HOW THEY ARE "GOT UP"--THEIR MODE OF OPERATIONS DETAILED--HOW
THEY MANAGE THE "DRAWN NUMBERS" BEFOREHAND--THE GREAT
SHREWDNESS OF THE OPERATORS--THE SOCIAL RESPECTABILITY OF
THESE--THE GREAT FIRM OF "G. W. HUNTINGTON & CO."--THE IMMENSE
CIRCULATION OF THEIR JOURNAL--THEIR VICTIM, A MAINE FARMER, WHO
BELIEVED HE HAD "DRAWN" FIVE THOUSAND DOLLARS, AND COUNSELLOR
WHEATON, HIS LAWYER, A STORY TO THE POINT--WHO INVEST IN
LOTTERIES: CHILDREN, WIDOWS, CLERGYMEN, BANK CASHIERS,
ETC.--HOW THE FIRM OF "G. W. H. & CO." WAS CAPTURED--NO. 23,
WILLIAM STREET, NEW YORK, THEIR PRETENDED BANKING HOUSE--HOW A
BOGUS LOTTERY COMPANY SWINDLED ITS OWN AGENTS--A QUEER TALE.
The object of these narratives is not simply to paint human nature in
the color of its subtle facts, more strange than the imaginings of
fiction, in order to excite the reader's mind as he runs over these
pages, or to feed the greediness for the marvellous--not these alone;
but the writer trusts that what he has taken so much pains to cull out
of the repertoire of his observations and experiences, and from those
of others, and reproduce here for the instruction of his fellow-men,
shall be found useful as well as interesting; and by teaching those who
are inclined to the commission of offences against law and the good
order of society, that they cannot easily escape discovery if they
commit crimes, shall prevent, to some degree, the perpetration of such
crimes. But there are sufferers as well as guilty actors, and these the
writer would serve also, as well as preserve the innocent and unwary
from the operation of those crafts and cunning devices by which they
might be made sufferers.
To-day, tumbling over some old files of notes and papers at the bottom
of an old trunk, the contents of which had not been thoroughly
disturbed for over ten years before, there came to light a sealed
package, marked "The Bogus Lottery Papers: not to be opened without my
consent." This package has awakened a host of "memories of other days,"
and decided me to wander a little perhaps from the preconceived line of
these narratives; and not so, either; for in this tale it will be seen
that the detective had his legitimate part to play in the matter which
it recalls.
The package is found to contain notes for guidance in working up the
case; letters from dupes or victims of the crafty speculators in human
credulity; bits of the personal history of some of these wily scamps,
and which they would hardly desire to see in public print, with their
true names affixed (for some of them were and are of high rank in the
business, social, and literary world); copies of certain financial
journals, devoted to the dissemination of remarkable facts tending to
show the wise philosophy of "nothing venture, nothing have," and from
their first column to the last, filled with cunning lies; my own
correspondence with certain victims; memoranda of facts gathered at
sundry post offices and elsewhere; piteous letters from the deluded;
correspondence with lawyers on the subject at issue, etc., etc.,--quite
a little pile, as they lie on my table here. Some of the letters have
grown dark with age, and there is a peculiar smell about them, as if
they hinted at unsavory things, and so they do.
And these remind one of other years very peculiarly, and suggest many
thoughts on human weakness and perversity. I am vexed not a little as I
look over them, and call to mind the class of men who mingled in the
iniquities of which I am about to speak, that I cannot write out these
men's names for the public eye. But some of them have "reformed," have
gone into legitimate business, and have families dear to them, and who
were ever quite unconscious of the modes by which their husbands and
fathers obtained money here in this seething sea of iniquity of New
York,--this worse than modern Babylon,--whom it would be cruel now to
wound. And I call to memory now one of these operators in petty
villany, who is dead--a noble fellow in the general way, a son of a
distinguished father, well bred, and related by blood to some of the
first, and really finest people in New York. Ah! what would a certain
philanthropist say--a man who leads noble charities, devotes his now
declining years to the practical duties of a Sunday school teacher, and
whose voice has been, within a few years past, heard in the national
Congress, as that of one of the few there whom the corruptions of
politics have not stained; a man of large wealth, with which he makes
far less display than many a man of the expensive habits of these
latter days with but a tenth or fiftieth of the former's income, and a
man of marked intelligence, too, as well as of high morals,--what would
he say, were it disclosed to him that his relatives, his nephews, the
sons of his not unnoted sisters, were participants in these
crimes,--cool-blooded, mean, devilish,--and continued, and carried on,
under the guise of "business," and indeed as a business for years? But
if this simply, were told him, he could not understand the half, for he
would not know the half. I shall spare the participants in those
criminal schemes the mention of their names here, though I conceive
that I should have done no more than my duty had I, at the time in
question, given them publicity through the press. But even in the last
ten years the public sentiment has largely changed, not only in New
York, but throughout the country, perhaps, in regard to the true
standard of morals, or the recognition of any standard at all, may be;
and those who are acquainted with the modes of conducting business in
Wall Street,--(the real centre of practical government for the
nation),--and therefore know what iniquities transpire there in the way
of "legitimate business," so called, could hardly be surprised at
anything I might disclose of the past. It is a sad reflection that the
greed of gain governs everything else in these days in this Union; and
that the manner of obtaining a fortune is, in most people's opinion, of
no account, however vile, in comparison with the matter of possessing
it. Money is a veil which will cover every crime, and nobody knows this
fact more surely than the detective. It is a fact, that to save
anything like a fair proportion of the value of a thing stolen, the
loser will almost universally compromise with the thief when the
detective secures him. "Compounding a felony," in itself a crime at the
Common Law, has become so universal as to be the "common law" itself:
and in New York it is a matter of but slight disgrace, at most, to be
guilty of any crime; and especially of those crimes by which the
perpetrator secures a large amount of money. Wall Street, for example,
is thronged every day by men in respectable and high ranks of society,
who are frequently guilty of crimes which would, a generation ago, have
consigned them to the State Prison for a long term of years, if not for
life. But after all, the reflection comes that morals, like the matter
of conscience, are educatable, changeable; and that the hearts of men
are not so very bad at bottom, most wrongs being chargeable to the
institutions of the people. Competition, instead of coöperation, being
the rule, and the depraved doctrines of such writers as Carlyle,
advocating the development of the individual, rather than the interest
of communities and blended peoples, have had a direct tendency to
increase the volume of crime.
