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Chinese Lottery Case Proceedings
Created1886-01-27
Description
This collection of documents pertains to the discovery of an illegal Chinese lottery in the home of a Chinese settler, and the ensuing investigation to determine the culprits and amass sufficient evidence against them to determine an appropriate punishment for the crime. An index was provided at the beginning of

This collection of documents pertains to the discovery of an illegal Chinese lottery in the home of a Chinese settler, and the ensuing investigation to determine the culprits and amass sufficient evidence against them to determine an appropriate punishment for the crime. An index was provided at the beginning of the packet to outline the various testimonies, minutes, evidence, and sentence included in the packet. Antonio Alli and Jose Alem were the two Chinese settlers who were charged with organizing the Chinese lottery and distributing the lottery ballots. The first document proceeding the index page is the testimony that was provided by Gabriel Gonzalez Reynaldo, the police officer who discovered the ballots in Antonio Alli's home, in which he described the initial suspicions of the unauthorized lottery taking place inside the home and the evidence that he discovered upon entering it on January 27, 1886. Both Antonio Alli and Jose Alem were found together in the house when Gabriel entered and discovered the evidence of the Chinese lottery. Both men were subsequently interviewed upon being arrested. The two men claimed that Jose had been visiting Antonio when an unidentified Chinese settler entered the house to ask if they knew about any job opportunities and forgot the ballots there when he left. An order was issued by the law enforcement to interview Antonio's neighbors and ascertain whether or not they knew about Antonio's involvement in the Chinese lottery. Another order was issued to send the ballots confiscated at Antonio's home to the Chinese consulate to be translated and interpreted, and a third order was made to determine whether Antonio and Jose were the Chinese lottery organizers and distributors or if they merely bought the ballots. All of the neighbors who were interviewed claimed that Antonio was most likely innocent based on their observations of his good work ethic and dedication to his job as a cigar seller. The neighbors of Jose Alem claimed that his involvement in the Chinese lottery was unlikely. A report from the Chinese consulate revealed that the papers sent to them to translate were indeed related to the Chinese lottery. No further evidence was found against the two men, and neither of them had committed any previous infractions. However, both of them were sentenced to serve two months and one day in jail, pay a fine of 1,625 pesos each, and had their voting rights revoked. 1886.
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Created1864
DescriptionA letter from Pedro Sanchez, the secretary of the Bishop of Havana. It details that Chinese settlers do not need a special marriage license if they marry someone who is racially different, including those of mixed ancestry.