CHAPTER VII.

Counterfeiting lottery tickets--Curious lotteries--Suicide--Method of starting a State lottery--Lottery office-keepers to be licensed --Charles (or “Patch”) Price.

In 1776 was a lottery for £600,000 (16 Geo. III. c. 34), and in 1777 was one (17 Geo. III. c. 46) for £500,000. On January 6, this year, two Jews, Samuel Noah and Joseph Aarones, were examined before the Lord Mayor, charged with counterfeiting the lottery ticket, No. 25,590, a prize of £2000, with intent to defraud Mr. Keyser, an office-keeper, knowing the same to be 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 discovered. Aarones had but just come to England, and Noah was thought to be a man of property. On February 21, Joseph Aarones and Samuel Noah were tried for forging and counterfeiting a lottery ticket; their defence was that the prisoner Aarones found it, and persons were brought to swear to the fact; 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. The numbers being written in ordinary ink rendered this extremely easy.

On February 24, 1777, Daniel Denny was tried for forging, counterfeiting, and altering a lottery ticket, with intent to defraud; and, being found guilty, he was condemned. He, probably, was not prepared with false witnesses as were the Jews--a custom which, unfortunately, as regards the foreign importations, exists to an alarming extent in our own time.

With regard to this lottery, the _Annual Register_ for 1777 says (p. 206), “The following is a true state of the different methods of getting money by lottery-office keepers, and other ingenious persons, who have struck out different plans of getting money by the State lottery of 1777. First, His Majesty’s royal letters patent for securing the property of purchasers. Secondly, a few office-keepers who advertise 'By authority of Parliament’ to secure your property in shares and chances. Thirdly, several schemes for shares and chances, only entitling the purchasers to all prizes above twenty pounds. Fourthly, a bait for those who can only afford to venture _one shilling_.

“Then come the ingenious sett of lottery merchants, viz. Lottery magazine proprietors, Lottery taylors, Lottery stay-makers, Lottery glovers, Lottery hat-makers, Lottery tea-merchants, Lottery snuff and tobacco merchants, Lottery handkerchiefs, Lottery bakers, Lottery barbers (where a man, being shaved, and paying threepence, may stand a chance of getting ten pounds), Lottery shoe-blacks, Lottery eating-houses (one in Wych Street, Temple Bar, where, if you call for sixpenny-worth of roast, or boiled beef, you receive a note of hand, with a number, which, should it turn out fortunate, may entitle the eater of the beef to sixty guineas), Lottery oyster stalls, by which the fortunate may get five guineas for threepenny-worth of oysters. And, to complete this curious catalogue, an old woman, who keeps a sausage-stall in one of the little alleys leading to Smithfield, wrote up in chalk, 'Lottery _sausages_, or five shillings to be gained for a farthing relish.’”

Sad to say, this year’s lottery led to at least one suicide, for, on January 10, the body of a young man, clerk to a merchant in the city, was found in the river, below bridge; he had been dabbling in the lottery with his master’s money, and chose this method of settling his accounts.

In 1778 there was a lottery for £480,000 (18 Geo. III. c. 22), another in 1779 (19 Geo. III. c. 18) for £490,000, one in 1780 (20 Geo. III. c. 16) for £480,000. At this time, and afterwards, the State lotteries became a regular institution. At first they were spasmodic, and were of help to the Government at a time when rates were hardly known; they now developed into a voluntary taxation, appealing to the national taste for gambling, and fostered by the Government, in order to help out the annual supplies. The _modus operandi_ was that the Chancellor of the Exchequer would invite a few of the leading stockbrokers to a conference, in which he would state his views. That he intended to issue a lottery for, say, £500,000 in £10 tickets--all to be distributed in prizes; and then he asked them at what price they would tender for them. In the competition that ensued, a final offer would be accepted, and the whole lot disposed of at, say, five pounds premium per share, which would give the Government a clear profit, without risk, of £250,000. Of course, those who got the concession put up the price of the tickets at once, but, as single shares were seldom bought--most people taking a fourth, an eighth, or a sixteenth of a ticket--the rise was not much felt by the public, and at this time they seem to have been thoroughly subscribed for.

In 1780 and 1781 were drawn lotteries (20 Geo. III. c. 16, and 21 Geo. III. c. 14) for £480,000 each, and in 1782 another for £405,000 (22 Geo. III. c. 8).

Private lotteries, although illegal, still flourished, and the Government, in order to keep up its own monopoly in this lucrative gambling, got an Act passed in 1782 (22 Geo. III. c. 47) whereby lottery-office keepers were to pay £50 licence, under a penalty for not doing so of £100. In 1783 there was a lottery (23 Geo. III. c. 35) for £480,000, and one in 1784 (24 Geo. III. c. 10) for £360,000; but this seems to have been rather unfortunate, as not more than a third of the tickets were sold before drawing. From this time lotteries, as aids to State revenue, were disconnected from loans, with which they had hitherto been associated, and in 1785 (25 Geo. III. c. 59) was one for £650,000, of which £500,000 was given in prizes, and it yielded a net profit to the Government of £137,250. Next year, 1786 (26 Geo. III. c. 65), one for £688,750, prizes £500,000, net profit £176,000.