But I will, with these "prefatory remarks," return to the body of my
subject. New York contains a large number of people who obtain their
living by the practice of frauds, of one kind and another. The gambling
saloons, with their marked cards, and faro banks, so arranged that
while the pretension of fairness is observed, the chances in favor of
the bank are made sure in the proportion of ninety per cent. to ten per
cent. for every hundred dollars which go upon the table; the iniquitous
"corners" made in Wall Street, and all the fine scheming of the Bulls
and the Bears, etc., etc., illustrate this. In fact, commerce itself
is, in all its avenues, made to bend to this skill of fraud in making
money, and making a living; and it is a wonder that there are not more,
rather than less of the institutions of which I am about to speak, in
New York. These exist to-day; but it is a long while since I have been
called into relations with them in a professional capacity.
At the time to which I allude, there were several bogus Lottery
Companies having their centre in New York, and extending their
operations all over the country, fleecing the credulous people to the
extent of hundreds of thousands of dollars a year. In Maryland and in
Georgia, and also in Kentucky, at that time, lotteries were licensed,
and perhaps in some other States; but most of the States prohibited
them. Cuba, too, licensed extensive lotteries, and Havana was, as she
still is, the chief city of the world, perhaps, in this respect. The
bogus companies in New York mostly pretended to be agents of the
legitimate companies to which I allude above; and purported to give
their "policy-holders" the true reports of the public drawings of these
lotteries, by which their fate, as winners or losers, was decided.
Among these companies of scamps, was one, self-styled "G. W. Huntington
& Co.," concocted and "managed" by men of classical education, high
bred, representing some of the really best families in the land, but
who had not been as fortunate in legitimate business as desirable, and
so resorted to this course of fraud in order to make money easier, and
more of it. They knew the value of advertising, to any business, and
they published a sheet in the form, in part, of a literary paper, in
which counterfeit schemes of the companies they pretended to represent,
were set forth in due style. It appeared, in the course of my
investigation of these affairs, that this company issued monthly no
less than two hundred thousand copies of this paper, which were sent to
various addresses, culled out of directories, and otherwise obtained,
from almost every village as well as city in the nation, north and
south, east and west; but principally in the Western and Middle States.
As the agents of the companies they pretended to represent, and of
pretended companies too, which never had an existence, these men were
in constant receipt of letters, containing from fifty cents, as a
minimum, up to ten dollars, usually the maximum, from their victims,
who wished to purchase tickets in this or that drawing; and they _got_
tickets in return, to be sure. I was informed that these letters were
received in numbers varying from thirty to a hundred a day, for several
days, and even weeks at a time, when some especially grand "drawing"
was announced to soon take place. Their mode of operations, as
disclosed in our investigations, was this: They first fixed upon nine
numbers, which they were to report after the alleged (pretended)
drawing should have taken place, as the numbers drawn--thus, for
example:--
1, 7, 14, 35, 11, 8, 55, 91, 240.
According to their "rules," whoever chanced to hold a ticket upon which
any three of the above numbers should appear in consecutive order (as,
for example, 1, 7, 14; or 11, 8, 55; or 7, 14, 35)--would draw the
largest prize of the scheme in which he bought his ticket, and in many
of these schemes such sums as $50,000, or $100,000, or $250,000, were
announced as the chief prizes; and then there were numerous small
prizes in each scheme which the ticket holder was sure to draw if he
happened to hold a ticket with numbers thereon, which should represent
_two_ of the above numbers consecutively; and so on ran their rules.
Well, having previously decided what numbers they would report to their
countless victims as the drawn numbers, these wily scoundrels had, for
their safety, only to take care in issuing each ticket to see that it
did not contain any three of the "drawn numbers" in consecutive order.
To A, for example, they would send a ticket bearing the Nos. "1," "7,"
"80"; to B, "11," "8," "200", etc., etc.; and after the "drawing" they
would send their report, containing a slip of paper bearing the nine
"drawn numbers," as above arranged, with a letter, running somewhat
this wise.--I am sure I had, at one time, several of the letters
actually sent to victims, but they do not disclose themselves from my
package now; but no matter, for my memory of them is pretty clear. The
report of drawings was private; but the letters were usually written
with a pen, in part, in order the better to flatter each person that
the company took especial notice of him, and hoped for his particular
success.
(Here was a picture of their Banking Office.)
BANKING HOUSE OF G. W. HUNTINGTON & CO., Bankers and Brokers,
and Dealers in Foreign Exchange, and Agents for the chief
Baltimore and Havana Lotteries, 23 William Street.
"NEW YORK, June 14, 1858.
"JOHN HENRY JONES, ESQ., _Harrisburgh, Pa._
"The public drawing of the 'Grand Consolidated Lotteries' of
Baltimore, Md., No. ----, took place as advertised, yesterday.
