The daily morning Astorian. [volume] (Astoria, Oregon) 1883-1899, 1896-11-18
DoINqs OF DOPE FrENDs.
Filled with the Drug They win At
tempt Almost Anything

Probably the strnnBest OF all crea-
lures are dope fefds'--that In. per-
sons addicted to the use Of opium, CO.
calne and morphine. The full-1edged
dend is usually found ON the Bowery
and there one has an excellent opportu-
nifty to study his peculiarltles After
hitting the Joint" the nned's troubles
vanish and II IL remarkable what he
win undertake. He seems 10 think he
can accomplish anything
one night four Aztorians and hop
hend named Housman zat down 10 a
game Of draw poker. friend Of the
iend was standing near and the latter,
who. By the way. had just "trown a
shot" into himself. intimated by ges-
ture that he wanted cold deck Of
cards. The man went next door and,
getting a doughnut. placed II on IIous-
mans lap. When II came the latter's
turn TO deal he shufIied the cards. pass
ed them over 20 be cut and then. by a
swift movement, substituted what he
thought was cold deck. Now. II re-
lquires dexterity 10 ring in Fixed deck
and before the fiend know what had
been given to him. he pulled out the
doughnut and began TO deal The ef-
feet can better be imagined than re-
lated A similar Job was put up on the
same iend, only In this instance a tack
was driven through the cold deck.
When hop nends gather in their den
to smoke opium. they sit around in a
circle, and when one hits the Joint.
he nudges the next one with II. One
night. while several persons were play
ing billiards in an Astor street resort.
a iiend. full OF dope. entered and walk
ed over 10 the table. while leaning
against which he fen into a sort Of
stupor. The flend was in the way Of
the players and one Of them, instead
Of speaking TO him. poked him with
the cue. The hend grabbed the stick
and. putting 1t TO his mouth. began to
puT He thought he was in the den
and that Il was his next hit"
1 Mr.. Billy Ryan tells a good story
OF San Francisco fiend. He and a
big German. who loafed around a sa-
loon great part OF the time. were bit
ter enemies and becsfle involved in an
alteration one night MIR. Ryan com
prised the audience while a broken
down sport acted as referee At the
end OF the third round the German had
the iend breathing pretty hard and In
the fourth the latter was all but done.
He asked the referee IL he would allow
him 10 fetlnre for few minutes and
the request was granted. his German
opponent having agreed. In the spe-
cihed time the fend appeared and
bounded across the floor In a single |
jump He had gone outside and taken |
a shot Che was a morphine tiend) and |
sailed in at the German like whlrl- |
wind.
We'll. sir never saw a fellow last
so quick in all my life" says Mr. Ryan.
THE German put up a good scrap, but
the fiend gave him all the bother he
was looking for. In less than two min
utes we packed the Dutohman out"
The king of fends lives. or. rather,
lived in Portland. His name is Archie
Ray and he is without peer on the
coast. He puts in most of his time.
night and day, looking for money. He
used to walk the streets for hours, |
'lamping' for coins. Tobacco tags fool
him, owing to their resemblance to
small coin, and he felt such disappoint-
ments keenly Archie gets cramps in
his fingers whenever he lays hands on
anything and he is said to have lived |
on what he found and "copped" out
that is, stole. One night reporter met
him in Portland and Archie felt very
badly because he did not have a little
wagon, as a careless grocer had left a
large sack of sugar outside his place
Of business 1t was too heavy for Ar
chic to'carry and he was forced to pass
1t by
Once Archie was n prosperous Port
land business man. Two stories are
told of his DOWNFALL. One attributes his
present condition to domestic trouble,
but the other is generally believed to
be true, Archie was a harnessmaker,
so the story runs. and, while making
collar for customer who was in a hur-
~ ran needle through his hand. He
suffered greatly and to relieve the suf-
'erer morphine was injected into the
acerated member, Ever after, 1t is
'aid, he used the drug. His wife, who
$ described as being a very beautiful
woman, and children, are said to be
living in Portland He was recently
arrested for some mlsdemeanor and
'ent to Salem, where the authorities
will endeavor to cure him OF the habit
Enterprising horse men give their an
mails cocaine to make them run faster.
several instances have been cited on
san Francisco racetraclxs. Some days .
horse will beat everything on the
rack and on others will lose to the
lowest in the bunch. On winning days
he animal is filled with dope and on
osing days he is not given any.
A dope tiend is the most wretched
reature in the world. unless he can
.lways obtain the drug. Without 1t he
$ helpless. Probably every drug clerk
n this city has found some helpless
nan or woman, some morning or other,
wing cramped at the door. waiting for ;
he store to open that he might buy
# beg a few cents worth of dope.