Memphis daily appeal. [volume] (Memphis, Tenn.) 1847-1886, 1869-04-04
Opium Eating in New York,

The use of the pernIclOus drug Is not
confined to the men there are hundreds
and thousands of women who are in the
daily habit of intoxicating themselves
with it, and they are found in all grades
of society, but chiefly among those who
are not dependent upon their own exer-
tions for their support. Some OF the
drug stores uptown and IN Brooklyn
sell more opium to women than to men,
the latter buying chify at the downtown
shops. Not long ago a lady Of one OF
the first families was arrested on the
street for drunkenness and locked up IN
one of the stationhouses. She had all
the appearances of being intoxicated,
and the police very naturally concluded
that she was of the fair but frail class,
and the best thing to do with her was to
lock her up. 1t turned out on investi-
cation that she was wholly innocent of
having swallowed fusil oil or anything Of
the sort, but had only been indulging In
opium. The affair was hushed up, and
the name of the lady did not appear in
print. Two or three cases like this have
occurred, and some of the police say
that they have made several arrests under
the mistaken impression that their sub
jeets we're suffering under too heavy
stress of whisky.
Very few of the ladies who use opium
venture into the street while under its
influence. and the fact that these arrests
occur in public, shows that the habit is
very widely spread. Many of those ad-
/ dicted to it conceal the fact from their
nearest friends, while others are in the
habit of meeting in little parties and
having a social chew, just as some of the
ladies down South used to indulge in
social "dips." Opium takes the place
of snuff, and the parties generally get up
to a high pitch of enthusiasm. As
opium does not lead to head-breaking
and combative intoxicatiOn, like whisky
OF other strong drink, the fair creature:
do not. save in rare cases, disturb theil
neighbors while at these opium seanees
An exception is sometimes found there
was one a few months ago when the
female inmates of house on Fourteenth
street fell to pulling each others han
and committing other breaches of pro
priety while under the influence o.
opium. But then it must be remarked
that they were not, at best, the posses
sors of good characters.
Men make less concealment of th'
opium habit than women, and from thei
, more frequent mingling in bushes
affairs they are more liable to detection
, I know several men in business who ar
9 in the habitual use of opium, and gen
? erally carry neat little lamps in thei
f pockets. The use of the drug give
) them a certain nervousness of manner
5 which is probably the first sign to b
5 discovered. Any metropolitan reader
this can probably call to mind from On
to half dozen men he has met who's
=, manner indicates that they are no stran
gers to opium. 1 know two editors VII
y use a great deal of the drug; one ma
\ not vet impaired his faculty with i
though he will do so before long; tn
: other has taken so much Of the naTeetl
: that his brain is stupehed, and hl
o thoughts often wander. Still he write
4 we'll and often brilliantly, and none wh
read his productions would imagine thu
] thew came from head that is frequentl
Y more than two-thirds insensible, Will
] the body to which it belongs Is in fu
!. actiyitv.-" Waterloo's Neao York te
/ ter to the Rochester Chronicle.