Herewith find slip bearing the drawn numbers." (Thus far, save
the address, printed, then followed in writing.) "We are sorry
to perceive that your ticket in scheme No. ----, and numbered
14, 35, 80, has drawn a blank. But you observe that you came
near winning the chief prize, as we heartily wish you had (as
it is for our interest as agents that our special customers be
lucky); '14, 35' only needed '11' to follow them, to have made
you a rich man. But perhaps your luck will come next time.
'Perseverance is a virtue which wins in the long run.' Hoping
for your further favors, and that you will yet be amply lucky,
we beg to remain,
"Your obedient, humble servants,
"G. W. HUNTINGTON & CO."
Now, "John Henry Jones, Esq." was probably an ignorant, low-minded,
dirty-faced ironmonger, of Harrisburgh, who managed now and then to get
together a few dollars, and had a hankering to get rich fast. His
letter to the company was badly spelled, and so forth; but it contained
money, and was, therefore, as acceptable as the elegantly-written
letter of some cashier of a bank in Ohio, or some poor clergyman of
Illinois, who thought it no harm to try his luck for once--(for many
clergymen, as well as others, get bitten by these schemes). John had
never been addressed as "Esquire" before; never received such a polite
letter in his life, and from a great banking house, in the largest city
on the continent! and John was flattered. Besides, he had almost drawn
a great prize; of course he would "try again," and again, and again,
for it appears that many persons become infatuated in this sort of
speculation, and will buy lottery tickets several times a year, and
year after year, for a long period, even without a particle of success.
When a customer sent these fellows ten dollars, they would so arrange
the numbers on his ticket, sometimes, in relation to the prepared drawn
numbers, as to allow him to draw one, two, or three dollars, so that he
should not feel that his loss had been entire, and to tempt him by a
little success to try again for a greater one. This will serve to
illustrate the business ways of the fellows; and just here, since it
now comes to mind, perhaps I had better note a little "side issue" of
one of these companies, of which I was told by one of the participants.
The company had its agents,--postmasters, many of them,--all over the
country,--and thought they would make a little speculation on their
agents themselves. So they prepared a splendid "scheme,"--a wonderful
GRAND CONSOLIDATED UNION DRAWING, etc. The tickets were most elegantly
printed, and vary-colored, in red, blue, and black, on the nicest
paper. No ticket in this grand scheme was less than ten dollars. To
some fifteen hundred of their agents, in as many different localities,
they sent from three to five of these tickets each, with a printed
letter, but marked "very confidential," setting forth the great
advantages of the new scheme, and suggesting that among these tickets
were doubtless many prizes, and the company did not expect to reap much
profits from the sale of tickets in this scheme, but were anxious that
its old customers should reap the prizes, and so forth. Of course the
company did not expect that any agent would be able to sell all the
tickets sent him, even though so few, and were surprised that many were
disposed of before the time of the alleged drawing. On the day of the
"drawing," more than nine tenths of the tickets still remained unsold,
and unreported upon in the hands of the agents. Having prepared written
letters in anticipation of the small sales, as a part of the trick,
they sent them forth to each agent. The letter ran something like this,
in substance:--
"DEAR SIR: The drawing of the Grand C. U. Lottery took place at
Baltimore, at twelve M., yesterday. Please to return us the
tickets, Nos. --, --, --, --, --, now in your hands, at once,
without fail, and _buy back any, if you can_, which you may
have disposed of, and charge us, and ask no questions, and we
will send you certified copy of drawing immediately on your
reply.
"Yours, most respectfully,
"---- ----."
This being an unusual way of doing business, excited the agent's
suspicion. He reflected that probably some one of the tickets he held
had drawn a great prize, and that the company meant to keep it, but he
could not, of course, guess which; and so as to secure the prize
himself, he would hold all the tickets, send on the money for them,
with an apology for not having reported earlier, and frequently with a
long lie about the trouble he had had, and naming this or that man to
whom the tickets had been sold. So hundreds of them sent in, after the
day of the alleged drawing, from thirty to fifty dollars apiece,
according to the number of tickets they held, and received by return
mail a "certified report" of the drawing, by which they discovered that
the tickets they held were all blanks, each, perhaps, thinking that
somebody else had drawn the "mammoth prizes." This trick was fruitful
to the amount of a great many thousands of dollars, and cost the
company only its expenses for printing, stationery, and postage. These
same agents continued to act for the company, and I presume that not
one of them to this day knows how he was taken in. But I trust that
this narrative will fall into the hands of many a one of them, and open
his eyes as to the fact of his having been made a tool of by designing
scamps to cheat his neighbors, and to be cheated himself.
The mayor of New York was constantly besieged, and I presume the same
is the case now, with letters from all parts of the country,
complaining that these writers had tried and tried their luck, time
after time, in this or that company, in vain, and asking him regarding
the standing of the company, and so forth. Sometimes a victim would get
his eyes open, conceive that he had possibly been cheated; or, having
had some rupture by correspondence with the company, discovered that he
was cheated, and beg the mayor to take the matter in hand. On two or
three occasions, within my memory, the police have made raids upon such
companies as they could get at; but usually matters were so secretly
conducted, that it would cost the police too much effort to get at
anything decided, especially without extra compensation for their
labors; and the frauds complained of in each case would generally
amount to not over ten dollars at most, and the complaints usually,
perhaps always, came from obscure men, living at a great distance from
New York, who could not afford to come and attend to the matter
themselves.
But the companies constantly had difficulty from one quarter of the
land or another--enough so as to keep them all the while on the alert.
Their offices were in obscure places. The members had business names
which differed from their real ones. Ostensibly, they carried on a real
estate business, for example, actually doing something in that line for
respectability's sake, and conducting their lottery swindle in some
secret room, having a box at the post office, and sending for their
letters a clerk, who was instructed to deposit the letters in some
secret place, from which one of the firm would secretly take them. Thus
they managed. But one day "there came trouble into the camp" of "G. W.
