The Maryville times. (Maryville, Tenn.) 1884-1944, 1892-05-04
AN ARMY OF DRINKERS.
Some Startling Facts and Figures Of the
Rum Traffic.


There are in the United States 14O,-
900 licensed liquor saloons. If formed
into street with saloons on both sides,
allowing 20 feet to each saloon, they
would make street 265 miles long.
Let us imagine them brought together
into such street, and let us suppose
that the moderate drinkers and their
families are marching into it at the up
per end, and let us see what that street
turns out in one year.
What army is that which comes
marching down the street in solid
column, five abreast, extending $40
miles? 1t is the army of 100000 men
and women who daily and constantly
go to saloons for Intoxicating drinks as
beverage. Marching 20 miles day,
it will take them more than 2S days to
go by.
Now they are gone. and close in their
rear comes another army, marching five
abreast and 60 miles in length. In it
there are $50 900 confirmed drunkards
They are men and women who have lost
control of their appetites, who are in the
regular habit of getting drunk and
making beasts of themselves March
ing two abreast the army is $50 miles
in length. Scan them closely. There
are gray-haired men and fair-haired
boys. There are, alas! many women in
that army, sunk to deeper depths than
the men because of the greater heights
from which they fell. 1t will take them
seven days to go by.
1t is sad and sickening sight; but,
do not turn away yet; for here comes
another army-1O0, 900 criminals. From
jails and prisons, and penitentiaries.
they come. At the head of the army
hands are besmeared with human blood.
With ropes around their necks, they are
on their way to the gallows. Others
are going to prison for life. Every
crime known to our laws has been com
mitted by these persons, while under
the influence of drink.
But bark! Whence come those yells,
and who are those bound with strong
chains, and guarded by strong men, that
go racing by? They are raving mani
acs, made such by drink. Their eyes
are tormented with awful sights, and
their ears ring with awful sounds
Shiny reptiles crawl over their bodies
and fiends from hell torment them be.
fore their time. They are gone now
and we breathe more freely.
But what gloom is this that pervades
the air, and what is that long line OF
black coming slowly down the street:
1t is the line of funeral professions
One hundred thousand who have dice
the drunkard's death are being carried
to their graves. Drunkards donot have
many friends to mourn their loss, anC
we can put thirty Of their funeral pro
cessions into mile, We have thus a
procession 1885 miles in length. 1t will
take good share OF the year for then
to go by, for funeral professions move
slowly. Yes, most of them do; but
every now and then an uncoffineC
corpse, in rough cart, is driven rapid
ly by, and we hear the brutal driver
sing:
Quick, rattle his bones, rattle his bones
Over the stones
He is only pauper whom nobody owns"
Look into the coffins as they go by
See the dead drunkards. Some died o
delirium tremens, and the lines of ter
ror are plainly marked on their faces
Some froze to death by the roadside
too drunk to reach their homes. Som
stumbled from the wharf and wer
drowned. Some wandered into tn
woods and died, and rotted on the fac
of the earth. Some blew their owl
brains out. Some were fearful
stabbed in drunken brawls. Some wer
roasted in burning buildings. Som
were crushed to shapeless masse
under the cars. They died in variou
ways, but strong drink killed them al
and on their tombstones---if they hav
Anyway be fifty inscribed HE die
drunkard's death"
Close behind this comes another Ion
line of funeral professions; we kno'
not how many. but they are NOR
numerously attended by mournin
friends. They contain the remains {
those who have met deaf
through the carelessness and crue
ty of drunken men. Some die
of broken hearts. Some were FOUL
murdered. Some were burnt to deaf
in buildings set on fire by drunke
men. Some were horribly manglcd @
the railroad, because of drunken Ell
gincers or flagmen. Some were blow
up on steamboat, because drunke
CAPTAIN ran a race with a rival boat.
But here comes another army-tf
children-innocent ones, upon who
has been visited the iniquities of the
fathers. How many are there? Tv
hundred thousand. Marching tv
abreast, they extend up the street thir'
miles. Each one must bear throug
life the stigma of being a drunkard
child. They are reduced to povert
want and beggary. They live Ia
norance and vice.
Some of the children are moanii
with hunger and some are shiverlI
with the cold, for they have not rags
keep them warm. A large number
them are idiots, made so before thu
were born, by brutal drunken fatEeI