The Indianapolis sentinel. [volume] (Indianapolis, Ind.) 1880-1904, 1885-05-31
SMOKING OF OPIUM.
THE SENSATIONS OF A "fiENo" AS
RELATED BY HIMSELF.
White Smokers "Bitting the PIPE" I'm the
oeclnsion of Their Bed Rooms-Nov-
ices Take No Warning from the
Fate OF Others.


recently. an that number he continued,
sare included men and women from 40 years
Of age down tn boys and girls O. IA years
zhe terrible vice is on the increase, and it
never will be- checked until law'is enacted
making il feloRy TO sell opium to white
persons for smoking purposes"
SIt was generally supposed" said the re-
porter, shat term in the county jail had
the desired effect"
ut had the effect of stopping those people
from smoking in Chinatown, aAd good
many OF the opium joints werdv closed up
But the fends began to get theirSown pipes,
bowls and lay-outs, and now fc4Ir-fifths Of
the white smokers hit the pipe: in the Sc
eiusion of their bedrooms, so shat every
night, and in nearly every DOWNTOWN
lodging house, no matter how q4iet it may
seem to be, or how well kept it il, some one
o. more of the rooms contain one or more
epium-smokers, and secretly knd noise
iessly they while away the hoursi until long
after midnight in that seductive. way It's
now 1890 o'clock" continued the officer,
sand just to show you that ism not ex-
aggerating. we will take look iDsthe rooms
Of the top-story of the l. houss."
Together the officer and reporter made
their way to the house mentioned; Gaining
the top floor, the policeman knocked upon
enc door alter another and to zach room
WAS tremendously admitted Ia the first
room the two occupants, a man aud woman,
had finished their SIN Ike and retired for the
night. The fumes of the consu med drug
were still apparent, however. IN the sec
ond room, outstretchsd on the flor, with
large quilt under them. were two young
sfends, WAC had @ju't dropped Up to see if
Jack and the boys were in" They were
snly going to smoke two spills" apiece and
then quit
"Thats always the way" remarked the
odicer. Il never saw one of tbsm opium
smokers yet who had not eith,;r stopped
smoking altogether. or was goinf to stop.
Some of them tell me that theH have or
dered medicine from the east to lure them
Its always ON the way out, bul somehow
Il never gets here, and Of course they can't
stop smoking until it does"
The next day the reporter was ntroduced.
70 an opium "fiend" and in the course Of
few moments the conversation ussned to the
thing most dear to his heart-opi1m.
II don't deny am an opium sdhoker,1 he
aid, "for several reasons, the main one
being that my looks, the color 6 my skin
and my wasted form would ten any OBJ
server different It's terribls ching, aud
ln the course of few years wiz kill me,
but as haven't got anything Particular to
live for, am alone in the world Ind like to
enjoy myself, don't know but 3what Pm
doing just what most Of the worN Is doing,
or trying To do-enjoy myself. rs a won
derful satisfaction to be able to le alongside
Of bamboo pipe, have somebody cook your
dope, smoke your fill of the druA and know
that you are free from the desirat to gain
name for yourself in this worldt and that
you couldn't get rich if you tried SOS there
Is no use in trying But it's ruinlto the man
or woman who once gets the habit Don't
know what the habit isl Well, Ri tell you:
1t is craving to smoke opium It's worse
good deal than the whisky habit. When
the feeling comes upon you, you've got to
smoke; when that feeling comes upon you
for the first time. you know then3 you are a
'fend;' you might just as well give up all
hopes of ever amounting to anything for
they will only make your Ife4 miserable,
and at last die out, only to haunt you, now
and then when you get the blue5 and curse
the day you ever put pipe to ytlr mouth.
GWhat is the habit likel Wei, couldn't
exactly tell you, for it comes updh people in
different ways. l get it twice3 and some
times three times a day. When it comes
upon me the perspiration stands out on my
face and forehead in great big drops. If
do not obey the summons of my; master my
bones begin to ache. until at lastk am forced
10 go. l drag myself along up ) joint I
generally go TO- and in twenty minutes am
1t peace with myself and the World again.
A half-dozen pills have cured my habit,
and a half-dozen more have charged my
ystem full enough to last me six hours At
The end of that time am summoned again,
kl,a arfo 10 he
anne enjoyment and satisfaction are expert
nced, and here am, an opiur., smoker, a
person who lives for nothing ease in Gods
world but to smoke opium. Would you be.
keve it, Well. it's the case witt just 1000
men in this town no older than nj ysen, and I
How is it that the novices don't take
warning from the veteran smokc:sl"
cit makes very little differenSe to them.
They go to smoking with theit eyes open.
At first they do it because they imagine
hey must be a6le to smoke befcSe they can
be one of the boys; then the., do it for
aothing else but to while awsy the long
hours which hang so heavily on sheir hands.
In about six months they haze habit
The drug is necessary to thefr life, and
hereafter they are marked las 'iends.
n three years they are m&'e shadow
II their former selves; int five years
hey are walking SHELTON, ana in from
dght to ten years they are del I'd skeleton.
some of these unfortunateS 11yho possess
sufficient will power break off the habit
before it is too late, but such 5 so seldom
lhe case that cannot recall t& mind any
inst now"
The older an opium pipe is tie higher is
its market value, which ranges from IS to
$50 The longer a bamboo HIS been used
about joint, no matter whetheS Chinese or
white, the more it is priced, ard smoker
would steal one as quickly e. he would
drink q cocktail providing it was strictly
afe "trick" TO @turn," as they T. rm it), for
u all places the opium smoker toes dread
and fear il is q term in the coisnty Jail or
state prison. Once in the cells of either
pena. institution he not only bie,s goodbye
sut off: and il it is not entirele. cut off. its
passage from the hands Of his friend on the