Huntington & Co." They had sold a ticket to a sturdy, and somewhat
intelligent farmer in or near Portland or Bangor, Maine. (I am unable
to find his address at this writing.) When the alleged drawing took
place, the company sent on its usual report to the farmer, among the
rest of their victims, saying, "You perceive that your ticket has
unfortunately drawn a blank. We regret it," etc.
[Illustration: THE BOGUS LOTTERY OFFICE.]
Now the farmer had "studied up" on the matter, and he saw that if they
had sent him what they called the copy of the "certified report" of the
drawing, he had drawn a prize of five thousand dollars, instead of a
blank, and so he politely wrote the company about their mistake.
Correspondence ensued, in which the company tried to convince the
farmer that he was mistaken; but it was of no use. The farmer was too
keen for them, and insisted on his rights. He consulted a lawyer in his
place, and the lawyer opened correspondence with the company, hinting
that legal measures would be taken. The company put the matter into
their lawyer's hands, and the two attorneys fired away at each other,
the company laughing in their sleeves over the humbugging they were
operating on the Maine lawyer. Finally the farmer's lawyer wrote on to
say, that the farmer would go down to New York, and institute
proceedings there, unless the prize was cashed within a week, and
suggested that a suit would seriously injure the credit of the company.
To this the company, by its lawyer, made no reply.
The farmer came on, and proceeded to the "Banking-house of G. W.
Huntington & Co., 23 William Street." He brought with him one of the
company's papers, in which was an engraving of the building, 23 William
Street, with the great sign of "G. W. Huntington & Co., Bankers,"
running across the whole face of the building, in large letters. His
astonishment can be guessed at when he failed to find any such bankers,
or any such sign there. There was the building, correctly represented
in the picture. The rest was fiction, of course. The building, except
the lower story, which was the office of some brokers, I believe, was
occupied mainly as lawyers' offices, and it chanced that the farmer, in
his astonishment at not finding "G. W. Huntington & Co." there, and
being determined to investigate the affair, and not be cheated out of
his five thousand-dollar prize, after coming all the way from Maine,
sought counsel at the office of one Mr. Wheaton,--a great criminal
lawyer, and the son of the distinguished author of an extensive and
valuable work, in two volumes, on International Law and Practice. Mr.
Wheaton was the same gentleman who, a few years ago, was run over by
the Harlem train of cars, on its way out of the city, and killed. He
was a very gentlemanly man, and heard the poor man's case; told him
that the company was undoubtedly bogus; but pitying the man, who was
really not well off in this world's goods, undertook to aid him, and
through the post office sent a very polite note to the company touching
the matter. The note was politely responded to, and eventually, after
three or four days' delay, the company, securing a sharp and
unscrupulous lawyer, sent him to wait upon Mr. Wheaton. The lawyer
represented that he did not know the company's place of business even,
but was ready to treat for them; that they would not pay a dollar, and
that the whole trouble arose from some mistake. But Mr. Wheaton would
not settle without something being done; but at last, after a few days,
agreed to take thirty dollars, which would pay for the farmer's
travelling expenses to and from Maine. How the poor fellow met the rest
of his expenses, I was never told; but he doubtless went back to Maine
a wiser, if not a better man. (Should this article chance to fall under
his eye, he can certainly do some of his neighbors good by reading it
to them, and "illustrating" it in person, saying, "Gentlemen, _I_ was
the man! behold the picture! and forever be wary of lottery agents.") I
had been called in to work up the case, but the settlement was effected
the next day, and it was dropped. Mr. Wheaton had a conference with the
mayor concerning it; and afterwards, when, on several complaints being
made against the company, the mayor resolved to trace out the company,
and break up their nefarious business, he sent for me.
Numerous efforts had, at times theretofore, been made to hunt out these
companies' dens. Officers had been stationed inside the post office,
and when a clerk--usually a rusty, scampish-looking lad, or an old
sinner of a man--came for the letters, and he took them, he was
tracked, with the hope that he could be traced to the secret office.
But he was too wary for that,--had had too good instructions,--and
escaped; or, if next time he was arrested, after having been traced
along a circuitous route, going into this or that crowded store, or
eating-house, it would be found that he had already disposed of the
letters, having adroitly handed them to one of the "firm," perhaps,
properly stationed at some point for the purpose of receiving them: or,
if he was arrested at the post office with the letters in hand, he was
found to be an individual not easily frightened, and when taken before
the mayor, would declare that he did not know the company, or the
individuals composing it; that some man, whose name he did not know,
had employed him at fifty cents or a dollar a time to draw the letters
with the box check or card. If the mayor took away the check, all the
company had to do was to write to the postmaster for another, alleging
their loss. Keeping this fellow under arrest for some length of time
did no good. The company readily found out about the arrest, and would
send some lawyer to act for the clerk, and the result would be that he
would be released speedily, and go to drawing letters again. Attempts
had also been made to trace out the printers of the papers sent out by
these companies. So great were the numbers of these at times that they
seriously burdened the mails. The postage expenses to the companies
must have been enormous; but advertising "tells," and if only one paper
in a hundred chanced to fall into the hands of a man who would be
allured thereby to invest in lottery tickets, the business would pay.
But after considerable search for the printers, within the city, it was
concluded that the papers were printed somewhere else, and sent into
New York in bulk, and privately prepared for the mails.
