Omaha daily bee. (Omaha [Neb.]) 187?-1922, 1907-04-27
GREATEST CANE OF ITS DAY
DereliOtS Of the Louisiana Lottery Once
More in the Tells
BUNCH OF PROMOTERS UNDER INDICTMENT
Feeble and Foolish Efforts to Con-
tinue swindIe In HoHduras-RecOI-
IeCtions of the Crook Mint
and It's Coin.

viewing the sights the guide stopped in
front of a building in process OF construc-
ton on a corner lot Did you try your
luck in louisiana" the visitor was
asked. Yes" How much did you wtn2''
O. Not a picayune" Take one of these
bricks home as a souvenir remarked the
/ guide, picking UP a polished, dark brown
sample. This building is memorial of
the Louisiana lottery. The country fur
nished the money and Morris is doing the
rest"
The visitor fondled the sample brick a
moment and thought Of the millions Of
| people who contributed TO the pile as we'll
as the millions Of gold bricks" handed
back in exchange. 1t was the plan OF the
| game.
The memory Of the incident and Of the
lottery long since dead are awakened by
the action Of the federal grand jury of
| Louisiana in bringing in indictments against
the officers and agents of the Honduras
| National Lottery company, successors of
the notorious Louisiana. Mobile was the
center of activity and twenty-six agents
and officers are named In the indictments.
Secret service officers, in charge Of Chief
| Willxie. have seized bales of lottery docu-
ments and are confident of routing the
/ last stand of the lottery promoters and
Easy Money.
For many years the Honduras Lottery
| company has meant easy money for
! number of men who have as a rule, up to
! the present time, been able to evade the
law. Wukie says that a conservative esti-
mate Of the profits Of the concern is S150oO0
a month, and there we're not more than
| eight principals in on the "divvy." There
were lot OF other men connected with
the scheme. but they were not sharers of
the main graft" They had to be content
with nominal spoils, although these some-
times reached high figures.
Among the promoters of the lottery are
Frank Fitzpatrick of Boston, who has
pleaded guilty and is awaiting trial. Others
we're William and Harry Henderson, who
were recently arrested in Los Angeles,
whence they had arrived by fast express
train from New York after they found that
secret service officers were camping on
their tracks William was the New York
state agent for the Honduras National
Lottery company, and at the very time
when the government was about to nab
some of the principals and agents of the
company he was engaged in row with
some Of the promoters of the company in
New Orleans When Henderson took over
the New York agency he gave to his
predecessor $4,000, which was to be re-
turned to him by the company. The COM
pany did not recognize the claim, or at
least failed to pay up, whereupon Hender-
son diverted to his own personal use the
money which he has collected from the
sales of lottery tickets. This created a
commotion among the officials in New Or
leans, where the roots of the old lottery
system still survive.
Harry Henderson was known among the
agents and employees of the lottery con-
Germ as Mr.. Fixit." His business was to
make himself generally useful By furnish
ing bail and clearing the portway wherever
the lotteries encountered strong arm of
the law. Mr.. Fixit" long ago proved
himself diplomatist and man Of great
resources. He has been indicted, and If
the Honduras company was not now out
of business for good and all, the federal
authorities believe 1t is, he would be sadly
missed by all the agents and emissaries of
the "sure thing combine.
Dave Herman Morris and Alfred Morris
Of New York and New Orleans and Frank
T. Howard of New Orleans are involved
in the indictments. The Morrisses are
sons of John A. Morris, the lottery king,
who died in 1894, few years after the
Louisiana game was excluded from the
use Of the United States malls. Howard
is son Of the late Charles T. Howard,
associate of the elder Morris.
A Famous Game.
The Louisiana lottery, of which the Hon
duras company is the successor. was al
most a household word in the United
States up to 1886. In that year the use
Of the United States mails was denied to
the company, and the companys charter
expired in 1892. Fabulous sums were Of
fered for the privilege Of continuing bust
ness under a new charter, but Louisiana
showed itself not insensible to the pro-
tests Of its sister states, and an over
} whelming public sentiment. by declining
the golden bait Then the company was
reorganized and continued it's business
nominally in Central America. Another
check was received three or four years
ago when the transportation of lottery
tickets by express companies was stopped
} by the interstate commerce laws. Still the
business has fourished, although not on
the same prodigious scale of a Monte
Cristo romance. 1t has been said that the
| Honduras authorities received 10000
year for allowing the new company to CON
duct its monthly drawings In that country.
The last drawing was held in January last
After that things began to get hot for the
lottery managers.
In it's halcyon days the Louisiana Lottery
company's possible receipts were 100000
a month, with aggregate prizes Of about
60 per cent thereof, but unsold tickets were
always put into the wheel and often drew
the prizes, the largest Of which I'm the palm
Test days was $4,000. One-quarter Of the
capital prize was won In 1890 by one Of
the anti-lottery leaders, who accepted a
IS ticket from vender in partial payment
OF a debt that the anti-leader could not
otherwise collect. This winning played a
big part in the lottery argument that the
ants were insincere and were using "re-
form" as the lever to lift themselves into
power.
How the Money Rolled In.
The principal stockholders Of the lottery
J rapidly amassed fortunes and when John
A. Morris died about 1894 his wealth was
estimated by close friends TO Je between
SlsOOOOOO and 100000. He WIS not only
the largest stakeholder OF the old iottery
company but the daily drawing was his
personal property. and this alone paid him
r proits Of about $500 a day. Mr.. Morris