Wichita daily eagle. [volume] (Wichita, Kan.) 1884-1886, 1885-07-18
SMOKING OF OPIUM.
The SENSATIONS OF A "FtEND" AS
ID = RELATED BY HIMSELF.
White Smokers Hitting the Pipe in tho
Seclusion of Their Bed RoOms-Nov
ices Take No Warning from the
: - 20 Fate Of Others.
ISan Francisco Chronicle.l

| smokers IN San francisco today remarked
a weil-informei police officer to a reporter
| recently. In that number" he continued,
3ars included men and women from 40 years
OF age down to boys and girls Of IA years.
The terrible vice is on the increase, and it
never will be checked until a law is enacted
making it a felony to sell opium to white
person, for smoking purposes" tt.
1t wa, generally supposed said the re-
| porter, that a term IN the county Jail had
| the desired effect
at had the effect Of stopping those people
| from smoking in Chinatown, and a good
many OF the opium joints were closed up
But the fiends began to get their own pipes,
| bowls and lay outs, and now four fifths Of
the white smokers hit the pipe in the So
clu5ion Of their bedrooms, SO that every
| night. and in nearly every down. town
| lodgins-house, no matter how quiet it may
| seem 10 be or how we'll kept it Is. some one
or more Of the rooms contain one or more
opiuIn-smokers, and secretly and noise
lessly they while away the hours until long
after midnight in that seductive way. It's
now 1870 O'Clock" continued the officer,
"and just to show you that ar, not ex-
aggsrating. we will take look in the rooms
Of the top-story of the L house.
Together the officer and reporter made
their why 10 the house mentioned. Gaining
the top floor. the policeman knocked upon
one door after another AMI t. each room
was tremendously admitted In the first
room the two occupants, man AMI woman
had finished their Sun Ike and retired for the
night. The fumes of this consumed drug
were still apparent, however. In the sac
ond room, outstret ,h5d Oh the floor, with q
large quilt under them were two young
'iiends. who had Just droppol up to see if
Jack and the boys were in" They were
only going to smoke Two pills apiece and
then quit
That's always the way" remarked the
officer. Il never saw one of them opium
smokers yet who had not either stopped
smoking altogether, or was going TO stop
Some of them tell me that they have or
dered meiicinc from the east to cure thsm.
It's always 'on the way out, but somehow
il never gets here, and Of course thsy can't
stop smoking until itdoes'
Tho next d.y The reporter was introduced
to an opium fen1 and in the course of
fe@ moments the conversation turned to the
thing most dear to his heart-opium
Il don't deny | am an opium SMOKER he
said, FOR several reasons, the main one
being that my looks, the color of my skin
and my wasted form would tell any OBJ
server different Its q terrible thing, and
in the course OF a few years will kill me,
but as haven't got anything particular to
live for, am alone in the world and like to
enjoy myself, don't know but what I'm
doing just what most of the world is doing,
or trying to do-enjoy myself. Its won
derful 20 tisfaction 90 b. ahle to lie alongside
of a barnboo pipe, have sonsbudy cook your
dope smoke Your AlIH The drug AMI know
that you are fresfron tao y sieeto gain a
name fR yourseM il thfs sworths and that
You couldn't eetfiehif Won hriei..~ SOS there
is no use in trying But it's ruin to the man
or woman who once gets the habit Don't
know what the habit is! Well, I'll tell you:
Ii is craving to smoke opium. It's worse
a 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 then you are a
fiend;' you might just "a well give up all
hopes of ever amounting to anything. for
they viii ONLY make Your life miserable,
and at last die ont only g. haunt you, now
and then when youSet the blues and curse
the day You ever put pips to yo;fr mouth.
What is the habit likei Well, couldn't
exactly tell you. for it comes upon people in
different ways I get II twice ami some
times three iiruss a day. When it comes
upon me the perspiration stands out on my
face AMI forehead in great biz drops IL ]
do NOT obey The summons OF my master my
bones te, in l. ache. until at last | am forced
to SO. drag myself along up 70 a joint
generally 90 t.. sni in twenty minutes I am
at peace wifi my sell AMI shc world again
A haifdozsn 'pais' have cured rnyrhahit.
and a half-dczen more have charged my
system full enough 10 last me six hours At
the end OF that time am summoned again. |
the same perfor nance IS gone through. the
same enjoyment and satisfaction are expert |
encei AMI here | am. an opium smoker. a |
person who lives for nothing rfs- II Gods |
world but 10 smoke opium Would you be.
Lave it, We'll. st. the case with just 1900
men in this iowa n, nlier-thsn nv self, and /
amt y yet
How is it that the novices don't take
warning from the veteran smokersF
at makes very little difference to them
They go 70 sinekins with their eyes opsn |
Al first they DO Il .aerau>e they imagine
they must be ale IL smoke before they can
be one OF III. euys: tasn they do It for
nothing else but 10 while away the icag
hours which hang 50 heavily OH their hands. I
In about six months they have A habit
The drug Is necessary To their life. and
thereafter they are marked a 'tieniS
In three years they ar1 mere shadow
of their former selves: IN five years
they walking sSs,tau. and in from
eight t. ten gears they arr dead skeleton !
Some Of these unfortunate, who possess
sufficient viii power break oil the hahit /
before IT Is too late but such i 50 setiom .
the cass that oannots rseaR IA mind any 7
just now,
The older an Oiian PIPE 5 the higher is
its market value, which ranges from IS to I
So The longer bamboo has been used 4
about joint. no mat;er whether Chinese or
white the more Il IS prizsi, and q smoker 4
womb steai ems rs qaicsiy a. b., would 1
drink a cocktail providing j; was 4 strictly !
safe TT. OK 10 'turn. ~ they. teym III, for /
OF all places the opium smoker de dreai .
and fear II is a Term IN tbs county fail or 1