Twenty Years a Detective in the Wickedest City in the WorldWooldridge, Clifton R. (Clifton Rodman)
History
Twenty Years a Detective in the Wickedest City in the World
Wooldridge, Clifton R. (Clifton Rodman)
Crime -- Illinois -- Chicago; Police -- Illinois -- Chicago
About the time the drawing was to take place the confederate entered
and cheerfully took a chance and won the watch without any difficulty.
Thus, they had the watch and the $5 also. They would split the money,
and on the first convenient occasion the raffle would be repeated at
another place, and by some trick known to themselves the drawing was
manipulated so that the confederate always won the watch.
A South Side woman recently had 500 raffle tickets printed, to be sold
at 10 cents each, the drawing to be on Thanksgiving day, for a "grand
parlor clock," the proceeds to be for the benefit of a "poor widow."
As the woman herself happens to be a grass widow, and as the place of
the drawing could not be learned, neither could there be obtained a
sight of the clock, it is not difficult to guess the final destination
of $50 for which the tickets were sold.
POPULAR GAME IN SALOONS.
At many saloons and cigar stores there is a continuous raffle in
progress for a "fine gold watch." It is well for those who buy chances
to inspect the time piece with a critical eye. One of these watches
was submitted to a jeweler by the man who won it. "It's what we call
an auction watch," said the expert. "It is worth about 87 cents
wholesale. The case is gilded, and the works are of less value than
the movement of a 69-cent alarm clock. It was keep time until the
brass begins to show through the plate, and it may not."
One of the attractive forms of the raffle ticket game is valuing the
tickets at from 1 cent up to as high as desired. The man who buys a
chance draws a little envelope containing his number. If he is lucky
and draws a small number he is encouraged to try again. This is a
sort of double gamble, and many men cannot resist the temptation to
speculate upon the chances, simply in order to have the fun of drawing
the little envelopes.
Of course, many of the raffles are for cases of genuine charity, and
it is an easy way to raise a fund for some worthy object. Many a
person would not accept an outright gift, even in case of sickness
or death, will permit friends to raffle off a piano or a bicycle for
a good round price in order to obtain a fund to tide him over an
emergency. To buy tickets for this kind of a raffle is praiseworthy.
RAFFLE IS LOTTERY BY LAW.
But sharpers are not above getting money by the same means. If a
strange man, or a doubtful looking woman, wants to sell you a chance
for the benefit of "an old soldier," or a "little orphan girl," or a
"striker out of work," it might pay you to investigate.
But here is where the easy money comes in for the sharper. It is too
much trouble to investigate, and the tender-hearted person would
sooner give up the 10, 25 or 50 cents to an unworthy grafter than to
take chances of refusing to aid a case of genuine need.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
Reviews
Reviews
No reviews yet
Be the first to share your thoughts on this work.
Join the Discussion
Join the discussion
Sign in to leave a comment or review.
Sign InorCreate an account