Yorkville enquirer. [volume] (Yorkville, S.C.) 1855-2006, 1885-10-29
THE ONLY RED EAR

Col. Osbourne, grizzly gambler who, in
the good old days "befo' the Wah," won
and lost many dollar on the big double
deckers on the Lower Mississippi, sat on
bale of cotton at the wharf one day last
week. There were large rents in the back
of his russet coat, and his trousers were
infirm with age. "Times are not what
they were," the old sport moaned, as he toss
ed piece of red faro check into the river
and stroked his chin with velvety hand.
"But saw some pretty hard days in the
'6O's though and my present condition sort
o. carries me back to particularly men,
orable day in 1868. 1t was on a Wednes-
day in June of that year, if | remember
Alright, that / boarded a steamer at Mem
phis. / had just enough money to pay my
passage to Matches. But this fact didn't
worry me any. There were plenty Of suck
ers in those days, and 1 was pretty cute in
my line of business. The idea of not being
able to rake in hundred or two on trip
never entered my head. We had gone
down the river perhaps five miles when l
spotted young smooth-lOoking fellow deal
ing faro out of hand. There were five In
dianians in the game, and as watched the
bets l concluded that the layout was just
too soft for anything; but, as l said be-
fore, / didn't have a copper, and what
made it all the more dscouraging, / had
pawned all my jewelry in st. Louis sever
al weeks before.
81 saw that the players were using ker-
nels of corn for checks, and had also seen,
while waiting for the boat to start at Mem
phis that she carried good sized cargo of
corn in the ear. Now here was an Oppor-
tunity. Imoved away from the game, feel
ing as though there was but few short
steps between myselfand opulence. Sneak
ing down on the boiler-deck, l found an
open hatchway, and, thrusting this big
right hand into the boats hold, fished up
an ear of corn. l jammed the cob into my
coat pocket and crept upstairs like thief,
shellng the corn as | went. 1t was not
more than a minute more before | was look
ing over the shoulders Of the players. The
game was getting interesting, and the men
were piling up the corn on the cards at a
great rate. Now here was my time. |
scooped up handful of kernels and slap
ped the seeds on the queen. The dealer
looked at the kernels second, and, with
out raising his head, said in tone of voice
so frosty that it chilled me to the bone,
Stranger, don't remember Of issuing any
, red checks l took in the situation at a
! glance, and with stage cough skunk away
to the bow of the boat and cursed my luck.
When that boat reached Matches, | sat on
unload that corn and | will eat this old hat
if there was another ear of red corn in the
whole cargo. Talk about hard luck, friend,
that was a little more agOnlZlng than the
kind / am plying in now"
THE DELIRIUMS OF COCAINE.-COcaine
the new an;eSthetic, which as Il cure for hay
fever and similar troubles promises to be-
come a familiar antidote, carries with it
evils as great as opium or alcohol when the
habit of its use becomes fixed. A Rochester
physician describes it's peculiar effects upon
the system that is addicted to it:
While person in normal health is exhil-
arated by the use of the drug to such an
extent that natural cowardice is supplanted
by the greatest daring, the slaye to the
drug, though previous to his enthralment
one of the bravest men, becomes the most
arrant coward. He will not sleep, except
at long intervals, but never loses his appe-
tite, eating heartily as soon as the nausea
induced by the injection passes off. No
mental faculties are clOuded or dulled, but
owing to extreme constipation the victim is
prey to lethargy, and will not undertake
any great labor or enterprise becomes un-
tidy in person, unclean in thought and NOR
ally depraved. Some have continued
their employment, but, on account of their
aversion to action, with great diminution
of success. Opium, like other narcotics and
intoXicants used to excess, causes persons to
become absolutely Indifferent to all rela-
tions, duties and obligations; they even
become brutal but not nearly so brutal or
depraved as the cocaine slaves.
The victim does not sleep or care to, so
long as the drug affects him; he will lie
awake, happy in the insomonia, seeing
everything about him, and yet eXilerated
to a wonderful degree. Hallucinations
come with night, not of the pleasant order
usually ascribed to opium, but ghastly and
horrible phantoms to be chased away only
by light. These imaginary beings creep in
through the cracks in the door and every
other entrance conceivable to the diseased
mind. Such periods are as terrible as the
paroXySms of dclirium tremcns.