Page:Federal Reporter, 1st Series, Volume 1.djvu/435

 UNITED STATES V. HOELKE. 427 �STATUTE iNCORrOTÎATING LOTTEKT— PUBUC StATTJTB — ^PEOOF — STATDTB �BooK.— The act of the state of Louisiana, (Laws 1868, pp. 24^26,) en- titled "An act to increase the revenues of the state, and to autliorize the incorporation and estatlishrneQt of the Louisiana State Lottery Companj', and to repeal certain acts now in force," is a public act, àind can be proved by the introduction in evidence of the statute book cou» taining it. Evidence — Pkoof dp Incobpoeation Under Statute. — It was not nec- cessary for the governmcnt to prove that the lottery was organized under the Louisiana statute, or that the parties who issued certain lot- tery tickets enoloscd in the same envelopt) with the letter, purporting to be issued by the Louisiana State Lottery, were a corporation, as they pur- ported to be. �Sakb — Pboop op Lottery. — The evidence of the Louisiana Btatute, and of the sale of the lottery ticlicts contained in the mailed envelope, wen; Bufficient to establish the existence of the lottery, in the absenee of any evidence to the contrary. �8ame— Froof that Lbtteb Kelated to a Lottbhy. — The surrounding circumstances, and the occupation of the defendant, were admissible: in evidence in order to prove that the letter and circular related to a lottery. �Samb — Phoop that Defbkdant UnlawpiilTjT Mailed this Letter. — Where it was undisputed that the defendant was engaged in the lottery business, evidence that defendant rcceived an order for two lottery tickets such as were subsequently mailed with the letter ; that the naine used in the address of the letter was the sarae as that signed to the order; that the tickets bore hisstamp, and that the letter encloeed his business card, would justify the conclusion that the defendant deposited the letter in the post-ofBce' for mailing. �Same— Pobt-Officb Stamp— Pboop that Letter was Maubd.— The post-office stamp upon the envelope is prima fade proof that the let- ter was mailed, although it be shown that, in aid of justice, postmiis- ters sometimes furnish empty envelopes bearing the post-offlce stamp, where the same have never in fact been through the mail. �B. B. Foster, for the defendant. �S. Toin!/, Assistant District Attorney, for the United States, Choate, J. The defendant was indicted under Eev. Bt. § 3894, which provides as foUows: "No letter or circulai- concerning lotteries, so-called gift concerts, or other similar enterprises, offering prizes, or concerning schemes devised and intended to deceive and defraud the public for the pur- pose of obtaining money under false pretences, shall be car- ried in the mail. Any person who shall Icnowingly depogit or send anything to be conveyed by mail, in violation of this ��� �