On the 11th of the next month, November, the drawing of the State Lottery began, when, notwithstanding the united efforts of several societies and public-spirited gentlemen to check the exorbitancy of the ticket-mongers, the price rose to sixteen guineas just before drawing. All means were tried to cure this infatuation by writing and advertising; particularly on the first day of drawing, it was publicly averred, that near eight thousand tickets were in the South Sea House, and upwards of thirty thousand pawned at bankers, &c. that nine out of ten of the ticket-holders were not able to go into the wheel; and that not one of them durst stand the drawing above six days. It was also demonstrated in the clearest manner, that to have an even chance for any prize a person must have seven tickets; that with only one ticket it was six to one; and ninety-nine to one that the prize, if it came, would not be above fifty pounds, and no less than thirty-five thousand to one that the owner of a single ticket would not obtain one of the greatest prizes. Yet, notwithstanding these and other precautions, people still suffered themselves to be deluded, and the monied men arrogantly triumphed.† A LOTTERY JOB IN IRELAND. In August, 1752, a lottery was set on foot at Dublin, under the pretext of raising 13,7001. for rebuilding Essex-bridge, and other public and charitable uses. Universal Magazine. + Gentleman's Magazine. There were to be 100,000 tickets, at a guinea each. The lords justices of Ireland issued an order to suppress this lottery. The measure occasioned a great uproar in Dublin; for it appears, that the tickets bore a premium, and that though the original subscribers were to have their money returned, the buyers at the advanced price would lose the advance. Every purchaser of a single ticket in this for each offence, and the seller 500%., one illegal lottery incurred a penalty of 501. third of which went to the informer, a third to the king, and the other third to offenders were subject to a year's close the poor of the parish; besides which, the imprisonment in the county gaol.* LEHEUP'S FRAUD. To prevent the monopoly of tickets in the State Lottery, it had been enacted, that persons charged with the delivery of tickets should not sell more than twenty to one person. This provision was evaded by pretended lists, which defeated the object of parliament and injured public credit, insomuch that, in 1754, more tickets were subscribed for than the holders of the lists had cash to purchase, and there was a deficiency in the first payment. The mischief and notoriety of these practices occasioned the house of commons to prosecute an inquiry into the circumstances, which, though opposed by a scandalous cabal, who endeavoured to screen the delinquents, ended in a report by the committee, that Peter Leheup, esq. had privately disposed of a great number of tickets before the office was opened to which the public were directed by an advertisement to apply; that he also delivered great numbers to particular persons, upon lists of names which he knew to be fictitious; and that, in particular, Sampson Gideon became proprietor of more than six thousand, which he sold at a premium. Upon report of these and other illegal acts, the house resolved that Leheup was guilty of a violation of the act, and a breach of trust, and presented an address to his majesty, praying that he would direct the attorney-general to prosecute him in the most effectual manner for his offences. An information was accordingly filed, and, on a trial at bar in the court of king's bench, Leheup, as one of the receivers of the last lottery of 300,000l., was found • Gentleman's Magazine. guilty 1. Of receiving subscriptions before the day and hour advertised; 2. Of permitting the subscribers to use different names to cover an excess of twenty tickets; and 3. Of disposing of the tickets which had been bespoke and not claimed, or were double charged, instead of returning them to the managers. In Trinity term, Leheup was brought up for judgment, and fined 1000l., which he paid in court. As he had amassed forty times that sum by his frauds, the lenity of the sentence was the subject of severe remark.* LOTTERY INSANITY. November 5, 1757, Mr. Keys, late clerk to Cotton and Co., who had absented himself ever since the 7th of October, the day the 10,000l. was drawn in the lottery, (supposed to be his property,) was found in the streets raving mad, having been robbed of his pocket-book and ticket.† He who, intent on shadowy schemes, Unmoved by Fortune's fickle wheel, LARGE DIVISION OF TICKETS. In some of the old lotteries tickets were divided into a much greater number of shares than of late years. There is an example of this in the following Advertisement, November, 1766. DAME FORTUNE presents her respects to the public, and assures them that she has fixed her residence for the present at St. Dunstan's-church, Fleet-street; and, CORBETT'S, State Lottery-office, opposite favours, she has ordered not only the ticto enable many families to partake of her kets to be sold at the lowest prices, but also that they be divided into shares at The subjoined verses appeared in the following low rates, viz:— 1761 A few Thoughts on Lotteries. A Lottery, like a magic spell, All ranks of men bewitches, Whose beating bosoms vainly swell With hope to gain TEN THOUSAND POUND And for an empty, airy sound Contrive their own undoing! Those on whom wealtn her stores had shed, 'Tis strange, so many fools we find, From life's blest bliss excluded. For life's best blessing, calm content, Attends no more his slumbers, Who dreams of profit, cent. per cent. And sets his heart on numbers. Thro' all life's various stages, care Smollett. Gentleman's Magazine. + Gentleman's Magazine. In the Universal Magazine for December. A sixty-fourth A half £ s. d. 40 By which may be gained from upwards of one hundred and fifty to upwards of five thousand