The Lawyer Who Saved a 'Sucker'
A South Prairie man was nearly swindled out of $1,000 in a fake lottery scheme until he sought the advice of a prominent Seattle attorney.
The story, cleaned up
A cleaned-up reading of the newspaper page: spelling and layout repaired, one story lifted off a crowded page. It follows the original closely but it is not a transcription. The original page is below; read it if a detail matters.
A middle-aged man, who gave his name as Peter Martin and residence as South Prairie, while in Seattle last Friday met the bunko men. It was by the skin of his teeth that he escaped being beaten out of $1,000 on what is known as the lottery swindle. Martin met a man who unfolded a plan by which a $10,000 prize could be won. They went to a room in a lodging house on Commercial street where a young man nicknamed 'Con' informed them that the drawing was about to happen. Martin was told he needed to deposit $1,000 in a bank to prove his good intentions. Staggered but hopeful, Martin insisted on consulting his attorney, James Hamilton Lewis. They went to the Occidental block, and Martin asked Lewis if prominent bankers like Jacob Furth would put up the money for him. Lewis looked at the situation and replied: 'I think you had better go out to the water works, ask for a job and give up speculation.' Martin left regretfully, but avoided the scam. J.E. Watson was later arrested on suspicion of the attempt.
“I think you had better go out to the water works, ask for a job and give up speculation.”
The 'lottery swindle' remains a classic, though today it unfolds via phishing emails and crypto scams rather than lodging-house rooms on Commercial Street (now First Avenue South). Even the advice from James Hamilton Lewis—who would go on to be a U.S. Senator—remains the gold standard for dealing with get-rich-quick schemers: stop looking for a shortcut and get a job.
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