Milford chronicle., 1883-12-28
WRECKED BY OPIUM.
The Pathetic story Of victim oftho Drug.

81 wish that knew of some way of
breaking myself Of taking opiates. 1
would be willing to go to iail-to do
anything, in short, so that I could be
placed in confinement until I had a
chance to cure myself of this terrible
habit. I never SD al be able to do so if
1 am left to myse !" These words were
addressed to a correspondent by man
giving his name as George johnson,
who acknowledged that he was a con-
firmed opium eater. His appearance
was a startling one. His face had the
aspect of a haggard corpse, his eyes
were hollow and sunken, but glittered
with half-maniacal FIRE, while a ragged
growth of short black beard and long
tangled hair added to his wretched ap-
pearance. His clothing was old and
dilapidated; a ragged coat was buttOned
up to his chin to hide a coarse, dirty
shirt, and a straw hat with pair OF
brogan shoes, completed costume that
would answer equally well for a tramp
or a footpad. Yet there was an air of
refinement that clung to him with all
his rags, and his hands, though soiled
and hardened, were slender and delicate.
81 am a perfect slave to opium" he
continued, ''and I would hesitate at
nothing to procure the drug when the
desire for it is on me. I will lie or
steal. heard friend say once"-here
he paused and looked significantly at
the reporter he would kill man
if necessary to get morphine, and 1
wouldn't blame him. I have fallen from
a respectable station down to what you
see me, and there is no telling how
much lower I will get unless L have
help. The amount Of morphine L can
take has not, I suppose, ever been
equalled. One time took ninety grains,
and it did not injure me. think by |
gradually increasing the dose I could |
take twice as much without danger. |
When I can't get enough morphine to
do me any good I take crude opium or
chloroform. know you will hardly |
believe me when say that in one night |
I used a pound of chemicaled pure |
chloroform by inhalation, yet it is a
fact. I have gone for three or four days !
at time without eating, in order to buy |
or opium with the little money
l had. I am only twenty-seven, but I
began using it when 1 was but twenty |
two. At that time l was a deacon in a |
Christian church; I never drank, swore
or gambled. was then the owner of a
retail drug store in Hickman, where 1
remained all through the yellow fever
epidemic. Out of population of 1900 |
200 died, among them eight doctors,
but I came out of it healthier than ever.
When the habit took firm hold on me I |
going down hill. I lost my
property - lost MY health, my friends |
and my self-respect. I believe the |
knowledge of it hastened my fathers |
death; it has beggared me, estranged !
the girl to whom I was to be married,
and it will prove my death. 1t hangs
over me like the blacklist of Nightmares;
it has taken possession of my every |
waking thought, and usurped every
dream of night. The horror of my situ-
alton has benumbed every faculty but |
that of dread, and every day I grow
more keenly alive to my awful condition. |
[ would part with anything, even my
mind, and be contented to live the re-
of my life in a maniac's cell, if |
[ could only be cured.