guineas, at her said office No. 30. A NUMBER TWICE SOLD. The lottery of 1766 was unfortunate to a lottery-office keeper. The ticket No 20,99 was purchased in the alley for Pagen Hale, esq. of Hertfordshire; and the same number was also divided into shares at a lottery-office near Charing-cross, and some of the shares actually sold. The number purchased in the alley was the real number, but that divided by the officekeeper was done by mistake, for which he paid a proportionable sum. During the lottery of 1767, the stockbrokers fell among thieves. Mr. Hugnes, a stock-broker, had his pocket picked in Jonathan's coffee-house of fifty lottery tickets, the value of which (at the price then sold) was 8001. The same evening three other brokers had their pockets picked of their purses, one containing sixty-two guineas, another seven, and the third five. One of the pick-pockets was afterwards apprehended, on whom thirtyfive of the tickets were found, and recovered; the other fifteen he said were carried to Holland by his accomplices. The preceding anecdotes are in the newspapers of the time, together with the following, which strongly marks the perversion of a weak mind. "A gentlewoman in Holborn, whose husband had presented her with a ticket, put up prayers in the church, the day before drawing, in the following manner: The prayers of the congregation are desired for the success a person engaged in a new undertaking.' A FRAUDULENT INSURER. In January, 1768, an insurer of tickets was summoned before a magistrate, for refusing to pay thirty guineas to an adventurer, upon the coming up of a certain number a blank, for which he had paid a premium of three guineas. The insurer was ordered immediately to pay thirty guineas, which he was obliged to comply with to prevent worse consequences. other words, the magistrate was too weak to exert the power he was armed with, by law, against both the insurer and the insured. LOVE TICKETS. In Mr. Charles Holland, the actor, who died on the 7th of December, 1769, received many letters of passionate admiration from a lady who fell in love with him from his appearance on the stage; and she accompanied one of her declara tions of attachment by four lottery tickets as a present.† GOOD AND ILL LUCK. In the lottery of 1770, the holder of the ticket entitled to the capital prize or 20,000l. was captain Towry of Isleworth. A very remarkable circumstance put it in his possession: Mr. Barnes, a grocer in Cheapside, purchased four following numbers, me of which this was; but thinking the chance not so great in so • Universal Magazine. + Memoir of Holland in Universal Magazine. many following ones, he carried this very ticket back to the office, and changed it for another. A LITTLE Go. October 14, 1770, a case was determined at the general quarter session of the peace for the county of Wilts, held at Marlborough. A quack doctor had been convicted before Thomas Johnson, esq. of Bradford, in the penalty of 2001. for disposing of plate, &c. by means of a device or lottery; and by a second information convicted of the same offence before Joseph Mortimer, esq. of Trowbridge. To both these convictions he appealed to the justices at the general quarter session of the peace, when, after a trial of near ten hours, the bench unanimously confirmed the conviction on both informations, by which the appellant was subjected to the penalties of 2007. on each, and costs.* INSURANCE CAUSE. On the 1st of March, 1773, a cause of great public concern came on to be tried before lord Mansfield, wherein the lord mayor was plaintiff, and at Guildhall, fendants, in order to determine the legality Messrs. Barnes and Golightly were deof insuring lottery tickets; but on account of an error in the declaration the plaintiff was nonsuited. On the 17th of the same month," Mr. Sheriff Lewes presented a petition from the city of London, against the frequent toleration of lotteries in the time of peace; but the petition was ordered to lie upon the table.-No government can long subsist, that is reduced to the necessity of supporting itself by fraudulent gaming."t the over night, and, upon inquiry at another office, found it to have been drawn five days before, and therefore wanted their money returned; the gentleman, taking their part, was assaulted and beat by the office-keeper, for which the jury gave a verdict in favour of the gentleman with five pounds damages.* but not being the person who seduced the boy to secrete the ticket, and no evidence appearing to prove his connection with the person who did, the prisone! was discharged, though it was ascertained that he had insured the number already mentioned ninety-one times in one day. In consequence of the circumstances discovered by this examination, the lords PROCEEDINGS RESPECTING A BLUE-COAT deliberated on the means of preventing of the treasury inquired further, and BOY. In 1775, sonie of the boys of Christ's Hospital, appointed to draw numbers and chances from the wheel, were tampered with, for the purpose of inducing them to commit a fraud. These attempts were successful in one instance, and led to certain regulations, which will presently be stated. On the 1st of June, a man was carried before the lord mayor for attempting to bribe the two blue-coat boys who drew the Museum Lottery at Guildhall to conceal a ticket, and to bring it to him, promising that he would next day return it to them. His intention was to insure it in all the offices, with a view to defraud the office-keepers. The boys were honest, gave notice of the intended fraud, and pointed out the delinquent, who, however, was discharged, as there existed no law to punish the offence. On the 5th of December, one of the blue-coat boys who drew the numbers in the State Lottery at Guildhall was examined before sir Charles Asgill, relative to a number that had been drawn out the Friday before, on which an insurance had been made in almost every office in London. The