The morning news. [volume] (Savannah, Ga.) 1887-1900, 1896-07-26
LIVING ON POISONs.
The strychnine Fiend Is the Latest
and Strangest Victim.
From Pearson's Weekly.

From Parsons Weekly.
new kind of patient can shortly be
looked for at the gold-cure establishment.
the victim Of the strychnine habit. We
nave had the cocaine fiend, the morphine
fiend. the slave Of the hasheesh drug. and
the wretched mortals whom only a regu-
lar diet of opium could keep alive.
The strangest victim to drugs of an ex-
cessively stimulating nature. however, is
the strychnine fiend Strycbnine is
known to medical science as a deadly
poison, but when under medical direction
IL acts as powerful tonic, greatly slim
ulatlng the hearts action. So powerful is
Il IN its operation that only the most in
intestinal proportion is allowed I'm a
tonic prescription. Yet IL has been sei6ed
upon by the physical wrecks Of civliza-
ton as means of stimulating the flick
ering spark Of life, and a strychnne jag"
can be added to the hilarious moments
that nerve-smashing drugs afford
Inc discovery of the strychnine fiend
was made by religious worker in a large
city. whose mission takes him nightly in
to the society of women to whom excite
ment os some kind is essential to the for
getfulness of life's dark side. This mis-
slonary recently found, emily one morn
ing, the form of a well-dressed woman
prostrate on the pavement. She was taken
10 one OF the institutions in connection
with which the missionary worked and
a doctor sent for 1t was clearly a case of
Jag of some kind or other. The usual
remedies were applied, but the death-like
pallor OF the patients face alarmed the
doctor, and he ordered her clothing to be
searched to obtain a clue to guide him in
his efforts to bring her to consciousness.
In the womans pocket was found a
small bottle containing a few pellets.
which, upon investigation, proved to con-
tain enough strychnine to kill an ele-
phant. the woman was suffering from
an overdose of strychnine, and the drug
had done its work well. 1t was with the
greatest difficulty that her life was saved.
and for days following this she cried
pitifully for the deadly tonic that was
withheld from her. From her own state
ment, and the doctor and those present
believed it. she had begun by taking a
very small portion of strychnne, and
as the craving for the drug increased,
had added to her daily dose until she
found she could take with impunity a
quantity sufficient to kill ten people who
were unused to poison.
A reporter who visited the chemists
shops in the district gathered some addi-
tional particulars regarding the new
dope" One chemist stated that the
poison book in which entries are made Of
all deadly drugs sold, showed a steady in
crease in the amount of strychnine con-
Sumed. 1T is quite evident that the new
stimulant is gaining in favor said this
druggist, land the recllessness of the
fiends' is sure to result in some fatality
unless DRUGGISTS Qeclllle TO sell SlTyCnuile
altogether. Those addicted to its use buy
it in pellets and the dose they take is
regulated by themselves. The seasoned
hands are able to take an enormous guam
tity with out doing anything more than
quickening the beating of their dying
hearts and stimulating their jaded nerves,
but those TO whom the drug is a new thing
are likely to kill themselves with a COM
paratively small quantity.
Il have on my books the names of wo-
men who are shining ornaments of So
ciety who send to me for strychnine pei
lets with the stereOtyped assertion that
they are wanted to kill a dying cat
The women who send for the poison are
without doubt victims of the strychnne
habit. Then 1 shall show you the names
of men who are regular cOstumers for
strychnine. In their case the poison IS
usually taken to conteract the evil effects
tobacco smoking. A person can derive
some benefit from taking strychnine, as
the stimulating action of one poison
counteracts the sedative effects of the
other. In these cases the poison may be
taken with some benefit, under medical
direction; but with the ordinary 'hend
who merely takes it for the pleasurable
sensation it produces, the after effect Is
hound to be disastrous"