Buchanan County bulletin. [volume] (Independence, Iowa) 1869-1891, 1875-03-19
The Street of Hell!
BY REV. Il. I. CROSS

In 1870 there were in the United
States one hundred and forty thous-
and licensed liquor saloons. If form
ed into streetwith saloons on each
side, allowing twenty feet to each sa-
loon, they would make street two
hundred and sixty-tive miles long
Let us imagine them brought toeeth-
er into such a street, and let us sup
pose that the moderate drinkers and
their families are marched into it at
the upper end. Go with me if you
have the nerve and patience. and
stand at the lower end, and let us see
what that street turns out in one
year.
What army is this that comes
marching down the street in solid
column, five abreast, extending five
hundred and seventy miles? 1t is
the army of five million men and
women who daily and constantly 90
to the saloons for intoxicating drinks
as a beverage. Marching twenty
miles a day it will take them more
than twenty-eight days to 60 by.
Now they are gone, and close in
their rear comes another army, march
ing five abreast, and sixty miles in
length. In it there arc $4,000 con
tirmed drunkards. They are men
and women who have lost control of
their appetitcs, who are in the regular
habit Of getting drunk and making
beasts of themselves Marching two
abreast, the army is $50 miles long.
Sean them closely. There are gray
haired men and tair-haired boys
There are, alas! many women in that
army sunk to deeper depths than the
men, because of the greater height
from which they fell. 1t will take
them seven days to 90 by.
1t is sad and sickening sight, but
do not turn away yet, for here comes
another army-one hundred thousand
criminals. From jails and prisons
and penltentiarics they come. At
the head of the army comes line of
persons whose hands are smeared
with human blood. With ropes
around their necks they are on their
way to the gallows. Others are 60
ing to prison for life. Every crime
known to our laws has been com
mitted by these persons while they
were under the influence of liquor.
But bark! Whence come those
yells, and who are those bound with
strong chains and guarded by strong
men that go raging by? They are
r2vlng maniacs, made such by drink.
Their eyes are tormcnted with awful
sights and their ears ring with horrid
sounds. Shiny reptiles crawl over
their bodies and fiends from hell tor
ment them before their time. They
are gone now, and we breathe more
freely.
But what gloom is this that per-
vades the air, and what is that long
line of black coming slowly down
the street? 1t is the line of funeral
professions. One hundred thousand
who have died the drunkard's death
are being carried TO their graves
Drunkards do not have many friends
to mourn their loss, and we can put
thirty of their funeral professions
into Il mile We thus have u process
sion 1888 miles long. 1t will take
a good share of the year for them to
go by, for funeral professions move
slowly. Yes, most Of them do, but
every now and then IN uncotfinc,l
corpse in a rough cart is driven rap.
idly by, and we hear the brutal driver
sing:
Quick, rattle his bones, rattle his bones
Over the stones;
He's only pauper, whom nobody owns"
Look into the cofiins as they go by.
See the dead drunkards. Some died
of delirium tremens, and the lines of
terror are still plainly marked on their
faces. Some froze to death by the
road side, too drunk to reach their
homes. Some stumbled from the
wharf and were drowned. Some
wandered into the woods and died,
and rotted on the surface of the earth.
Some blew their own brains out
Some were feartully stabbed in drunk
en- brawls. Some were roasted in
burning buildings. Some were crush
ed in shapeless masses under the cars.
They died in various ways, but strong
drink killed them all, and on their
tombstoncs, if they have any, may be
titly inscribed, Gle died drunkard's
DEATH"
Close behind them comes another
long line of funeral professions; we
know not how many, but they are
more numerously attended by mourn
ing friends. They contain the re-
mains Of those who have met death
through the carelessness and the
cruelty Of drunken men. Some died
Of broken hearts. Some were foully
murdered. Some were burned to