This was the situation of things when I took hold of the matter. I was
advised of what had previously been done, but was, of course, allowed
to pursue my own method. After a day or two's experimenting in
following clerks from the post office, and finally tracking one of them
into a lawyer's office on Nassau Street, and being coolly informed by
the lawyer that the company were his clients, and having had some
difficulty with disaffected parties, had put their correspondence into
his hands for a while, I thought best to pursue another course. There
was little or no use in attempting to convict him of complicity with
the matter. He said he would take his oath that he did not know whether
the company was bogus or not, or were really the agents of responsible
companies in foreign states; and as for that matter he did not care. He
had been, he said, employed by them to attend to certain legal matters
of theirs, and he never inquired into the private character of his
clients except when necessary. "They pay me well for my services,
generally advancing my fees, and I am satisfied." My own opinion was,
and is, that he was one of the firm himself, and as guilty as any of
the rest, but he was shrewd enough to not get trapped. I saw it would
cost more than it would come to to pursue that line. If I arrested the
letter clerks for a few days, and took them before the mayor, that
would not break up the business. The company's plans were safely laid.
When I did get at them, I wanted to break them up effectually; and I
set myself about procuring copies of their papers, which I did by
writing from the mayor's office to the parties who had sent in their
complaints, asking them to forward all documents and papers which they
had received from the company. Receiving these, I submitted them to
various wary and knowing printers, in order to find out at what office
in the city the printing was probably done. A printer or newspaper man
will ordinarily detect, by the size of column, or some other
peculiarity, from what paper a given extract has been clipped, as
readily as a tailor can tell from whose shop a certain coat or pair of
pantaloons came, or as easily as a man can distinguish the handwriting
of his friends. But in this case I was baffled at first. Nobody could
give me any hint, till I finally came across a printer then working in
the Tribune office; and on looking over some of the papers, he
discovered something which reminded him of the style of a certain paper
in Norwich, Connecticut; and then, as if a new light had dawned upon
him, suddenly exclaimed, "By George! I believe I have it, for I know
that at the ---- office, a year or two ago, the boys used occasionally
to do a great deal of extra night work, and got extra pay. I never knew
what 'twas."
In further conversation with him, I concluded that there must be
something in it, and in a day or two posted off for Norwich, where I
made the acquaintance of a gentleman by the name of Sykes, then editor
of the "Advertiser" (I think that was the name of his paper), and was
soon put in possession of abundant facts for the then present time. I
learned that the papers for certain bogus lottery companies, to the
extent of several hundred thousand a month, were printed at a certain
office there, and mailed through the Norwich post office; that it was a
matter of considerable pecuniary profit to the post office to have the
mailing of these documents, and that certain men of much social
respectability in Norwich were engaged in printing and mailing these
papers, which they well knew to be the circulars of bogus lottery
companies; but I could do nothing with them; and exposure of their
conduct in Mr. Sykes's paper was not likely to result in much good. The
lottery papers reached parties who would not be apt to ever hear of the
exposure; besides, to make it was no part of my business on that
occasion. I found, to my satisfaction, that whereas "G. W. Huntington &
Co.'s Bulletin" had formerly been printed in Norwich, and distributed
from there over the country; that it was now doubtless printed
somewhere in New York, and at Norwich I prepared my traps to find out
certainly where the papers were printed in New York, which fact I
finally accomplished after a little delay. Determining about what time
of the previous month the papers for the next month's issue would be
put to press, I made business to the printing office, and gave the
printers an order a little difficult to fill, and which I knew would
have to be delayed. I also set a brother detective on their track with
a like affair, so that we could have proper excuse for visiting the
office occasionally. I managed to privately secure (no matter how, for
somebody yet living might not wish me to tell) two or three copies of
the paper then in process of being struck off. The character of the
printing office was high, the members of the firm being all what are
styled "good fellows," not likely to be in complicity with the lottery
pirates, and I was not disposed to injure the printers; but I was
determined to learn what parties gave them the orders for printing
these papers. The laws of New York are a little stringent upon this
matter, and I waited till I found out that a very large number of the
papers were struck off and ready to be delivered. I had learned that
these were usually sent off out of the office to somebody's care, but I
did not propose to follow up the parties as I had done the letter
clerks; so one morning, when all was right, I took a couple of regular
policemen along with me, and entered the printing office on Spruce
Street, and calling one of the proprietors into the counting-room,
advised him of my business, and the law in the premises. He was taken
aback; turned a little pale; and protested that he had no suspicion
that he was engaged in an unlawful business; said they exercised no
secrecy in the printing, so far as attempting to cover up any offence
was concerned; but that the lottery company had asked them to observe a
degree of privacy in the printing, on account of their competition with
rival companies.
"But," said he, "I read a little law once in Ohio; thought I would make
a lawyer, but got sick of it; and I remember that one of the first
things my old instructor, in whose office I read, taught me, was,
'Ignorance of the law excuseth no man,' and we shall have to bear the
brunt of it, I fear. Besides, we have a bill of nearly a thousand
dollars against these fellows, and if you break them up, where are we
to get our pay?"
"Have they been good pay heretofore?"
"O, yes; we let one bill run on to over fifteen hundred dollars. I felt
a little skittish about it, but they paid it all up, and gave us five
hundred dollars in advance on the next month's issue." I was convinced
of the gentleman's honesty. I had learned a good deal about him, and
his manner was that of an honest man. "Well," said I, "I'll tell you
what we'll do. You deliver these papers, but do you let me know
precisely where they are delivered; tell me the true names of the
parties who order them; give me such 'copy' as they have sent in to be
printed from, so that I may be in possession of their manuscripts;
describe the personal appearance of each of them whom you know, in
writing, and make a written statement over your own signature of all
your connection with them, and I will wait till you get your pay from
them, if you will stir them up immediately, and promise to not do any
more work of this kind for them." The gentleman instantly replied,--
"That's fair. Of course we won't do any more such printing if it is
illegal: but some of these lottery men are persons of great
respectability in society, and I am astonished to find they are engaged
in such a nefarious business, and I prefer to consult my partner" (a
much older man), "before I concede to your proposition. Let me speak to
him a minute, for there he is, and I will give you my answer. I prefer
that _he_ shall take the responsibility."
