Custer chronicle. [volume] (Custer City, Black Hills, D.T. [S.D.]) 1880-1890, 1889-10-26
A SLAVE OF The OPIUM HABIT.
wlikie Collins Drank Laudanum by the
Glassful.

Glassful.
Now that Wilkie Collins Is gone, all
sorts of strange stories are current
about his life, and the innermost secrets
of the novelist who sought, above all
things, to shield himself and his home
from the gaze and comment Of his fell
low-men, are the topic Of the hour.
Edmund Yates set the ball rolling in a
signed article in his paper, the London
World, in which he said: 1T was dur
ing the progress OF the M5onstone,' /
believe, that Wilkie Collins first &C.
CURED the baleful habit Of taking soda
tives, which he continued more or less
throughout his life. Excited beyond
measure by the constant nerve pressure
created by the necessity of having every
thread OF bis story constantly within mis-
grasp; suffering under a sharp attack OF
rheumatic govt in the eyes; distracted
at the same time by the serious illness
OF his mother, to whom he was
devotedly attached, Wilkie Collins
did as Coleridge, De Quincy
and no end of others eminent in tie
fraternity had dono before him-he
sought and found relief in anodynes.
On this subject / almost fear TO write,
lest | should be suspected Of exaggera-
ton, but from what he himself told me,
and from what l have heard from
friends OF ever greater intimacy with
him, l believe that about that period
and for the greater part of his after life,
lVilyin GnllinQ tya IN fhn hahit nf falr-
ing daily, and without apparent serious
noXious elect, more laudanum-not
batleys, nor any other minimizing solu-
ton, but absolutely pure laudanum-
than would have sutiiced to kill an en-.
tire ships crew or a whole company OF
soldiers. This amount, of course, was
arrived at slowly and by degrees"
An actor who knew Wilkie Collins in
timately, remarked at the funeral: Il
nave seen Collins drink a wineglassful
Of laudanum at one swallow without
affecting him in the least. He suffered
some injury when still a young man
which rendered it necessary that he
should take opium TO kill the pain. Life
would have been almost unbearable to
him without it."
1t will be some days before the will of
Wilkie Collins will be offered to pro-
bate, but it is well known among his
intimate friends that he provides liber-
orally in it for the three children whom
he acknowledges as his own. They
were at the funeral yesterday with their
mother, and n of the numerous beau
tiful wreaths which surrounded the
coffin was from them; but they were
not among the chief mourners and kept
out Of view as much as possible. They
never went "a Wilkie Collins house
and few people here ever heard of
them.
In his win Wilkie Collins refers to
these children as his own, and leaves
one-half of his estate, which, it is said,
will not exceed 500, 600, to be divided
In their interest. The mother of these
children was a housemaid in the employ
of Wilkie Collins mother, and was very
devoted to her while she lived. The
other half Of Wilkie Collins fortune
goes to his housekeeper, Mrs. Graves,
while she lives, and to the novelist's
adopted daughter, Mrs. BARLEY, on her
mothers death. This adopted daugh-
ter, the child of the housekeeper, has
been n great pet of Collins for years,
doing all his work as amanuensis.