The Ketchum keystone. [volume] (Ketchum, Idaho) 1885-1899, 1890-08-02
4 SLAVE TO MORPHINE
Tells the Pathetic Story Of His
sufferings By Day and Night.

AA0u9 VnO0C V0UtOAC0 614 k4CAU0 uuu]
painfully upon his emaciated form
tottered into a downtown dru,
store, and after glancing around ii
a nervous abstracted manner, callet
for fifty grains of morphine.
Il thought you had broken your
self of that morphine habit?" re
marked the druggist as he opened
q glass door and reached for the de
sired article.
II have been trying" replied tn.
old man, the lines of whose coun
tenance and whose broad, high fore
head bespoke moro than ordinary
firmness of character and intellect
"I have been gradually reducing
my doses, and for awhile it seemed
easy enough, but now | have reached
a point where any further reduction
causes me to suffer untold and in
describable agonies and shattered
my nervous system SO thoroughly
that / feel that further persistence
will cost me my life"
HE PAUSED A MOMENT
And remarked abstractedly, as if
thinking to himself: II would give
anything on earth if l could do
something to deter others from un-
consciously becoming slaves to Opt
um and bringing upon themselves
the torments that suffer-"
IF that is the case" remarked a
reporter who was standing at the
counter when the old man entered,
probably you would not object to
giving me your experience for pub
lication."
II do not know about that" was
the startled answer; "but-" after
trembling hesitancy-"if you will
go with me to my room perhaps ]
will talk to you"
The reporter assented, and the
two walked away together for few
blocks then turned into an alley,
and finally entered a tumble-down
frame tenement house that seemed
almost given over to rats and filth.
The old man S apartment was reach
ed on the second floor next the roof
in the old two-story building.
The old man unwrapped the par
eel he carried in his hand and greed
lily swallowed a portion of its
contents. He then sat down and
after remaining silent for minute
seemed little undecided as to
whether or not he should tell his
story. Then arising from his chair
and beginning to pace the floor
nervously he said: Yes, I will
tell you the best I can, though it
seems almost impossible for me to
confne my thoughts that long to
one subject.
In the first place, | was a soldier
in the war between the states, you
might say from the firing of the
first gun to Lees surrender. 1t was
At the Wilderness that | received q
dangerous wound, which has troub-
led me ever since; and it was this
hat first induced me to begin the |
use of opiates. | never thought to |
become slave to opium then, but
THAT HABIT HAS GROWN UPON Me,
Till | suffer not only physical but
mental agonies, compared with
which my former sufferings were
pleasures and it would have been
,etter for me and my friends had
he ounce minnie ball that tore
through my body produced instant
leath. As it is, | have outlived
riends, family and fortune, and am
ncapacitated, by reason of the fear
al habit have contracted, for max
ng a living, and am existing on a
ew hundred dollars that were left
ne by relative, hoping that death
nay come, as happy relief, before
t is exhausted, and / am thrown
lpon the city as common beggar.
when | first commenced the
lse of opium the effect was electri-
al. My pains and physical all
nents vanished, my mind was
and every good impulse
n me seemed improved. was not
[runk, nor anything approaching
!, but every faculty in my being
eemed improved. Then there we're
o immediate i'll effects, like thoss
rom drinking Intoxicating liquors,
nd concluusd that the horrors Of :
plum were a myth thaTe might
9 to others, but to me there were
nly delights. hthoughtt theD mst
9 something il my physical CON {
wherein I differed from
ther people, for certainly then I
1ere were no depressing results.
"But, alas, q change came, and .
lme none the less surely md FER 9
bly,, Lecause Of its slownese. And |
hen it came there was no relief. ] Z
My increased my doses of thedtug .
nd tried to drown my suffering in 6
Dlivion. g
Waking vas miserable; feel- I
e oftorpor was gradually growing i
pom me, and whea my eye Nsre
osed dreslns and visions crowded
trough tnysbr1fn ID endless pomp
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