The gentleman walked out to where his partner was engaged in looking
over some work, held a moment or two's conversation with him, when they
both came into the counting-room, and the older gentleman heard from me
my story and my propositions, and answered at once. "Of course we will
accede to your propositions, and be much obliged to you for giving such
excellent terms."
The propositions were specifically complied with. The printing-house
got its pay for its work by refusing to deliver it till paid for. As
the lottery agents were in need of the papers, and would lose a month's
revenue for want of them, they were obliged to yield, and pay up all
arrearages, threatening to take their printing elsewhere thereafter,
which had been considerable; but the printers kept silent, and did not
even let them know that they had discovered they were pursuing an
unlawful business. The papers were duly delivered to the lottery men,
and I kept watch on their private den, concluding that I would not
disturb them till they had gone to the expense of wrapping the papers,
and paying the postage, which must have been something enormous. Whole
bushels at a time of the papers went to the post office, and the
rascals were probably dreaming of the revenue which was to follow that
month's laudable labor. I was willing that they should do the
government as much service as they pleased in the way of sustaining the
postal system, and inwardly rather feasted on the "prospect." Their
private den was unoccupied during the night. Indeed, they usually left
at an early hour in the afternoon, save on great mailing days.
I hired desk room in a lawyer's office in the same building, No. 5
Tryon Row, close by the courts of justice, and within the immediate
shadow of the City Hall,--not an inappropriate locality for the
bogus lottery scoundrels after all; for the common council of New
York holds its sessions in the City Hall, and there, too, is the
mayor's office, and that office has sometimes been filled by as
great wretches as these lottery agents. Indeed, I call to mind one
mayor who made not a little of his large fortune in the "policy
business," i. e., in a scoundrelly, though, in a measure, legalized
lottery swindle. Matsell, the old chief of police, had his rooms in
the same building, and had he been in office at the time, would
have rejoiced to find these "birds" making their nest so
conveniently near him. Having a desk in the lawyer's office, I was
of course entitled to spend my nights there, or as much of them as
I pleased; and being next door to the "Real Estate Office" (as a
sign on the door facetiously intimated), or, in other words, the
private office of "G. W. Huntington & Co.," I found the "patent
lock" on their door not at all in my way for making observations.
With a dark lantern I could select such of their correspondence as
I pleased, take it to my room, and there, by a broad light, read
it. I got possession in this way of many astounding facts, and also
procured "specimens of the handwriting" of several of this honest
firm--notes written to the clerks, giving orders, etc. Some of
these I preserved for future use, but returned most of the
customers' correspondence. There were in their office numerous
large packages of "business" letters; letters from agents and
customers--(when we took possession we found somewhere about twenty
thousand letters, which were only a part of what the company had
received during their comparatively short existence. They had
destroyed great numbers, merely to rid themselves of the
incumbrance.) I got a pretty thorough understanding of the
business, and collected facts and names of customers for future
witnesses, etc., to put it quite out of the question for these
fellows to ever resume their business under their then title, after
they should be broken up; and, all things prepared, kept watch so
as to catch one of the proprietors in the office at work. The "Real
Estate" department, in which nothing at all was done, was divided
off from the lottery den by a board partition, over the door of
which was a sign "Private Consulting Office." Leaving my assistants
at the door (and having sent an officer to an office in 115 Nassau
Street, to arrest another of the "proprietors" there), I went in to
see the gentleman on real estate business; and was informed by the
clerk that his principal was in the consulting room, and would be
out soon. The clerk who had come out from the "consulting room" as
I went into the office, had closed the door (which was evidently
open before); and I remarked, that as I was in a hurry, I'd step in
and see the principal; and suiting the action to the word, stepped
to the door, when the clerk,--a tall lad, of twenty years of age,
perhaps,--brusquely stepped up before the door, and said,--
"You cannot enter here--that's my orders."
[Illustration: SURPRISING THE BOGUS LOTTERY DEALERS.]
