A history of public education in Rhode Island, from 1636 to 1876 ... Comp. by authority of the Board of education, and ed. by Thomas B. Stockwell ...

LOTTERIES AND THEIR RESULTS. 33
this, which is offered in connection with the Newport Methodist chapel
lottery of 1807:' Now is the time to make your forinne.' * It is
presumed that those who wish to encourage religion, laying aside the
prospect of a fortune, will call and purchase liberally.".
Such were the lotteries of that day, andl among these came one which
had so definite a relation with the public schools of Rhode Island, that it
deserves to be specially chronicled. In the newspapers of 1795 appears
an advertisement of the " Newport Long Wharf and Public School
Lottery," of whlich George Gibbs and George Chamnplin, then among
the foremost citizens of the town, were the managers. The history of
this enterprise was as follows: The plan of the lottery had originated in
1769, tholglih then, it would seem, for Long Wharf purposes alone; but
it was revived in 1795, whe n an a,'t passed the legislature, at the
January session, as thus stated in a legal report officially rendered by
Hon.. i t. Staples:
" Without petition or complaint from any one, on motion, the Assembly
authorized thirty-six persons, citizens of Newport, who are named in the act,
to set forth a scheme to raise by lottery twenty-five thousand dollars.
"They were to appoint managers of the lottery, who were to give bonds to
the general treasurer for the faithful performance of their trust as managers.
The powers conferred on them were very broad. How the wharf should be
rebuilt, after a title to it had been procured, what kind of a hotel and where to
be located, are left to the discretion of these trustees, who are to act without
bond or oath, in discharge of their part of the trust.
"After the wharf and hotel were completed, the trustees were to apply the
rents and profits arising from them to such a public school for the children of
Newport, and in such way and manner, andc under such regulations as the
trustees should impose. And the trust to last through all time, the right of
filling vacancies in the number being specially conferred on the survivors.
The board of trustees originated with the Assembly; the funds which they
were to raise and appropriate, were provided by the Assembly. No person was
compelled to contribute toward the fundc, and no person was compelled to be
benefited by it."
The original call for a meeting of the trustees of this enterprise
appears in the Newport Merc,ury for Felruary 10th, 1795, and the first
announcement of the lottery itself on M3arclh 24th. There were to be
2,000 slares, at $125 eacl. rThere were 12,000 prizes, varying from $10
to $30,000; so that each share was sure to draw six prizes, amounting at
least to $60, nearly half tle purchase money; while the maximum of prizes
* Newport J~ercury, June 6, July 15, 1807.
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