Tossing, Benson J

(1813-1891), of New York, author and wood engraver, published “‘ Pictorial Field-Book of the Revolution,” and others of the Civil War and War of 1812, a ‘‘ National History of the United States,’’ the ‘‘Statesman’s Manual,” lives of Zachary Taylor, Win field Scott, Washington, etc., a history of New York, and “ Biographies of Eminent Americans,’’ Lotteries. The history of American lotteries begins with that which the charter of 1612 authorized the Virginia Company to hold for the benefit of its colonizing schemes. In the eighteenth century they were extraordinarily popular in America. Legislatures authorized lotteries for every species of public improvement, for the building of churches and colleges, for the repair of lo es to individuals by fire and otherwise; ¢. g., Faneuil Hall, after the fire of 1761, was rebuilt by lottery. The Continental Congre tried to raise money by lottery in 1777. The sums annually employed by Americans in lottery speculations probably amounted to hundreds of you sands. The last lottery supported by governmental encouragement was the Louisiana State Lottery. An Act of Congre pa ed in 1890 attempted to crush it by forbidding it the use of the U. S. mails, which act compelled its removal to Honduras.