Alexandria gazette. [volume] (Alexandria, D.C.) 1834-1974, 1893-06-27
Tipping Among Society Women.

Tipping Among Society Women.
Three cases, very singular and very
unusual, have crept into the New York
police reports of the past four weeks.
Taken as isolated facts, they were sad
enough, but as straws, showing which
way the wind of custom blows, they
were of startling significance.
The chief figure in each of these cases
was woman of education, culture and
position, and Of sufficient beauty and
womanliness to win love. Yet, at the
head of each pitiful tale was written
the word-drunkard
The mysterious case of Minnie Porter
was the first She was taken from the
Everett House, where she was suffering
from the effects of Il prolonged debauch.
She died in Bellevue Hospital without
regaining sufficient consciousness to
make any statement. The second was
the case of Mrs. Bruce Crane, the wife
of the artist. She was brought into the
police court in state of intoxication.
Her husband accompanied her, and
broke down completely, as he told the
story of his Intellectual efforts TO reform
her. She was sent to some institution.
The third woman was Mrs. Frank w.
Palmer, who was found dead in her
room at the United States Hotel. AL
coholism was the cause. She had been
reared in wealth and luxury, had been
carefully educated, and had led the
choir, and played the organ in an Epi' :
copai church.
Three such cases, one following close
upon the heels of another, would SEE m
to have some unusual significance. Did
they indicate that there is an increase
of drinking and drunkenness among
women? If so, what is the cause ?
In the first place, there is such an in-
crease. This fact is proved by the re-
ports of Bellevue Hospital, as well as
bv the police records. The register at
Bellevue shows that in 1888 the num-
ber of female alcoholic patients was
SIS; in 1889 there were 1,0l2; in 1890,
1,O2S; in 1891, l, ,l54, and in 1892, 1,2ll.
Thus there was an. increase of $50
cases, or about 81 per cent, in four
wears. Of course, there was definite
increase in population during the same
time but the ratio was far less than that
of The advance in alcoholism.
These reports show another interest
ing fact. OF the S75 cases in 1888 only
II were fatal, while of the l, ,2ll cases
in 1892, there were 50 who died in the
hospital. This shows that the fatal
cases were more than trebled during
the period when the admissions in
creased on 81 per cent. Drunkenness
is, therefore: not only much more
general among women, but the vice Is
also becoming more destructive in its
consequences.
DR.. w. E. Brill, visiting physician to
Mount Sinai Hospital, was aked If he
considered that alcoholism was on the
increase among women.
GAS habit, perhaps not. But as
disease, YES" replied the doctor.
What is the distinction between the
two"
"By "a habit of drinking, 1 mean TAX
ing wine with meals, or regularly,
without any striking effects. Dipso-
mania, the name by which physicians
call alcoholism when it is disease, is a
morbid appetite which recurs at
intervals with irresistible force. This
species of drinking is on the increase.
The cause is nervous degeneration, to
which Americans are particularly liza
ble."
The statement has often been made
that New York society women are more
given to drinking intoxicating liquors
than are the women of any other city
in the country. This is unquestionably
true, if the range Of comparison be
limited to northern and western places.
It NAV be that the traditional use OF
LIQUOR in the South brings its cities
nearer to the mark. One thing, how
ever, is absolutely certain, and that is
that in no city in the United States,
San Francisco, perhaps, excepted, is
there so general public indulgence IN
wine by women as in New York. San
Francisco, furthermore, is not exactly
a parallel case, for the class of women
who drink in public there are of dis
tinctly different order from the society
women of New York.
The time-honored remarks about the
feminine habit OF stealing fifteen min,
utes from an ardurous shopping tour to
lunch off ice cream and cold water
must be revised. Perhaps it is because
their mothers followed this custom
that the present generation thirsts alter
something hot and stimulating. Al
anv rate. a growing proportion of temi'
80 sbonners and callers and matinee
goers have taken to dropping into thell
favorite restaurant and ordering some,
thing which comes in long-stemmeo &c
glass and is not taken with spoon.