Savannah morning news. [volume] (Savannah) 1868-1887, 1883-11-05
THE PoPY's SPELL.
An Observant Druggist Tells a Reporter
About the Eccentric Habits of Nor
phine Buyers.
Lo,liariLLe On,lriar- -Ln,,,.,..,l

] en-
I gage the proprietor in a conversation
/ The afternoon had been dreary and rainy
and the approach of darkness gave the
| streets cherries appearance, which the
| sight OF the few stragglers hurrying along
with dripping umbrellas did not tend t.
brighten. Presently the door was softly
opened and ayOung woman entered. The
little that could be seen of a face, which,
| FOR her, singUlarly enough. was partially
concealed by a veil, was thin and worn
| and the haggard look was intensified by a
pair Of spectral, glittering black eyes. II
| needed only glance to perceive that she
was one of the fallen wanderers of the
streets. Without uttering IA word the
woman glided softly up to the counter
| The druggist opened a convenient pack
| age, and, taking out a small phial, laid il
before his strange customer. 4 small
/ coin was rendered in exchange, and, TAX
ing up the phial, she glided out as quietly
as she entered.
''That girl" said the druggist in re-
| Spouse to an inquiring look, lis one OF my
morphine customers. Every evening
with unfailing regularity, she comes to
4 buy her daily allowance. Since the first
two or three times she has never spoken,
but makes her purchases as you saw heI
| just now. She always takes a dram phial
and consumes the whole sixty grains in
| one day. A grain would be sufficient u
/ kill you or me. She's queer and spectral
| enough to make one think she is insane,
! but there's method in her madnes, aid she
/ isn't circumstance to some of the NOR
/ phine eaters l know
/ Tell me something about them," sug-
| gested the scribe.
''The subjects an interesting one, isn't
| it! L have been druggist for a good
| many years, and in that time I've seen
many queer things, but none that are
| queereT than the habits of opium users,
| The vice is more common now than any
one not in the trade would think, nOtwith-
standing all that has been said and writ
ten about 1t. Nearly every one who uses
the drug has some individual peculiarly
| which the morbid habit develops, and il
wouldn't be good for my trade to tell you
| all.
every drug store has its regular Gus
| toners who come to buy morphine OF
| some other Opiate. They are of all ages
| classes, and both sexes. Most though
are girls and women, from dashing bellies
and ballroom debutantes to palsied octO-
| genarians. Some few take it only Occa-
| siOnally. but others come daily, and use
| astonishing quantities. SinguIarly
| enough, even the most confirmed in the
! vice usually take it by stealth, and even
| try TO keep the pharmacist from whom
they make their daily purchases from
I
| this reason the most of them seldom pat
| rOniZe a neighbOr, but make their pur
chases at a distance. They are, how
! ever, adverse to changing, and wheT
once acquainted will trade at the same
place for years. | remember that | once
had two customers who were sewing
girls. They lived for a long while VI
town, and used TO come down to my store
two or three times a week. A year OF
| Tuvn "
hood; i'll fact, only square or two away
As soon as they did so, they ceased com
ing here, and | have learned that they
have transferred their patronage to some
uptown establishment.
Some opium users always buy it on {
prescription which a physician has giYeI
them. / have known them to use the
same one for years, until it was so worn
and battered that not line could be deci
pheTed or a word made out. The druggist
soon gets to know it, but they never fail Il
| present it.
"Of course a great many tricks are used
to procure the drug when they are out Of
money. In such cases it is seldom thai
they ask for credit, in this respect being
entirely different from drunkardS. The
first plan they adopt is to sell some tri1t
which has a small cash value. Little
trinkets of various kinds and small pieces
of jewelry are the ones first thought of
but when these are gone they will Otfel
anything they think will be taken. A day
or two ago man came rushing into my
store with glass Of Jelly, which he Offered
for few grains of morphine. He was 81
pale and nervous that l couldn't help feel
ing sorry for the poor wretch; but didn'
want his jelly, and told him so. He sale
that it was the only thing left in the house
which he thought he could raise money
on, and seemed almost in despair when
refused to take it. | told him to carry i
to a grocer.
.'When they have nothing to sell, thel
resort to all sorts of devices. One time
young man fell down in fit before my
door. His sufferings appeared so real ant
horrible that we did everything we cOulC
think of to relieve him, and, when he APP
peared to grow a little better, did not hest
tate to give him the Opiate for which BIZ
asked. As soon as this was done he wen
out, leaving my clerk much chagrined Over
the way in which he had been hood
wInked. At other times they are suffer
ing from neuralgia, sprains or any Other
hurt which they can easiest assume
Their acting would do credit to a theatre
but they are not always successful. Al
soon as they see that their deception hat
been detected, they recover with astOnish
ing quiCkness, and never fail to leave.
zone woman that / know has for years
worth of cocoa butter and twenty-five
cents worth of laudanum, never failing
to say that 1t is for making an ointment
have no doubt that she deals at three OF
four stores a day, and at each one she
purchases the same things in the SAME
proportion. She has kept up this habit
for years. Another buys sweet OIL anC
laudanum, and others buy little tri1ies t
| the amount of five or ten cents before ask
I ina mr. | know
these away as soon as she leave,
the store. The other day an engineer
came here and bought twenty-five cents
worth of laudanum. As l was Wrapping
it up he remarked that he was about Il
90 down South to run an engine for two
or three months. He added that he haC
been shot through the breast during the
late war, and said the wound still gave
him pain at times, which could only b,
relieved by taking sometimes as much al
| fifteen drops of laudanum. Would tn,
| amount he had Just purchased be suffici
| ent to last till he got back? l looked
steadily at him and said that it would
probably last till night. He assumed
establishment at first, but, seeing that
was not deceived, relaxed his attemp
and bought a half dollars worth in addi
ton to the first quantity.
The Queerest instance of this / eve
/ knew was that of a seeming old woman
who used to come daily TO store where
was clerking several years ago. She al
ways came just about dusk, when no on,
| else was in, and was so thickly Veile(
that for a long time l did not detect he
identity. L grew suspicious at last, anC
one evening | was ungallant enough Il
take off the veil. Imagine my astonish
ment when l found she was the yOuns
b and beautiful daughter of one of the mos
prominent men of the city. More singu
lar still, the girl assured me-and l after
ward ascertained it to be the truth-tha
she bought the drug for her father, ant
. not for herself, as she was unwilling {,
intrust the secret to any one else. 1t wa
only a short time, however, before tn,
quantity she purchased began increasing
She, too, had fallen slave TO the fascina
ton ofthe opium dream, and soon dropped
the disguise.
people who come in to buy opium o
, morphine always appear in a great hurry
They are so restless that they can no
keep still minute, and usually hold tn
money in their hands. When they hav
silver they rattle it on the counter. The,
bring clean bottles, washing off the label
, if they have been used. They invariabl,
do this, even if they have the same bottl
filled four or five times the same day"
a Good Mans Bad Luck.
Mark Twain's account of the good boy
who, unlike his prototype in the stor,
books, is continually getting into trOubl
by behaving his best, is paralleled by tn
! foIIowinp recent reDOrt of the miSadVpn