The Lambertville record. [volume] (Lambertville, N.J.) 1872-1968, 1884-06-25
THE OPIUM HABIT.
How Ii Operates In Some Parts of the Fal
West.


have always had horror of opiates OF
all kinds. They are SO seductive and SO
still III their operations They steal through
The blood like wolf ON the trail, and they
seize upon the heart at hast 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 tho
snowy range. These ranches are the homes
of young men from Massachusetts,, Penn
sylyania and Ohio and now there are sew
eral 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 metropolitan ass
writes, saying, youbetcherlife, and cali
ing everybody "pardner." There are many
of them college graduates, who can brand
wild Maverick or furnish the easy ges-
tires fora Strauss waltz
They wear human clothes, talk in the
United States language and have bank ac-
count. This spring they may be wearing
ihaparajos and swinging quirt through the
hin 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 enc
mics among his companions, he had the
misfortune to incur the wrath of tramp
sheep-herder, who waylnid Curtis one after.
noon 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 fash of Vim
chester rife. That was ALL
A rancher came into town and telegraphed
to Curtis's father, and then half dozen
citizens went out to help capture the herder,
who had fed to the sage brush of the foot
hills.
They didn't get bsck till towards day.
break but they brought the herder with
them. saw him in the gray of the morn.
ing lying in a coarse gray blanket on the
aoor of the engine-house. He was dead.
asked, MS reporter, how he came to
his death and they told me opium said.
" Did l understand you to say ropium p"
They said no. it was opium. The murderer
had taken poison when he found that es-
cape was impossible.
/ was present at the inquest SO that
could report the case. There was very
little testimony, but all the evidence seemed
to point to the fact that life was extinct,
and verdict of denth nv his own hand was
1t was the first opium work had ever
seen, and it aroused my curiosity. Death
by opium, il 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 eccentrcties Of opium-poison-
ing that have never seen laid down in the
books. Ibequeath it to medical science.
Whenever run up against new scientific
discovery just hand 1t right over to the
public without cost. IA
Ever since the above incident have been
very apprehensive above people who seem
to be likely TO die from the opium habit. II is
one of the most deadly of narcotics, espe-
cially in a new country. High up in 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 abundant he
turned his back upon them both and passed
,way. Is it not sad to contemplate BIN
Nue.