Arizona weekly citizen., 1885-08-15
HANDLING YEN HOCK
orHed Man Tells How Inc oo,,. hAbit Was Introduced into This "
 Country


 nSo you hit the pipe. did von,y
 Anls question was put to a f,en,ro
 ot elegant leisure lasf niobt eH'iemsn r, oao, , no' now; nor have for ten years WS Sos' great deal of time and money s u'd careSs the bamboo if bro:a S'": n! health, rendered me unfit fo, ,,'~, ana made me a slave to tba Wt horrible dissipation in exis,enco r,d"e nen once the opium Is inhaled for PteasIte' and 1t does not make vo, SSea,nIy sick, the effects are too deI;sbt ,ul TOT words or pen to describe Ya, nav. nave only one choice If you do not on,t sDsh ana there, and that is to becons nenu' For ten-years I suffered as no num-n oelng ever suffered. The f;rst year smoked liked it, for nv conn pAnlons were jolly good fellows who met ttSguIarly every night and listened " each other tell their experiepee m every part ot the known world. Sore were gamblers, others business men .ct ofs' Alnstrels, men ofthe world-an5 do you know that the strongest masonry mn .he world exists among persons who handle the yen bock?" Ao
 Ten hook, what is tnat?"
 Why, that IS the name of fine w;,a on winch the hop It cooked or prensrsS Tor smoking. Did you ever know wbo introduced ID this damnable vice into the United States?" '--o
 No"
 Well, I will tell you. In abopt 1se5 TIP Orendorf, then a good looking gam Oler, "ho was very inquisitlve, lived m Oaiitornla and at night would stroll among the Chinamen and watch tbem play ah tan, which Is a national game among the CelestiRls, as much so ,s iaro bank IS among we'll raised Ken tuckians. Tip watched them several nights and became known to several of The Keepers of the gambling establish ments ID some way which he never told to living soul. He was initiated into the mysteries of hop tuk, or m plain English to the mysteries of the onium pipe. He smoked for four years ana then came east to Utah, where he met Johnny McCleary. Johnny and lib became fast friends, and Johnny was soon broke ID and became a fiend. McCleary was young fellow who could learn anything quickly, and came west from Kansas with the track layers on the UuIon Pacific railroad, where he drove dump cart. He would 70 to towns on the Union Pacific railroad. which were then built quickly and most ly Of tents, and contained a few small stores, plenty of large dance houses. in which there were alyays a bar and plenty of games of chance. He would play anything. and soon became a real live sport. Ii John ny won, he usually made large winnings. and Rs money had no value with him he made friends. Tip and Johnny made trip to Denver together, and there met the lion. Harry WIcks of New Orleans. Harry was the prince of bor- rowers, but he only borrowed money for two things, one was to gamble with. the other to spend with bis ccmpauions. The three men whom 1 have named are the men who introduced opium smok- ing in the United States among Ameri- cans. When these men left Denver OrendOrt went to Virginia City, Nev., where there were at one time two hun dred smokers who could trace their habit of opium smoking to Tip Oreu- dorf. McCleary went to San Francisco and taught about 1000 men and women to smoke. He made big winning and went to New York, remaining there long enough to initiate a hundred or more, got broke, and went back to San Fran CISCO, where be stayed without money .or long time. He could always raise money enough to smoke. He made q bIg winning in 1876 and went to Europe, and smoked in London and Paris. He came back as poor as Hot Springs pig, worked his was west, where fortune smiled en him agaln, aud h. raised a biz amount of the filthy lucre and took his second con tinental tour, visiting England, France, Germany and Italy, and returned to hIs natIvs sOIl tramp Tn lcOks. He work ed his way west, but sunk into oblivion.
 "Now for Harry Wicks He left Den yer and went to some mining camp ID Colorado where there were races going on. He established himself Es a pool seller. got the box pretty well filled, and then jumped the town. When II was discovered how be had put every obe Tn the hole men started after him, prepRr- ed to take him dead or alive, but be es caped, aad when next heard Of was ID New Orleans, where he had taught sev- eral of his friends to smoke the pipe. | From New Orleans some one carried | the pipe to Vlcksburg and Hot Springs. | In Hot Springs it IS still used every day. In St. Louis one fiend whose name Is known to every man ID the state Of Mis- souria has e joint fitted up like palace, and invites every smoker who passes through the city to hit the pipe with him. They all know him through one another. Here in Cincinnati there are probably one hundred confirmed tiends, and, while they are in different stations in life, they all know one sn- other, and when a new fiend arrives ID town, with or without money, he IS sure to find a place to smoke. Now, will tell you that I knew a business man who smoked so much that he lost a good situation. Almost every troupe that plays here Tn the fall and winter season has more or less fiends in 1t. In Louisville and Baltimore there are opium joints as well ss in Boston. With in a radius of one hslfmile of the En- ouirer office there are at least twenty | five rooms in lodging houses used as joints. It is a low, dirty, beastly habit, and there IS only one cure and that IS to throw away the pipe, suffer for long | time and may be forever.