I pushed him aside without saying a word, whistled, and went in, and
caught the principal with pen in hand at work at a table, with a pile
of correspondence before him, while at the same time my two men at the
door rushed in, and I called to them to secure the clerk, and bring him
into the private room, which they did. I then stepped out of the
private room and locked the outside door, and returning, informed the
principal what I knew about him, and so terrified him as to extort from
him a full confession of his connection with the business. He confessed
that they were thoroughly caught, and must be broken up; which
conviction was soon deepened, when one of my men answering a knock at
the outside door, let in an officer, accompanied by another of the
principals. I took possession of the contents of the office, made the
parties deliver up the mails for that day and the day before, (the
money received from which they still had on hand,) in order to refund
the money to the swindled parties; made them give me money enough to
pay for the requisite stationery and postage, all of which I got from
them on the spot; and then took due proceedings against them legally,
leaving the office in charge of one of my men, till I could get around
to it and examine the correspondence, which was in time to be
destroyed. I made these fellows advance me money, too, to pay for the
rent of the office, on which a month's rent was then due the lessor,
and for another month's rent. These fellows were men in high social
position, and they tried hard to bribe me into silence, and made large
and tempting offers, and promised also to quit the business forever;
but I reminded them that their very offer was an offence against the
law, and suggested that they must not even repeat their bribes. There
was a third member of this honest firm, but the officer sent to arrest
him reported that he was out of town, to return next day; and as we
wanted him too, we took good care that his friends should have no
opportunity to communicate to him, or anybody else that day. I never
saw more "sore-headed" chaps than they. The fear of exposition through
the public press, was a terrible one for them; and as it was
compounding no felony, and was no breach of law to agree to not give
the facts to the press, and to let these chaps be brought before the
proper officers and plead guilty, under assumed names, when we should
get to that point, I had no hesitancy in accepting for myself and my
men a pretty large sum of money from them. It was true that the money
gave me some uneasiness, as I reflected that it had probably been
cheated out of poor victims, although the rascals asserted that they
had not made much in that way. But their correspondence showed that
they had. The third man was arrested next day, and kept apart from the
other two. He was taken before the mayor under his assumed name, and
there made a pitiful confession, disclosing more than his _confreres_
had done. He was the "scion of a distinguished house," was younger than
the rest, and had been inveigled into the matter by the ambition to be
independent of his father, and make money for himself; and having been
bred to no legitimate business, easily fell into this in connection
with his cousin, one of the other principals. The third party is now
dead. He "reformed," and went into a legitimate business. Some of the
steps we had taken with these fellows, were rather bold ones, hardly
within purview of the law; and the mayor, satisfied with the thorough
work which had been done,--we having captured all their correspondence,
their elaborately-kept journals, containing corrected lists of all
their agents, together, with quite a large library of city and business
directories, and a countless quantity of business cards, which had
afforded them names to which to direct their papers, and schedules of
"drawings to be held," etc., etc., the mayor conceived that we had so
effectually crippled them, that they could not, seeking a new office,
go on with their business; and as all he wished to do was to break them
up, he concluded to let them go, on their promise to not reënter upon
the business; and turned to me, and asked if I did not agree with him.
I said, "Yes; but I think there is one thing more which these men owe
to the public, through their victims. They have apparently a plenty of
money, and we have their register of correspondence. My proposition is,
that we draw up a circular to be sent to all their victims, stating
that the firm is broken up, and warning the customers of the fraudulent
character of this and all other such concerns, get a few thousand of
the circulars printed, and mail them to each man on their books, and
make them bear the expense of printing, enveloping, clerk hire and
postage, and pay the clerks liberally for their work. They ought to do
this, to undo the wrong they have done, as far as they can."
"Yes, yes, gentlemen, I like that proposition. What do you say to it?"
said the mayor.
They were deathly silent for a moment; looked askance at each other
(for at this session we had all the three present); but one broke the
silence--
"It will be a pretty big bill. I told you the truth when I said we are
poor; as for myself, I am worth next to nothing."
The mayor looked at me inquiringly, and probably saw something in my
face which was as expressive as if I had said, "Bosh! they are
perfectly able;" so he said, "Gentlemen, I shall insist on the
condition;" and turning to me, he added, "make out a liberal estimate,
and hold these men under arrest till you get the sum advanced. Mind! I
say advanced! don't trust them for a minute."
The firm, seeing that it was of no use to quibble, agreed to meet the
emergency that day; and I, having in the course of two hours found out
how much it would cost to print twenty thousand circulars, and for
clerk hire for two months, for two clerks, with postage added, at two
cents a circular, agreed to accept eight hundred dollars,--a pretty
liberal sum, for I was not disposed to oppress myself for want of
means, on account of any foolish pity for these chaps. The amount was
forthcoming, and the scamps were released.
I at once drew up a circular in these words. By the way, I had secured
their engraving of the building, No. 23 William Street, with which the
circular was headed:--
"MAYOR'S OFFICE, NEW YORK.
"DEAR SIR: This is to inform you that the great 'Banking House
of G. W. Huntington & Co.,'--the above picture of which you
have doubtless seen before,--has 'suspended operations' having
fallen into the hands of the police. This house was a bogus
lottery concern, which conducted its stealthy business in an
obscure den, while pretending to occupy the building above
represented, by the picture of which they more readily enticed
their country customers to 'invest' in their shrewdly-devised
schemes. If in dealing with them you ever secured a prize, it
was only given to entice you into larger ventures. Beware of
all such companies in the future. The mayor directs me to
advise you that there are no legitimate lottery companies or
agencies in the city of New York. None are allowed by law to do
business here. All of them are bogus and fraudulent. His honor
the mayor further suggests that you may, perhaps, do your
unwary neighbors a service, by showing them, if you please,
this circular,--or by at least informing them that all such
companies and agencies in New York are fraudulent in their
character. The mayor receives hundreds of complaints during the
course of a year from the victims of these companies, or
'agencies,' and a list of all those to whom this circular is
sent, is kept, and no notice of the complaint of any one of
these will hereafter be taken. The mayor trusts that you, sir,
will not only escape being imposed upon by these bogus lottery
sharpers hereafter, but will so warn and instruct all your
friends that they, too, will escape being victimized.
Respectfully yours,
"---- ----,
"Mayor's Special Clerk."
About eighteen thousand of these circulars were duly mailed to the
addresses found in the captured books, and the books themselves were
duly deposited for further reference. It would seem that this warning,
scattered as it was into more than half the towns in the Union, ought
to have lessened the number of victims to these swindling concerns; but
I have been informed that some of them are in full blast to-day, and
that all along, since the arrest of "G. W. Huntington & Co.," other
concerns carried on heavy operations. Everybody, almost, it would seem,
_must_ have personal experience; will _not_, for some reason, profit by
the experience and advice of others who have suffered--been bitten by
sharpers. But I trust that this article will be heeded by all who read
it. Perhaps it is a sufficiently clear exposition of the way these
rascals proceeded, to make it evident that there is no trusting the
pretences of any of them. Sure it is that there are at least five
hundred thousand people in the land, who, if they were to read this
exposition, could reflect that it must be, as it is, literally true,
entirely unembellished by imagination to the extent of even a word, and
that, too, from their own experiences; and they can now understand the
_modus operandi_ by which they were swindled.