boy confessed, that he was prevailed upon to conceal the ticket No. 21,481, by a man who gave him money for so doing; that the man copied the number; and that the next day he followed the man's instructions, and put his hand into the wheel as usual, with the ticket in it, and then pretended to draw it out. The instigator of the offence had actually received 4001. of the insurance-office keepers; had all of them paid him, the whole sum would have amounted to 3000!. but some of them suspected a fraud had been committed, and caused the inquiry, which obtained the boy's confession. On the following day, the person who insured the ticket was examined. He was clerk to a hop-factor in Goodman's-fields, Universal Magazine. similar practices; the result of their conferences was the following "Orders," which are extracted from the original minutes of the proceedings, and are now for the first time published. COPY, No. I. ORDER of December 12, 1775. A DISCOVERY having been made, that WILLIAM TRAMPLET, one of the boys employed in drawing the lottery, had, at the instigation of one CHARLES LOWNDES, (since ascended,) at different times, in former rolls taken out of the number wheel THREE numbered tickets, which were at THREE several times returned by him into the said wheel, and drawn without his parting with them, so as to give them the appearance of being fairly drawn, to answer the purpose of defrauding by insurance: IT IS THEREFORE ORDERED, for preventing the like wicked practices in future, that every boy before he is suffered to put his hand into either wheel, be brought by the proclaimer to the managers on duty, for them to see that the bosoms and sleeves of his coat be closely buttoned, his pockets sewed up, and his hands examined; and that during the time of his being on duty, he shall keep his left hand in his girdle behind him, ond his right hand open, with his fingers extended; and the proclaimer is not to suffer him at any time to leave the wheel without being first examined by the manager nearest him. The observance of the foregoing order is recommended by the managers on this roll to those on the succeeding rolls, till the matter shall be more fully discussed at a general meeting. COPY, No. II. ORDER at GENERAL MEETING. A PLAN OF RULES AND REGULATION to be observed, in order to preve? the boys committing frauds, &c., in • Gentleman's Magazine. the drawing of the lottery, agrecable to directions received by Mr. JOHNSON, on Tuesday the 16th of January, 1776, from the LORDS OF THE TREASURY. THAT ten managers be always on the roll at Guildhall, two of whom are to be conveniently placed opposite the two boys at the wheels, in order to observe that they strictly conform themselves to the rules and orders directed by the committee at Guildhall, on Tuesday, December 12, 1775. THAT it be requested of the TREASURER OF CHRIST'S HOSPITAL not to make known who are the twelve boys nominated for drawing the lottery till the morning the drawing begins; which said boys are all to attend every day, and the two who are to go on duty at the wheels are to be taken promiscuously from amongst the whole number by either of the secretaries, without observing any regular course or order ; so that no boy shall know when it will be his turn to go to either wheel. THIS METHOD, though attended with considerable additional expense, by the extra attendance of two managers and six boys, will, it is presumed, effectually prevent any attempt being made to corrupt or bribe any of the boys to commit the fraud practised in the last lottery. It is imagined, that to future inquirers concerning lotteries, with a view to its history, the publication of the preceding documents may be acceptable. So long a time has elapsed since the fraud they relate to was perpetrated, that any motive which existed for keeping them private has ceased. The blue-coat boy who secretly abstracted the tickets from the wheel, and afterwards appeared to draw them fairly and openly, will be regarded as having been pitiably exposed to seductions, which might have been prevented if these regulations had been adopted on the complaint of the lad who was tampered with in June. Perhaps it was prudent, though not "quite correct," to conceal that three tickets had been improperly taken from the wheel: until now, it has not been publicly made known that there was more than one; and though, if the point had been tried, that one might have been sufficient to have vitiated the legality of the drawing of the lottery of 1775 altogether, it was not enough, in a popular view, to raise a hue-and-cry among the In January, 1777, Joseph Arones and Samuel Noah, two jews, were examined at Guildhall before the lord mayor, charged with counterfeiting the lottery ticket No. 25,590, a prize of 20007., with intent to defraud Mr. Keyser, an office-keeper, knowing the same to have been false and counterfeit. Mr. Keyser had examined the ticket carefully, and had taken it into the Stock-exchange to sell, when Mr. Shewell came into the same box, and desired to look at the ticket, having, as he recollected, purchased one of the same number a day or two before. This fortunate discovery laid open the fraud, and the two jews were committed to take their trial for their ingenuity. It was so artfully altered from 23,590, that not the least erasure could be discerned. Arones was but just come to England, and Noah was thought to be a man of property. In February following, Arones and Noah were tried at the Old Bailey for the forgery and fraud. Their defence was, that the prisoner Arones found it, and persons were brought to swear it; on which they were acquitted. The figure altered was so totally obliterated by a certain liquid, that not the least trace of it could be perceived. At the same sessions, Daniel Der.ny was tried for forging, counterfeitir.g, and altering a lottery ticket, with intent to defraud; and, being found guilty, was cou demned.t |