Jasper County Democrat, Volume 20, Number 7, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 21 April 1917 — STATE HAPPENINGS RECORDED IN BRIEF [ARTICLE]

STATE HAPPENINGS RECORDED IN BRIEF

News Items From All Over Indiana. 53 PERSONS ARE INDICTED -j; :g -■ ~ - Marion Grand Jury Returns Indictments Against Members of an Alleged Honduras Lottery Organization. ■ ''A a "w '■ ;■ ■■. . y .- Indianapolis, April 2®.—Fifty-three persons were indicted by the Marion county grand jury as members of an alleged Honduras lottery organization which, it is charged, has taken hundreds of thousand* Of dollars from Indiana in the last several years. The headquarters of the organization was in Chicago, it is,alleged. • C. E. Berg and Edward J. McCarty of Chicago are fiamed as the heads of the enterprise. According to the grand jury H. W. llonacberger’s name was affixed to the lottery tickets as president. ■ The grand jury charges that Royal Hammer, who- committed suicide in this-city a few weeks ago, was the chief Indiana agent. According 'in the grand jury he sent drafts to .Berg at. Hammond and Berg got them- there and took them to Chicago and turned them over to McCarty. In all cases, it Is alleged, communications made | by express, no chances being, takeij i With the United States mails. Hammer received each month tickets of face value of not less than $4,500, it is charged. The tickets were disposed Of chiefly by .saloonkeepers.' It is estimated that not less than $50,000 a year had been paid into the organization for several years. With the monthly assignment of tickets received by Hammer, also came a list of the. winning numbers and he was able to extract the tickets calling for the largest prizes. The chief prizes were $15,000, $4,000, $2,000 and SI,OOO with other prizes ranging from $4 to SSOO. The tickets sold for 25 cents, 50 cents and sl. It is believed by the authorities the same scheme was carried out in many middle Western states.