Deseret evening news. [volume] (Great Salt Lake City [Utah]) 1867-1920, 1890-05-01
ALCOHOL DRINKERS.
A DREADFUL LEVERAGE WHICH
STEALS REASON, HEALTH
AND MORALS.

Did you ever see an alcohol
drinker? Not man whU drinks
whisky with alcohol ia its makeup.
but the man who drinks the straight
fluid without drop Of water to cool
his case-hardened throat. There are
men in Kansas City who drink pure
alcohol every day OF their lives.
They reach a trembling hand for il
when they open their eyes in the
morning, ana the last gulp at night
carries TO a fiery stomach more fuel.
These characters are few. As COM
pared with The whisky drinker; the
man who drinks alcohol is some
thing awful. Ii does not matter II
the whisky drinker INDUCES TO
exceSs-let him be the wOrss soi
upon the earth and the moderate
alcohol dripker will suriRss him in
genuine ceIravity.
The eyes II . man who has used
alcohol as beverage for year start
from their sockets, all blOodshot aud
revolving. q PERPETUAL leer IL upon
his face, his complexion is blue anu
red by turns, his hole frame quiv-
ers and all sense Of moral duty is
away from him. The ordinary
drunkard is not to be compared with
the alcoholic slave, The former has
on more than one occasion been re-
deemed; but who eau POINT cut the
drinker Of straight alcohol who. has
lived 10 become 4 man again? OF
the alcohol drinkers in Kansas City
none Is more conspicuous than an
old fiddler, without any name in
Particular, who frequents the
hotels, saloons and public corners.
! This old man never wears n shirt.
I He keeps his tartered coat buttoned,
and between the lapels the dirty
breast, o5yered with bTistles, braves
the sun OF SUMMER aud tue chill
blasts Of winter. He unbuttons his
coat occasionally 10 take from its in
side pocket a flask OF pure, white !
alcohol. The old man holds the /
bottle in his hand for a moment. I
raises it TO his bearded face with an I
unsteady hand ard before he lowers 4
his head and replaces the flask in /
his coat the fiery liquid, In a dose |
/ that would Kill the ordinary man. /
has gone 10 his stomach. A grimaue .
that's all The old fellow never f.
/ THINKS Of drinking water before or .
( after these alcoholic drau gifts.
''Does Ii hurt your thIoat2'' h.
was asked. He looked about him 4
with n lee-, shaped the meaning OF /
the wortls in his befuGdled brain and
answered:
'-Hurt? Nav; nothin' hurts my
old throat. I'd As soon drink that
stuff as water-an' gogd deal soon
err" he chuckled, laughing over his
gruesome joke. why" lac went
on, steadying himself against the
wall, ''this 'ere casorei whiskey the
saloon sells is worse'uiwster 10 me
[ could drink'eT solid IumS4vr IIil OF
il at a sWailer and never know it
and beer q. no. no, that's too
good; beer? Why. | could drink
bar'l Of beer II i'd room inside %
me, an the elec'-there wouldn't be
any. that's all. When did / COM
mence TO driEks o, that's a long
story. Good many years ago,
though, lemme tell you. Down in
New England We didn't have no
colored whisky like they sells here
all the sailors and WOTknen drank
them days was rum-hOt from tie
still. My, hut them was good days"
unused the old fiddler. smaeking
his liIs. "Rum-l've drunk many
a glass Of that white rum. one dag
| remember man showed me e
bottle Of some white lOokiu' sultan
asked me If I'D ike some o. IL. |
Jumped atthe chance and in 4 halt
minute | had the bottle turned up.
I tool. swaller fore I knOwed |
was fooled. II was alcnhol-the
straight stuff. / thought / was
killed. jumped up am ran of rs
fast as / could. Tive first water |
came 10 jumped in, head fust.
When they pIllGi me ont / was
half dead. But / was tough, and
purity soon was well again. Since
that time I've ieen dTinkin' alcohol
of an on purity steady"
"Hby Go you not drink good
whisky?'
"Well, there's two reasons. One
Is that whisky's too weak, and
another i that the blamed saloons
won't give me a drink for playin'
in them. 1 don't intend to pattern I
ize them as DON'T paternize me. Ii ,
go tOadrug store and play tune, ,
as like ez not the clerk will fill my
flask with the pure stuff. 1t takes
four Of them TO do me every day. I
Purity soon I'll take five. How ;
long'l l live? Little difference, |
but Pm countin' on stayins here a
couple o. years yet"
cit is . strange fact, = said n well
known druggist yesterday, "that
alcohol drinking is on the increase.
To what do l attribute it, A hand |
question, hut ! suppose PEOPLE learn /;
il In lOcalitiesswherei il i difficult 10 |
get whisky. In local option towns
aud in prohibition states there are :
people who would rather buy ,
alcohol, alleging some common use
for it, then slip around to a joint {
and get whisky for drinking pur- !
poses. That is one serious trouble {
with n prohibitory law. Whisky
drinking in its worst form was never ,
so bad as alcohol drinking. Alcohol {
undiluted will rob 3 man Of his |
honor, his brain and his health in a {
year. A man who drinks n pint Of 1
pure alcohol a dayi should be on the {
lookout for n graveyard. As sure /
a. he drinks the pure drug for two :
years. so sure will he need a collin {
before three years have passed. And '
guess It Is right that It is 50. A '
man who has fallen so low as TO {
require pure alcohol rs a daily bev-
erage has no place upon earth,'
ssDo you know OF any periodical
alcohol drinkens?"
"There are such people. Once
while was running 2 drug store in
Kansas l met a Russian woman
who got on periodical sprees, using {
nothing but the purgst Of alcohol. 5
She took enormous drinks. and / {
always wondered that one OF them (
did not kill her. was told that
many Russians. Swedes and others :
of the colder climates ar. addicted |
to the habit Of getting on occasional
sprees with pure alcohol. There are
in Kansas City dozen men can {
think OF who drink the stuff regular ,
Is, without wafer or anything to
else its fiery passage to the stomach.
You can rest assured that those men {
will not be here In two yeaIs-''-
Kansas City Times.