The Seattle post-intelligencer. [volume] (Seattle, Wash. Terr. [Wash.]) 1888-1914, 1889-03-12
RlPn RolDS 70 DElTH.
The Cigarette. Opium, Morphine
Injection and Cocaine.


/ Corpsss that Mevs@
/ san F1neisco Examine.
Bare your arm, sir r.
The miserable tiend before the com
missiouers Of insanity yesterday rolled
up his tafterea sleeve
| HIS arm was q mass OF liberated
sores. and not an inch was free from
the holes puncfured by the instrument
| used in making hypodermic injec-
tons Blue. hzlf-healed scabs, swelled
flesh. soft muscles and unhealthy
veins full OF poisoned blood told plain
~ that il was an aggravated case
| Bare your leg, sir II
Painfully and dejectealy Patrick
savage. alias James Kelly, whose good
education and superior intelligence
had been unable to counterfeit his
bsser iongings. obeyed the command.
A siekening disclosure was the result.
Bare your breast, sir" said DR..
Eaton hurriedIy. anxious 10 retire
from the xaiting-room
| With trembling. lean, bony hands,
on which he wore two gaudy but
worthless rings. the man opened his
coat. The same terrible holes from
the poisoned needle and the same
running sores were visible in all their
responsiveness.
Great God p CALCULATED the doctor,
turning away his head. This Is the
worst case | have ever seen IN my
life! There is not spot on that man $
body into which morphine or cocaine
has not been injected How much do
you take in day
"Twenty-seven grains of morphine
and eight grains OF cocaine, muir
INJURED the man, as he pulled listlessly
at q half-smoked cigarette, without
once raising his eyes from the floor.
How much does il cost you day y
Five dollars
And how many holes do you pune
ture in your body each day
Eight, 10 or II.
Enough to kill a dozen men if
they were not habituated to it''' said
the doctor, amazedly. Il have seen
men who ate morphine take even
mere than that, but never one who
could stand that amount of the drug
hypodermically injected
An order was then made commit
ting Savage to the Napa asylum, and
the reporter undertook the task of
further questioning the wreck before
him.
TEL me who you are, and how you
contracted the habit, he requested
II am native of Illinois" began
the man, land my father stands be-
side You now pointing to gray
haired, respectable-looking man, who
seemed to feel his sons disgrace
keenly.
Il am "a yearsEofs age" continued
the fiend, land by trade am deco
rator, but for the last two months /
have been unable to work, in conse-
| quence of the state of emaciation to
which have been reduced"
| How long have you been slave to
| the habitf"
| Eight years, sir, and il l am not
cured now / shall die in short time,
for i am taking the very strongest
drug that | can procure, and the taste
has become ungovernable.
| Gradually he became aroused from
his apathetic state, and his sunken
| eyes looked less CLASSY, but his cheeks
were haggard and unshaven and so
pailid as TO be CHASTITY.
Eight years ago. he continued, II
| was strong and in possession of the
| finest physical health | weighed 160
pounds, and could hold up my head
| before the whole world, as manly as
any man. Now my bones weigh about
80 pounds, and | am owned by the
devil.
| Sometimes physicians prescribe
| morphine for their patients, as il dead
ems pain, and the Immediate relief is
what the sufferer desires. Then at the
least recurrence of the old complaint
| they fly to this banefui remedy until
| the craving for it is acquired and the
| habit becomes uncomfortable.
But it was not SO in my case. /
tried il first out OF curiosity. | was
running around with some wild COM
panions, and one night We went out
| together and called at an opium Joint
| | aid not know where we were going.
| but allowed myself to be persuaded 70
accompany them. When we entered
the room | was Mortified TO see four or
| FIVE boys hitting the pipe. | had
always ioathed the idea OF a man be-
coming a fiend, but before | left the
room that night | had inhaled the
cursed fumes into my lungs and sealed
my fate.
| what were my first sensations ?
/ felt as ii were walking on air. All
the pleasurable emotions that human
being could experience were crowded
into single moment. My brain
seemed as clear as il every cloud had
| been lifted from it, | breathed rapidly
and / felt reckless, rushing, indie
scribable sense of exhilaration.
THE most enhancing visions passed
before my eyes. The most lovely land
scapes, the bluest skies, the sweetest
warbling of birds, the most delirious,
naddening, delightful ministrations
of beautiful beings; all these sights
and feelings took possession of my
frame and | thought | was in Paradise.
81 was king and voluptnous maid
ems sought 10 soothe me with the light
| touch of fairy hands. which only car
ried me higher and higher into the
realms OF pleasure untilit seemed that
| should burst every vein, annihilase
| my material body and become spirit,
owing allegiance to no power and un-
trammeled by time or space.
:" reveled in that atmosphere of de-
lights, giving rein to every wild desire,
using up year 5 vitality in moment
of time. | actually felt nearer heaven,
for my vision was clearer and the sun
beams seemed 20 whisper that the su-
pernatural was real and that no man
could doubt the divine origin of all
things after the giimpses on the inf
mite which had been vouchsafed me. =
| The deluded dope" fiend seemed IL
be almost transformed into a man
again as he uttered these words in an
excited manner, but the reaction soon
came
What happened them" asked the
| reporter.
| Then came He'll black, aecursed
Hell ~ be replied, passienateiy. The
| ecstatic visions AID sensations by de
grees vanished, and cold, black chilIs
crept over me. The quick, hot flow
of blood through my veins was stopped,
and leaden weights dragged me back
10 earth. seemed To breathe lead,
and walls of lead seemed 10 close
around me until gaspei and felt that
| should choke. This was succeeded
By duh, exhausted feeling which left
my body trembling from head to foot.
| II left that room, but from that mo-
ment my former self was dead.
must have another glimpse ut that
3 81 a. n.