large lottery draw
/ ing caught her eye in the paper. She
/ then remembered the crumpled ticket
in her pocket, and, on producing 1t,
found to her amazement and delight
that the rejected ticket had won prize
of $4,000. She claimed the prize, and,
although she advertised widely for its
original owner with the intention OF
sharing it with him, she has been left IN
undisturbed possession of her fortune.
London Tit-Bits.