Helena weekly herald. [volume] (Helena, Mont.) 1867-1900, 1884-06-26
The OPIUM HABIT.
How it Operates in Some Parts of the
FarWest.

Bill Nye.l
| have always had horror of Opiates of
all kinds. They are so seductive and so
still in their operations. They steal through
the blood like wolf on the the trail, and
they seize upon the heart at last with their
white fangs till it is still forever
Up the Laramie there is cluster of
ranches at the base of the Medicine Bow,
near the north end of Sheep Mountain and
in sight OF the glittering, eternal frost of
the snowy rang These ranches are the
homes of young men from Massachusetts,
Pennsylvania and Ohio, and now there are
several younger sons of Old England,
with herds of horses, steers and sheep,
worth millions of dollars. These young
men are not the kind of whom the met
rOpOlitan ass writes, saying, 'yOubetcher
life," and calling everybody 'pardner."
There are many OF them college graduates,
who can brand wild Maverick or furnish
the easy gestures for Strauss waltz
They wear human clothes, talk in the
United States language and have a bank
account. This spring they may be wearing
chaparajos and swinging quir through
the thin air, and in July they may be at
Long Branch or colOring meerschaum
pipe among the Alps.
Well, young man whom we will call
Curtis lived at one of these ranches years
ago, and though quiet, mind-yOur-Own-
business fellow, who had absolutely no
enemies among his companions, he had the
misfortune to incur the wrath of tramp
sheep herder, who waylaid Curtis one
afternoon and shot him dead as he sat in
his buggy. Curtis wasn't armed. He didn't
dream of trouble till he drove home from
town, and as he passed through the gate of
corral saw the hairy face of the herder
and at the same moment the flash of a
| Winchester rife That was all.
A rancher came into town and telegraph
! ed to Curtis's father, and then half
dozen citizens went out to help capture the
| herder, who had fled to the sage brush of
! the foothills
They didn't get back till towards day
break, but they brought the herder with
! them. | saw him in the gray of the morn
ing lying in coarse, gray blanket on the
| floor of the engine house. He was dead.
| asked, as a reporter, how he came to
his death and they told me-opium. |
said: Did | understand you to say
'ropium ?'' They said no, it was opium.
The murderer had taken poison when he
found that escape was impossible.
| was present at the inquest so that /
could report the case. There was very
little testimony, but all the evidence seem
ed to point to the fact that life was extinct
and a verdict of death by his own hand
was rendered.
1t was the first opium work had ever
seen, and it aroused my curiosity. Death
by opium, it seems, leaves a dark, purple
ring around the neck. | did not know this
before. People who die by opium also tie
their hands together before they die. This
is one of the eccentricities of opium-pols-
Oning that have never seen laid down IN
the books. l bequeath it to medical
science. Whenever [ run up against new
scientific discovery | just hand it right
over to the pubic without cost.
Ever since the above incident | have
been very apprehensive about people who
seem to he likely to form the opium habit
1t is one of the most deadly of narcotics
especially in new country. High up IL
the pure mountain atmosphere this man
could not secure enough air to prolong life
and he expired. In land where clear
crisp air and delightful scenery are abund
ant he turned his back upon them botf
and passed away. Is it not sad to contem
plata