All "gift enterprises," so common in New York, and other places,
to-day, partake in their nature of these bogus lottery operations, and
no man is safe who trusts a single one of them. He will be swindled in
the end, in some way.
I could not well allow myself to cut this article short at this point,
although my tale is, properly speaking, finished, and my contract under
this head, with my publishers, fulfilled. There is something so
marvellous in the human heart in the way of its disposition to
adventure in order to make money easily; such a wonderful credulity in
the minds of large numbers of people, and a willingness to fasten in
trust upon the merest shadow of success, that perhaps these fraudulent
concerns will never lack victims. But in studying the correspondence
which fell into my hands,--over twenty thousand letters,--and with
which I beguiled many hours during the six months in which I kept them,
before burning them, I became apprised of the fact that the great
majority of the "customers" of these concerns are illiterate; most of
their letters being misspelled; that great numbers of them were young
men, boys, and poor women; nearly all evidently mechanics, and from
some of the States, such as Pennsylvania, many farmers. (Pennsylvania,
by the way, furnishes more victims to petty frauds, I learned, than
several other States which I might name, taken together.) She has a
large number of citizens who are barely able to read and write poorly,
and who probably do not read the public journals extensively, and are,
therefore, not likely to be well informed of the current iniquities of
the time. I seriously meditated, after having studied the "G. W.
Huntington & Co." correspondence, the writing of a book on the matter
of Swindling, in general; and this correspondence would have afforded
me many pathetic things for comment. While looking over that
correspondence, the tears often came irresistibly to my eyes. I
recollect the letter of a boy writing from Easton, Penn., I think it
was. He had, it appeared from his letter, sent many dollars to the
company for tickets, a dollar at a time, and winning nothing from his
ventures, was getting discouraged. He wrote an imploring letter at
last, accompanied by a dollar, in which he begged the company to choose
him a winning number. He told them it was his last dollar; (he was but
sixteen years old, he said); that he should not be able to send again,
if he failed this time, for he had to give every cent he could earn; (I
forget what he said he worked at, but he named the business and the
pitiable wages he got); that his father was a dreadful drunkard; one of
his little sisters was "sick all the while;" another had broken her leg
two months before, and the doctors thought she might have to lose it,
and so on, a pitiable tale--a tale to stir the hardest heart, and
written in that style which stamped it as undoubtedly true. At the
bottom of this letter was a note for the clerk, in the handwriting of
one of the firm. "Write to" (somebody, I forget his name, of course),
"at Easton, and learn if this story is true; and if it is, let the boy
draw five dollars in Scheme No." (so and so.) There was a note dated
some days after, below this in the clerk's hand. "Letter received from
Easton; story true; ticket issued." _Probably_ that boy re-invested the
whole five dollars. Drawing the money, his hope would naturally be
excited; and now that he could buy a ticket in a larger "drawing," he
probably sent the five dollars back, and lost them of course.
Widows, with large families, and who wrote most mournful stories,
sending on every cent they could save (while half-starving their
families in order to do so, probably), were among the number of
correspondents. Clergymen of poor parishes sent for tickets, with long
letters, in which they commented piously upon the matter of hazard and
lotteries, in a manner to excuse themselves for sending, and hoping
that they should draw something to help them out of their poverty and
misery, and expressing their belief that "God would pardon them if they
were doing wrong," were also of the number. Many letters were of a
comical nature, the writers half-laughing at themselves for doing so
foolish a thing as buying tickets in a lottery; but yet unable to
resist the temptation. By some of the letters it was evident to me that
the writers told abominable lies about their sufferings and trials, in
order to excite the sympathy of the "agents," and induce them to use
their best efforts to secure for them winning tickets. Some of the
correspondents offered to give the "agents" half their prize money, in
order to bribe them to select a successful ticket. Some of them sent
counterfeit money. I found such notes as this at bottom of several
letters, "One dollar counterfeit, two dollars good. Send tickets in
Scheme No. 8." "Counterfeit; send back." These were evidently
directions to clerks. If the writing in these letters which contained
only counterfeit money had been good, I might have suspected the
writers of perpetrating an appropriate joke; but the letters were
evidently from ignorant people, some of whom, perhaps, knew that the
bills they sent were counterfeit, and hoped that the great banking
company, in their vast press of business, would fail to detect the
bills. Many of the letters were written in excellent mercantile hand;
but I noticed some badge of ignorance about all these, as well as about
the poorly-written and misspelled ones. Probably ninety-nine in a
hundred of the victims were made such through their ignorance of the
world and the wicked men in it.
"Knowledge is power;" not only a power to execute, but a power for
salvation; and when her light shall be sufficiently diffused, all such
crafts _as these bogus lottery swindlers_ will "have had their day,"
and not before. I doubt somewhat that if all the newspapers of the land
should, on some given week, publish each a full _exposé_ of these
swindles, and repeat the same every week, for a month, the majority of
the victims would be saved. Many would; but some with their eyes
opened, as far as facts could open them, would still be duped. The
investigation of this bogus lottery business did more to weaken my
respect for the good sense of my fellow-men in general, than had all
the experiences of my life theretofore. But I find I am tempted on
beyond the limits I had set for myself in this article. The subject is
an interesting one to me, and I may return to it at another time, and
to some of its phases not here commented upon.
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