BOTTOMLEY'S TICK.

Otaki Mail, 15 June 1923, Page 3

BOTTOMLEY'S TICK.

ilg SECRET PARIS HOARD. nd - J ' In an article published in the "Nee of the World" recently, Mr Henry Houston, for 13 years secretary t Horatio Bottomley, describes th v 0 sweepstakes methods by which no saj ed Bottomley secured hundreds of thou; ] lp ands of pounds. Mr Houston expresse the belief that Bottomley bad a secrc hoard in Paris. He says:— n " "I have just returned from Pari c, after a busy weelc in the French capin- tal, which has yielded important ant s . even sensational results. I went t' Paris to see if I could discover some ' tiling- about the secret hoard which ■'• felt sure "P 1.8." had planted away oi t- j the Continent in ''preparation for tin h rainy day. „ I Prist, I have established that tin ( whole of the letters received at the Paris office of the various clubs were "collected-each morning- by the son oi l Bottomley's barber and taken to a fine , house just off the Bois de Boulogne—j'the Mayfair of Paris—where "H. 8." j had one of his favourites installed. 1 j I find that that boy. according to i j one of his books, received nearly ;_ 150,000 francs from Bottomley beiwoen April 30 and October 28, 1921. i SUITCASES OP .VOTES. Every 1 iter contained at least £l. and the number of letters delivered each morning- varied between 3500 and 5000. My computation is that, in this way for not one penny of it. ever reached the clubs after it had got into j "H. 8." " hands. At least twice a week during this period Bottomley went to Paris and returned with two huge suit, cases stuffed with Treasury notes, each case sometimes containing nine to 10 thousand pounds. 1 have also established the fact that somewhere on the Continent Bottomley has four separate banking- accounts in assumed names. After ho had been committed for

trial "H. 8." was in Paris, and was seer by a lady to -whom he owed £7OO. She asked him to pay it, but he told her he was unable to. She retorted '"Bottomley, for Heaven's sake don't let me down. I know of four bankingaccounts where you have £250,000 planted." Bottomley replied. "My dear lady, it's much too risky to touch that I monev at the moment." j IN THE POCK. I Dealing with the sweepstakes promoted by Bottomley. .Mr Houston says: As a preliminary he had articles in ■John Bull" commending the French pari-mutuel system, out. of which the I Government takes toll for revenue, and dealing- with the "Englishman's love of gamble." That began in De- i comber. 1012. to prepare the ground j the Derbv of the following- year. j Just be'l'oie Christmas he called me I to bis room and informed me that he . ,' was sending a man out, to Geneva to 'open offices for the scheme. After this man bad left for Switzerland. "H. 8," explained that he would require my assistance. 1 demurred, I questioning- the legality of the scheme "It is perfectly legal if conducted from abroad," he declared. "1 have I obtained counsel's opinion on if. Rest , 'assured, it is quite all right." That precaution on my part stood me in good stead when later I found myself in the duel: for my share in the organisation, but it transpired then j tlv.it tlf "counsel's opinion" had actna'ly beu written by "H. 8." himself. flow-ever, the sweepstake went "with a bang." As in the casi of the Victory Bond Club. "H. 8." was liter- j •lily snowed mid r by sportsmen eager to participate i:i the scheme. It was I 1 started as a "try-out," and the publicity he gave it made it an enormous I success. Despite the fact that the cash rereceived exceeded by many thousand pounds *ae promised prize money "H. 8." was eager for more and still more. A week before the last day of sending in tickets he conceived the extraordinary idea of having a remnant sale of tickets, offering them at three for 5/ instead of the previous i price of 10 for fi. My readers, I know, will be anxious for precis ; figures concerning- the finance of this sweepstake. The prize j money totalled £15,000 and the cash received amounted to welt over £270,000. The expenses were of course heavy. Over four million postage , stamps w re used and the printing bill was necessarily large : "H. 8." once confessed to me that his share of the profit was £150,000. iiO}• IA NCE SHATTER ED. I now come to the 1914 Derby . Sweepstake, a story that I venture to think will create amazement in those who read it. ( Encouraged by the huge profit of T the 1913 Derby Sweepstake, when the . prize money was £15,000, "H. 8." decided this time to increase the total prize, money to £50.000, with a first prize of half that sum. ; The wiar.er of the 19,14 Derby prov- 1 ed to be an -outsider" named Durbar * IP. and "H. 8." promptly announced T that the winning ticket' was held by ( M'me Gluckmanh, the "blind lady of ! Toulouse." - "John Bull" contained a double- • page article about this pathetic in- j [ stance of Pate's whims, which first \ brought blindness to a woman and | ' then a fortune. An early photograph - of the lucky recipient, a reproduction of the cheque for £25,000, and a , wealth of detail?, concerning her life ' were published. It was a happy hu- \ man story that brought a glow to t every heart, ; Loath, as 1 am to destroy romance, j liis duly of an honest biographer com- \ pels mo to throw a little more light on the personality of Mme Gluck- , mann. She was the sister of Mr Saul , Cooper, an unaturalised Hungarian . furrier, in the City of London, and a \ gentleman who on many occasions ; csome to the rescue of "H. 8." in fin- J ( anciaf matters. He was also one of ; the directors of the New Northern . i Territory {Syndicate, Ltd., which, as I ] Ijave already stated, was an alip.3 of 1 7 Horatio Bottomlev far banking pur- 1 1 poses. I ' The lady was certainly blind, a fact j j which assisted "H. 8," to secure her.] endorsement of a cheque for £25,000, j • whereas her bank account only bene- j ] filed to the tune of £250. Her resi- V dence in Toulouse was brief, and by ' the time the announcement of her I [ good fortune was made she had been hurried to Paris, and "H. 8." publWly , announced in "John Bull" that she • had disappeared temporarily owing to ' ', her being inundated with offers of . marriage. • ' As a. matter of fact, she oontinues 1 ; living in Pe.rio in comparative poverty \ and obscurity. | Mr Saul Cooper's interst in the , sweep-stake did not end there. Almost • all the other prize-winners turned out to be his employees, and the second ; prize was won by a PCensington man, j' whosa address happened to be that of . ■ a, temporary chauffer employed byj "HB." I By these shifts and tricks. "H. 8." satisfied the £SO 000 prize winners by ■ the modest expenditure of £1000;