An episode of crime in the annals of the lottery may well be introduced here, for on January 25, 1786, Charles, _alias_ “Patch,” Price hanged himself, and so terminated his worthless life. The following particulars respecting him are condensed from the very lengthy biography in Hone’s “Every-Day Book.”

[Illustration: CHARLES PRICE.

Ordinary Dress. Disguise.]

He was the son of a tailor, who came, about 1702, from South Wales to London, where, in 1710, he settled in Monmouth Street (a famous place for cheap tailors and second-hand clothes) as journeyman to a salesman there. He afterwards set up for himself in the Seven Dials. Charles was sent to school when six years old, and when twelve years of age had to help his father; but he developed such cunning and roguery that he had to be apprenticed to a hatter and hosier, whom he tricked, and, being discovered, he ran away. His father died, disinheriting him; but before his death Charles went as servant to two gentlemen, with one of whom he went the tour of Europe. He became a brewer, then set up a distillery, defrauded the revenue, was sent to the King’s Bench, released by an Insolvent Act, again turned brewer, and defrauded a gentleman out of £6000. He then became a lottery office-keeper, courted a Mrs. Pounteney, and ran away with her niece. He practised innumerable frauds, became an adept at swindling, and had the effrontery to avow his depredations and laugh at those he injured.

Price was intimate with a Mr. R____, a grocer retired from business, with whom he had, for a long time, passed as a stockbroker. Price, who then lived at Knightsbridge, frequently used to request the favour of Mr. R____ to take a bank-note or two into the city, and get them changed into small ones. In this he had a twofold plot. He informed his friend that he was intimately acquainted with a very old gentleman, exceedingly rich, who had been an eminent broker in the Alley, but had long retired; that his monies in the funds were immense; that the only relation he had in the world was one sister, to whom he intended to bequeathe the best part of his property; and that his sister was near fifty years of age, had never been married, and was determined never to marry; and that it was impossible that the old gentleman could live long, as he was very old, very infirm, and almost incapable of going out of doors. This old gentleman, Price said, had often asked him to become his executor; and besought him to recommend another person, in whose fidelity, character, and integrity he could repose an entire confidence, and that he would make it well worth their while if they would undertake so friendly and solemn an office. “Now,” said Price to Mr. R____, “here is an opportunity for us to make a considerable sum in a short time, and, in all probability, a very capital fortune in a few years; for, the sister being determined not to marry, and having no relations in the world, there is no doubt but she will leave us the whole of the estate; and, after his decease, she will become totally dependent upon us. I shall see the old gentleman, Mr. Bond, to-day, and, if you will join in the trust, the will shall be immediately made.”

To this proposal Mr. R____ consented. In the evening Price returned to Knightsbridge. He told Mr. R____ that he had visited Mr. Bond, who expressed great happiness and easiness of mind on such a recommendation, and desired to see Mr. R____ the next day. Price appointed to meet him at twelve o’clock at Mr. Bond’s. At the appointed hour Mr. R____ knocked at the door. He was shown upstairs by the aforementioned sister, and introduced to Mr. Bond, seated in a great chair, his legs in another, and his head covered with a night-cap. The poor, infirm, weak, debilitated old gentleman regretted the absence of his ever dear friend, Mr. Price, the most worthy man in the world, and rang a peal on his friendship, honour, honesty, integrity, etc., accompanied with emaciated coughs--was obliged to go to a City coffee-house--a punctual man--never failed an appointment--it was the soul of business; and he then told Mr. R____ that his dear friend desired to meet Mr. R____ there, exactly at one o’clock. He approved highly of Mr. Price’s recommendation, and was now quite happy in his mind; it wanted but a quarter to one, he believed, and he hoped Mr. R____ would not fail, as his dear friend was very exact indeed. The usual compliments passed; the sister conducted Mr. R____ to the door, who posted away to the City coffee-house, and left old Mr. Bond, who was in reality no other than Price, and his maiden sister, who was Mrs. Pounteney, to laugh at Mr. R____’s credulity. Mr. R____ had not been five minutes in the coffee-house before he was joined by his friend Price, to whom Mr. R____ recapitulated what had passed; and, as soon as Price had despatched some pretended business, he proposed calling on Mr. Bond. This was readily acquiesced in by Mr. R____, and away they drove to Leather Lane. When they got there, they were informed by the lady that her brother had just gone out in a coach, on an airing, to Highgate. In short, Price carried on the scheme completely for several days, during which time Mr. R____ had twice or thrice seen the old gentleman. The will was made, and, on the strength of the joint executorship and expectancy, Mr. R____ was swindled out of very nearly a thousand pounds in cash, and bonds to the amount of two hundred pounds. This seems to have been his first attempt at disguise.

As a lottery office-keeper he continually cheated his clients, and, to avoid their clamour and importunity, he had to shift his offices frequently, the last he had being at the corner of King Street, Covent Garden, from which he privately decamped.

