The Superior times. [volume] (Superior, Wis.) 1870-1912, 1884-06-07
The Opium Habit.
(Bill Nye.]

nave always udu lOrrOr OF OpldUeS
of all kinds. They are 80 seductive and
SO still in their operations. They steal
through the blood like a wolf on 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 range. 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 which the metro
politan ass writes, saying, "youbetcher
life," and calling everybody ''pardner."
There are many of them college gradu-
ates, 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 chaparaj JOS and swinging a
quirt through the thin air, and in July
they may be at Long Branch or color
ing meerschaum pipe among the
Alps.
Well, young man whom we will call
Curtis lived at one of these ranches
years ago, and though a quiet, mind
your own business fellow, who had alb
solutely no enemies among his compan-
ions, he had the misfortune to incur
the wrath of tramp sheep-herder, who
| waylaid Curtis one afternoon and sho5
him dead as he sat in his buggy. Cur
| tbs wasn't armed. He didn't dream of
| trouble till ne drove home from town,
| and, as he passed through the gate of a
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 tele-
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
morning lying in a coarse gray blanket
on the floor of the engine-house. He
was dead.
I asked, as a reporter, how he came
to his death and they told me-opium |
/ said: "Did / understand you to say
'ropium Thsy said no, it was opium.
The murderer had taken poison when
he found that escape was impossible.
/ was present at the inquest SO that
I could report the case. There was very
little testimony, but all the evidence
seemed to point to the fact that life was
extinct, and a verdict of death by his
own hand was rendered.
It 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. 1 did not
know this before. People who die by
opium also tie their hands together be-
fore they die. This is one of the &C.
| centricities of opium poisoning that /
had never seen laid down in the books.
I bequeath it to medical science. When
ever l run up against new scientific
discovery I just hand it right over to
| the public without cost.
Ever since the above incident have
been very apprehensive about people
who seem to be likely to form the opium
habit. 1t is one of the most deadly OF
narcotics, especially in a new country.
High up in the pure mountain atmos-
| phere this man could not secure enough
air to prolong life and he expired. In
land where clear, crisp air and delight
| full scenery are abundant he turned his
back upon them both and passed away
Is it not sad to contemplate?