A certain gentleman of large property, and who had figured, if he does
not now figure, as a Railway Director, applied for shares in a certain
projected railway. Fifty, it seems were allotted to him. Whether that
was the number he applied for or not, deponent saith not; but by some
means nothing (0) got added to the 50 and made it 500. The deposit for
the said 500 was paid into the bankers’, the scrip obtained, and before
the mistake could be detected and corrected—for no doubt it was only a
mistake, or at most a _lapsus pennæ_—the shares were sold, and some £2000
profit by this very fortunate accident found its way into the pocket of
the gentleman.
—_Herepath’s Journal_, 1845.