Blue-grass blade. [volume] (Lexington, Ky.) 188?-19??, 1891-11-28
THE ikEBa!ATE'S MECCA.

Dwighi,b ILL.,, and It's Remarkable
Asylum for Dranka'ds.
The d Eodern Mecca, toward which
the eyek of all repentant inebiiates
may DIV turn, is this little old
fashionS d town in Northern Illinois,
says Dwight, ILL.,, letter in the st.
Louis G Hbe-Democrat. 1t is just now
awaken q to the fact that it is becom-
ing fam and has begun to take upon
itself b5Om. Every one who knows
of the llace knows it is the home Of
DR.. Lexie E. Kelley, who boldly
announces his ability to cure the
drink habit. Ten or twelve years ago
DR.. Kelley was spending all he could
make in sending out circulars and
trying to get himself before the
people, and he has succeeded. There
are over thirty States represented
here among his patients, and they
come from Massachusetts as well as
from Michigan and Texas. He was
not long ago in little dead town Of a
few hundred, but he has gradually
educated the people up to KIN owledge
Of the fact that he is making the little
bunch of houses famous, and the re-
suit is that everybody in the corpora
ton swears by Kelley and his Insti-
tute. The Doctor intimated that the
sale Of any liquor at all in the city
would hamper him in his work, and
no man can now get liquor here for
either love CT money. He expresses
his hatred for cigarettes, and since
then for the small boy that article is
an unknown luxury; it is impossible
to get package in the city.
Ten years ago Dwight was a strag-
Cling village Of a few hundred; now
it is little city Of between 1000 and
1000 people. Then it saw a dozen pa
tients being treated here; now there
are $50 here under treatment, and
twenty nine new ones came in to-day.
These $50 patients pay to the Institute
1926 each per week, over $4,000 al
together. They pay for board, ETC.,
to be distributed through the city, an
average of $40 per week each, or an
aggregate OF nearly three-quarters Of
a million dollars annually.
A Pennsylvania talking with an
Arkansan, asked how many States
were repres, nted here, and the reply
was thirty. OF course Illinois heads
the list, but Missouri comes close be-
hind. There Were fOrty-two Missouri
ans here last week, and the patients
here now.-include residents of many
counties III the State, and members Of
every profession. While my acquaint-
ance among Missourians is not very
extensive, ! recognized to-day a
prominent citizen of Liberty; also
saw one of the best known men
in Howard county, an attorney
Of Springfield, brilliant lawyer
Of Saline county, a learned Mis-
souri, jurist, and am told there are
numbers of other Missourians here
l talked with nearly every one of these
Missourians, and each one seemed
more enthusiastic than the preceding.
The same is true of prominent gentle
men from Gainesville, Ga, to Den
yer, Colo, and from Detroit, Mich,
to Mobile, Ala They seem to come
from all over the country, and if they
continue to increase in numbers us
rapidly as they have of late, the i'll
stitution can not accommodate them.
The institution is growing very rapid
ly, because every graduate" as the
cured patients are called, becomes an
active, energetic, vigilant and untir-
ing agent and solicitor for the intirm-
airy.
The departure and the previous ar
rival contrast very strongly in one
respect. When a patient comes to
Dwight he slips off, pretends to be
going somewhere else, and has his
friends pledged to secrecy. When ho
leaves here he has already written or
sent word to every one he knows, so
secrecy being no longer possible, he
leaves In Q storm Of farewells In