Easter Egg

14,905.

That Wins the Easter Egg

And the One-Hundred-Dollar

Certificate,

Which Will Go to Mr. Charles A.

Johnson.

The Fortunate Guesser in The Enquirer's

Novel Contest.

He Guessed Within Three of the

Certificate's Number.

Over One Hundred and Thirty-Five

Thousand Guesses Received,

And They Came From Every Part of

The Country.

Description of the Method of Receiving

the Guesses - Thousands Received

Daily - The Other Winners.

The Enquirer's Easter Egg guessing contest closed at 6 o'clock last evening.

The contest was one of the most unique and interesting novelties ever offered to the readers on any newspaper.

Every day from the date the beautiful Easter Egg was displayed in the show-window of Mabley & Carew's store on Fifth street, thousands have looked with delight at the novel attraction which was worth $100 in gold to the one guessing the number, or, nearest correct number, of the gold certificate concealed in the handsomely ornamented symbol of Easter.

Every mail since the offer of the Enquirer was made known has brought

THOUSANDS OF LETTERS

to this office. As has been announced daily in the Enquirer the $100 gold certificate in the egg bears a number between 1 and 50,000. The Easter egg, with the certificate, will go to the first correct, or nearest correct, guesser of the number on the certificate. The sender of the second correct, or nearest correct guess, is to receive $50. The sender of the third correct, or the nearest correct guess, will be presented with $25. The sender of the fourth correct, or nearest correct, guess, will be presented with $15, while the sender of the fifth correct, or nearest correct, guess, will receive $10.

The One Hundred Dollar Gold Certificate was placed in an envelope and sealed at Washington City and the number was known only to the person who sealed the envelope and

NOT MADE KNOWN

Until all guesses received up to 6 o'clock last evening had been correctly counted and filed away with thousands of others. As soon as the heavy mail containing the Easter Egg guesses began to pour into the Enquirer office, after the novel offer first appeared in this paper on March 15, a number of clerks were set to work receiving and opening the Easter Prize Editor's voluminous mail. Letters came to him from all parts of the Union. On the first day, March 15, there were 1,985 guesses received and recorded by the clerks whose work was only in a measure begun. Each successive day noted a very large increase in the size of the Easter Prize Editor's mail, and it was necessary to construct a series of "pigeon holes" in which the guesses, when properly classified, were filed with great care, so that when the final "reckoning" was made last evening the guesses of the lucky persons could be ascertained and the distribution of the $200 made accordingly.

In addition to the thousands of letters which came from every State in the Union, many guesses were sent to the Enquirer from Canada. Two large rooms in the Enquirer office were found necessary for the accommodation of the Easter Editor's daily mail and

HIS CLERICAL FORCE.

As fast as the letters containing the slips bearing the guesses were received, they were taken in charge of by several clerks, who deftly clipped off the ends of the letters. This work alone required many hours each day. The "clipped" letters then went to another force of clerks who extracted the paper slips cut from the columns of The Enquirer by the guessers. The fact that no guess "over two days old" was acceptable greatly increased the number of letters forwarded, and in many instances letters came daily from the same persons, who guessed every day. The number of letters increased almost daily from the date of the offer, and all last week thousands of guesses were filed every night. The greatest number of guesses received on any one day was on

THE LAST DAY.

When the astonishing aggregate of 24,382 guesses were received and recorded. So great was the number of letters received that it was found necessary to employ the services of seven clerks during the day and five more at night to handle the immense amount of mail which poured in upon the Easter Egg Editor and his corps of assistants. The night force was kept busy until an early hour in the morning opening the daily mail. Over 10,000 letters were received one evening. Almost as many were received on many other days. The guesses came in every form. Many of the persons who took a guess at the number of the gold certificate were not content with sending in their number as clipped from The Enquirer, but endeavoring to catch the eye of the Easter Egg Editor, fixed up the slip bearing their guess in some pleasing and attractive styles. One ingenious guesser sent a hard-boiled egg, which

HAD BEEN DEFTLY PAINTED.

And The Enquirer slip pasted over the egg. It was an Easter compliment to the editor, but the guess was recorded along with thousands of others. Every guess had to be stamped with the date and time of its reception, so that when the final "inventory" was made last night the right guesses in the order in which they were received might be known at a glance. The stamping process alone required as many persons as are employed at the same business in many of the large Post-offices of the country. It required experts to do this work correctly and rapidly. The filing of the guesses in their order, and properly classifying in the many "pigeon-holes" constructed for that purpose required great care and much time, as the paper slips were in all shapes, many of them not being cut out of the paper with a view being filed away neatly.

Every letter sent through the mails required a two-cent stamp, and the benfit reaped by Uncle Sam from the contest increased the postage-stamp receipts many hundred dollars per week. On the day that over 10,000 letters were received the person's sending the Easter Prize Editor's mail spent at least $200 for stamps alone.

THE TOTAL NUMBER

Of guesses received was 135,555.

The total amount of letters received was 72,104, and the amount of money invested in stamps would amount to $1,442.08.

The total weight of the letters received was 563 pounds and 5 ounces, while, if the envelopes in which the guesses were sent were pasted end to end, the "string" would be about six miles in length.

Taken all in all THE ENQUIRER'S Easter Egg guessing contest was one of the novelties in modern journalism and attracted the attention of the press of the whole country.

HERE THEY ARE.

The correct number of the one-hundred-dollar gold certificate in THE ENQUIRER'S Easter Egg is........14,905

The first nearest correct guess received was ...............14,902

The second nearest correct guess received was ...........14,908

The third nearest correct guess received was ...............14,908

The fourth nearest correct guess received was ............14,908

The fifth nearest correct guess received was ...............14,901

The first nearest correct guess received by the Easter Prize Editor was sent in by C. A. Johnson, of 803 Gilbert avenue, Walnut Hills, his guess being 14,902, and was numbered 14,025.

THE WINNERS ARE

First Prize, $100, C. A. JOHNSON, 803 Gilbert avenue, Walnut Hills, guess 14,902, numbered 14,025.

Second Prize, $50, A. R. GEYER, Paulding, Ohio, guess 14,908, numbered 16,410.

Third Prize, $25, C. W. COIL, 181 Elm street, guess 14,908, numbered 37,964.

Fourth Prize, $15, WILL AID, Milford Center, guess 14,908, numbered 59,847.

Fifth Prize, $10, MABEL SCHWINT, Ada, Ohio, guess 14,901, numbered 92,059.