Omaha daily bee., 1885-04-18
THE BARK IDOL.
Opium and Its Victims in Omaha.
Something About the "Hop-Jointsr
and the Habit.

the opium Joints on mis- own responsible
Ity, and without waiting for the action Of
the city council. But the report proved
TO be unfounded.
Tits believed that the outcome of the
present sgitatlon against these places
will be their total suppression. Certainly
the journals of this city cannot wage too
bitter q warfare sgsinst them, and 1t Is to
be hoped that as In st. Louis, Chicago
aud Cincinnati, the disclosures In the
newspapers will be fatal to the existence
of these dens.
OF all the mysterious and terrible fea.
lures Of criminal Lie In Omaha, there is,
perhaps, nothing more fraught with mys-
terry than the opium "%joints" Of the city;
mysterious, by reason of the dark veil of
the resorts and the actions of the con-
6rmed opium. eaters of the town; terri
BILE, because of the throttling of all
moral character and physical force,
which Is an evitable result
of the awful habit, The bondage
of the poor opium wretch to his dark
idol is, once entered upon, never to
be cast off. The Victim of the liquor
habit may, by efforts more or less atren-
uous, throw off the shackles which
threaten him; the opium.eater rarely or
never. Once let the habit be firmly es.
tabllshed; once let Its envenomed fsngs
sink into the flesh of its victim and the
subtle poison course through his vens
and he is forever doomed. lie cannot
shake off the coils; they close upon him,
crushing out of him all life; he sinks
first into spiritless apathy; then blank
despair, and finally when the vital ener-
gy falls to respond sufficiently to the
stimulus of the drug, death must ensue
unless, perchance, the victim first turn
suicide.
The opium joints are, so far as known,
four in number. One of them Is situs-
ted on Twelfth street between Douglas
and Dodge, mex to the Buckingham
theatre; another is on Tenth street, on
tho west eide of the street, between
Douglas and Dodge; the third is on Har-
ney street, on the north side between
Eleventh and Twelfth; while the largest
establishment Ia on the northeast corner
OF Thirteenth and Dodge streets. In
every case these places are run 10 nne
ton with Chinese laundries. and in every
instance the proprietor or overeeer of the
Joint Is one of the Chinese laundrymen,
1t might be well to state in this connecy
ton that the talk which Is sometimes In
dulged In by the individual of Respondent
fancy about the gorgeous ~ftting-up of the
places, Is all bosn. The apartments are
all of the plainest character possible, and
there is not the slightest attempt at any
thing sumptuous. And this is true, in al
probability, of every opium joint from
New York to San Francisco, excepting, Of
course, the private ''lay-out' of the
wealthy opium cater. 1t Is an extremely
hard matter for an outsider not addicted
to the habit to get into one of these
places; it Is impossible for him to obtain
entrance at all unless ''steered" in by 8
habltue of the establishment. Were any
curiosity. seeker to endeavor to seek ad,
mittance to an opium joint, even ostensi.
bly, for the purpose of indulging in O
smoke, he would find the doors literally
and 6guratively closed against him; and
the sallow. hued celestial to whom he
might prefer his request would manifest
a painful Ignorance of any such thing al
oplum.smoking and In all probability asl
him, In pigeon English, to walk out
Thr. ugha friend, however, who has beer
initiated into the mysteries of the ''di
vine" drug, admission may be gained
And 1t was by this latter method thai
the reporter was enabled to gain an In,
sight into the workings and appearance
of the opium layout or joint. 1t will
be interesting to observe for the mo
ment its interior appointments and it
habitues. Passing through the laundr,
which occupies the front part of tn
building, where the almond eyed sons o
the Flowery kingdom ara bending owe
their work, the observer passes through
back entrance and up a rickety flight O
stairs into q back room where the opium
smoking Is conducted. Pausing for
moment, one notices that the walls ar
covered with small hunks or beds, on
above another, where the opium victim
lies stretched out, enjoying the pleasure
of the TEMPORARY rhapsody induced by tn
drug. Examine the outfit whicl
the smoker uses. First, there is tn
pipe or bowl, very much similar to a
ordinary tobacco pipe. This pipe has
atem which varies In length from eigh
teen inches to two or three feet. The
there is q small lamp or burner used t
heat the opium or shop" ss the China
men call it, and a long "pin," by mean
of means OF which the smoker picks u
the opium. The opium most commonl
. used comes In the form of a black, me
lasses like mixture. This Is taken up o
the point of the pin and by a process
somewhat difficult to describe, twirle
around in the bowl of the pipe which
held near the flame of the lamp. This
kept up until the mass of the opium ha
assumed the shape of q small pill. Thl
pill Is then placed in the bowl of tn
pipe, ovsr the fame of the lamp, an
leaning back, stretched at full length o
the bunk, the smoker inhales, In Ion
aud easy breaths, the influence of til
beatifc drug.
To attempt to describe the opiul
smokers heaven Is vain.
His feeling, when at Its height, Is or
OF supremest ecstacy. One feels, whe
under the influence of the drug,
though he were stepping in the afr, 4
great are the. feelings of transport. Att
q few hours, however, these feelings pa
OFT, and are succeeded, almost inevitabI
by a terrible depression of spirits. by
racking and torture of the physical fran
by q fall into the depths of despair. II
,.n 90 tho drno muat ha rana-ol -