The Austin weekly statesman. (Austin, Tex.) 1883-1898, 1885-05-21
npersnu IN AlcnhnI.

Col. Robert Ingerson was lately en-
ployed in a case which involved the
Manufacture of ardent spirits, and in
his speech to the jury he used the fol-
lowing language. from which one
would infer that he actually believed
in devil and God:
81 am aware there is a prejudice
against any man engaged in the manu-
facture of alcohol. I believe from the
time it issues from the coilCd and
poisonous worm in the distillery until
it empties into the hell of death. dis
honor and crime, that it is demoraliz-
ing to everybody that touches it, from
the source to where 1t endA l do not
believe that anybody can contemplate
the subject without being ptejudiced
against the crime. All we have to do
is tc think Of the wrecks on either side
of the stream of death, of the suicides,
of the insanity, of the poverty, of the
destruction, of the little children tug
ging at the breast of weeping and des-
pairing wives asking for bread, of men
of genius it has wrecked, the men
struggling with imaginary serpents
produced by this devilish thing and
when you think of the jails, of the
aims houses, of the asylums, of the
prisons and of the scaffolds on either
hand, 1 do not wonder that every
thoughtful man is prejudiced against
this vile stuff called alcohol. Intem-
perance cuts down youth in its vigor,
manhood in its strength, and agein its
weakness.
It breaks the fathers heart, bereaves
the doting mother, extinguishes natu-
raj affection, grasses conjugal love,
blots out filial attachments, and blithts
parental hope, and brings premature
age in sorrow to the grave. 1t pro-
duces weakness, not strength; sickness,
not health; death, not life. 1t makes
wives widows, children orphans, faith
ers fiends, and all paupers. 1t feeds
rheumatism, nurses govt, epidemic,
invites cholera, imports pestilence and
embraces consumption. 1t covers the
land with misery, idleness and crime.
1t eng enders controversies, fosters
quarrels and cheriSheS riots. 1t crowds
your penttentiaries and furnishes vic
Tins to the scaffold. tits the blood If
| the gambler, the element of the bur-
glar, the prop of the highwayman and
the support of the midnight incendi-
\ airy. 1t countenances the bar, respects
the theft, esteems the blasphemer.
| it violates obligations, reverences
fraud, honors infamy. It defames
benevolence, hates love, scorns virtue
and innocence. 1t incites the father
to but her his helpless offspring, and
the child to grind the parriedal ak.
IL burns up men, consumes women,
detests life, curses Cox and despises
heaven. 1t suborns witnesses, nurses
perfidy, detiles the jury-box, and stains
the judicial ermine. 1t brides voters;
disqualifies votes, corrupts elections,
doplutes our institutions and endan
gers the government. 1t degrades the
citizen, debrses the legislator, dis
honors the statesman, and disarms the
patriot. 1t brings shame, not honor
terror, not safety; despair not hope
misery, not happiness; and with the
maleVolence of a fend. calmly surveys
its frightful destruction, and unsatia.
ted with havoc, it poisons felicity.
kills peace. ruins morals, wipes out
national honor, then curses the world
and lau his at its ruin. 1t does that
APP more-it murders the soul. It is
the sum of all villainies, the father OF
crimes, the mother of all abomination
the devils best friend, and Gods worst
enemy."-Bo ston Pilot.