The spirit of democracy. [volume] (Woodsfield, Ohio) 1844-1994, 1875-02-23
gHis;,fI,e,Aa1,,,j,r'.,.. His, ,Aa1,,j l..
lAsTerrific struggle with the Jlna.
] Jams.

I II B. : II II arfs f1rsr ~
Written for the Cambridge City Tfibunel ].
Il had felt the tremens coming on for
two or three.daSs. ! was. Just standing
on the vergeiof. almighty precipices ut-
able to retraee my steps, and shIldder-
ing as / involuntarly- leaned over and
looked down into the vortex. g That was
to my wiltlp and heated Imagination "a
literal hell which opened up before nae,
and as L looked, down into that awful
lake of fire l should see the lost writhe,.
and hear them howl in their awful or
gies. The wall, the curses, and the aw-
ful and unearthly ha ha came ,fearfully
clear and 7distiact front that Ihorrid pit
sefsERre that ennle up befsfe me. T. had,
gotrin thatjcondition. that my stomach
would not bear one bite, sof food or
drop OF, drink. had been repelling
from my stomach for three days, every
drop that drank, SO that 1 was getting
terriblyiwe aud nervous. I.went into
the jbar-roem. and asked for a drink and,
as l ltremblingly pouredrit out. snake
shot,its head up out Of the liquor, and
with swaying. head and glitteripg eye
looked atdme, licked out its forked red
tongue and hissed in my face. II felt
my blood run cold ando curdle, at my
very heart sIrleft the glass, untouched
and walked out on the street. By a
terrible effort of my will I, to, some ex-
tent, shook of the ehprrids phantom. /
theughtthat if ! could only get some
ssimnlant to stay on my stomach I
might escape the terrible, torments that
were gathering about me. And yet, at
the very thought of touching the accur-
sed stuff again. / could see the head of
that same; snake again,sa md. hear ten
thousand Kisses all around me,I and feel
serpents crawling and Shining through
every vein of my body All this time
/ was burning and scorching to death
for whisky. d All that time would have
marched, across a powder mine with. a
lighted match, touched to, it. 4, would
have fearlessly marched, before explo.
ding, cannons to get whisky, But these
snakes were, o new. torture to me.
feared them more than any or all other
warnings that | had, ever had; yet my
thirst was 50 Intense and my suffering
50, terrible that resolved to, try once
more and get drink, Of whisky, and
see ifit would not steady and strengthen
me SO that could get. home before 1
died, for I felt death. 10 all my tortured
body, and some Invisible something
told me that there was fol. me no, escape
from death, ] walked into a saloon
and called for whisky. / was afraid to
touch the bottle, and stood back, while
the murderer behind the bar poured out
danipation, and again that whisky turn
ed to living, moving snakes, and they
fcrawled around the glass, and on the
fcounter, writhing and squirmjng Then
| In one instant they all coiIed about each
other, and matted themselves into one
snake with a hundred heads; and from
every head forked tongues and glisten;
I ing eyes Kissed and cleaned at me. !
rushed from the. saloon and started. ]
did not know or care where, so that ]
might escape my tormentors. | had
only rushed along a,little way when o
dog as large as a calf jumped up before
me, and with bristles and shining teeth
planted itself in my path .uPi picked up
Ia stick about three feet long, thinking
to defend myself just as9 Soon as I
took the sticksin. my hand II Turned to q
snake IocoutH feel itsg skmy BODY
lwfithe and sqiiisn1 in5my9 hand, nand in
trying to- hala it to keepit efrom biting
me, every finger-nail cat like atknife
intou the palm Fof my ,hanas & and'Ithe
blood istreameda down over thes stick,
which, tos me was sa gwrithipg, bloody
snake. He'll is "a heaven, compared TO
what suffered at that time,dj At last /
dashed the accursed thing, from me, and
ran for my, life. T. got to the Little
Miami depot and took the cars. At the
Etime / did not know where I was, VI
went about ten miles above Cincinnati
and left the train At for while,
I could reason and understand my stu
alton 7 soon found that r was in a
town where a young man lived who had
been my. companion and schoolmate in
the City 7 went to him and told him
my condition. He did everything for
me that can be done for one III chat con-
dition. But as night came on my tor
mentors returned In tens thousand hid
eous forms, and drove me iraVing mad.
! went to a hotel, where btheyI pursued
me, to lie down. just uas soon as Il
touched the bed, I1reached my hand
over and it touched acold, dead corpse.
The room lighted up with d thousand
bright lights, and that dead body now
appeared to me like, nothing that had
ever been visible in human shapeidaIt
opened its glazedadead eyes, and stared
ME III the face.oIThen tits whule face
and form turned oto q demon, and, it's
wild eyes cleaned at me, whileI its
whole form was full of passion, fierce
ness and frenzy. i jumped lfrem the
bed andasas l. shrenk back from the
loathsome monster everything in my
room turned to living devils Chairs,
stand, bed, and. my verya clothes took
form, and became living demons that
crawled and sat about me, some Kissing,
and Others cnrsiDg at mel Them al at
once there appeared in, the corner q form
larger and more ssul sicEening than all
the Others Its appearance was more
ghastly than any description ] had ever
read about witches and old bags This
mixture of devil and human marched
right up to me with. face and look
that viii! haunt me TO my grave. II be-
gan by making threatening gestures,and
all the time talking to me saying it
would thrust it's fingers through mS
ribs and drink ny blood. Then it
would stretch out its long bony eskele-
| ton fingers, that looked like sharp
knives, and ha! ha! Then 1t said It
would,i on me and press me into he'll
That it would roast me with birthstone
and dash my ehtfails into my eyes,
Saying this it sprang upon ME, and for
what seemed to me an agey I7foughtqthe
lunearthly thing. AT last ii said, - Let
me go.' and whenrI did ii giide,i TO the
door, and, giving me one deadly look,
it said, II will soon be back with all the
legions ofehell. andgthen i will be the
death Of. you; you shall not be, alive
one hour" / left nv room and went
out.into the night = just as soon as j
touched the streetI put my. foot on q
dead tOdy. The whole street and nave.