[Illustration]

Having a wife and eight children to support, and being incapable of earning an honest living, he commenced forging the notes of the Bank of England. His first attack on the Bank was about the year 1780, when one of his notes had been taken there, so complete in the engraving, the signature, the water-marks, and all its parts, that it passed through various hands unsuspected, and was not discovered till it came to a certain department, through which no forgery whatever can pass unnoticed. The appearance of this note occasioned considerable alarm among the directors; and forgery upon forgery flowed in, about the lottery and Christmas times, without the least probability of discovering the first negotiators. Various consultations were held, innumerable plans were laid for detection, and they were traced, in every quarter, to having proceeded from one man, always disguised, and always inaccessible.

Had Price permitted a partner in his proceedings, had he employed an engraver, had he procured paper to be made for him, with water-marks upon it, he must soon have been discovered; but he “was himself _alone_.” He engraved his own plates, made his own paper with the water-mark, and, as much as possible, was his own negotiator. He, thereby, confined a secret to himself, which he deemed not safe in the breast of another; even Mrs. Price had not the least knowledge or suspicion of his proceedings. Having practised engraving till he had made himself a sufficient master of the art, he then made his own ink to prove his work. He next purchased implements and manufactured the water-mark, and began to counterfeit hand-writings.

All attempts to discover him proving fruitless, the Bank issued a minute description of his disguise, and of Mrs. Pounteney’s appearance, which forced him to refrain from the circulation of his forgeries, and for some months to put a total stop to them. But his wits did not fail him, and he obtained a negotiator for his notes, in answer to an advertisement for a man-servant who had been used to live with a single gentleman. A very honest fellow, whose Christian name was Samuel, called upon him, and was engaged, at a salary of eighteen shillings per week, to attend on a young nobleman who was then in Bedfordshire; and, pending his arrival, he was to wait on an old invalid gentleman named Brank (Price), at 39, Tichfield Street, Oxford Street.

A few days afterwards Samuel was told that the young nobleman wished to buy some lottery tickets, and was given some seeming banknotes, one for £20, and another for £40. With the first he was to purchase an eight-guinea chance at a lottery office in the Haymarket, and then was to go to another, and purchase a similar chance out of the second note. He executed his commission, and was entrusted with more notes, which he duly changed. This time Mr. Brank called to him out of a coach, saying how fortunate it was he had met him; made him get in, and, driving to the City, gave him false notes of presumably £400 value, and told him to purchase chances at the different offices round the Exchange, after which he was to call on Mr. Brank at a coffee-house. The lad did as ordered, waited a little for the invalid, who came hobbling up, and the two drove in a coach to Long Acre. For his attention and fidelity, Samuel received a guinea.

Samuel was made the innocent means of passing numerous forged notes, until he was arrested and committed to Tothill Fields Bridewell; but the authorities believed his artless tale, and a watch was set. After a few days a message came for Samuel to meet Mr. Brank next day at Mill’s Coffee-house, exactly at eleven o’clock. The police told him to keep the appointment, but to be five minutes late. Brank was punctual, and waiting close by in a coach, when he observed Samuel talking to a Bow Street runner in disguise, whereupon he took to immediate flight. The police made a raid at once upon the house in Tichfield Street; but Mr. Brank had only occupied the apartments for a week, and had long since left. The advertisements were again issued, and handbills showered around to no purpose. Poor Samuel, however, having tolerably established his innocence, was, after suffering eleven months’ imprisonment, discharged with a present of £20.

In the ensuing lottery, Price played the same artful game with notes of higher value; those of £20 and £40 were grown too suspicious. Another lad was taken, another _rush_ made, and Price was missed again by a moment.

These are only a few of his rogueries. He was caught at last, and taken to Bow Street, where he was extremely insolent, until he was confronted with Samuel, who, never having seen him except in a disguise, could only swear to his voice. He was committed to Tothill Fields Bridewell, where he sent for his wife and eldest son. To his wife’s utter astonishment he confessed everything to her, and having written a letter, which he concealed in the sole of his son’s boot, told him to go with it to Mrs. Pounteney, who, upon receipt thereof, burnt all his disguise, had his press and apparatus taken down and duly burnt, tried to melt the engraved plates, and gave them to Price’s son to take to the adjacent fields and distribute them beneath the dust-heaps; and the pieces lay there till, by a stratagem, they were discovered and taken to Bow Street.

As there was no shadow of doubt as to his guilt and ultimate punishment, and wishing to avoid a public execution, he informed his son that the people of the prison came into his room sooner than he wished, and that he had something secret to write, which they might get at by coming suddenly upon him, which he wished to prevent. On this pretence, he gave his son money to purchase two gimlets and a sixpenny cord, pointing out to him how he would fasten the gimlets in the post, and tie the cord across the door, which opened inwards. The poor youth obtained the implements, and Price, having fastened the gimlets under two hat screws, hanged himself effectually. He, having committed suicide, was buried at a cross-road; but, in about a week, his body was privately removed by night.

Mrs. Pounteney, although both cajoled and severely interrogated, would not say a single word which could possibly incriminate her former lover, and was never punished for her share in the frauds.