The Dawson news. (Dawson, Ga.) 1889-current, 1898-05-04
DRUM on FROZEN ANTS.
sad Plight of Lot of Lumbermen Who
Could Get Nothing t" Drink.

sad Plight of Lot of Lumbermen Who
Could Get Nothing t" Drink.
The ownership and management Of
WiIlimantic and three or four adjoining
townships in Maine is vested IN Con
necticut thread company, which has al
ready cut off thousands of acres Of white
birch and converted the white sapwoOd
into spools, The company not only owns
the land and the mills, but it is sole pro-
pretor of every store, boarding house
and brush or log shanty for 10 miles
around By this means the corporation
is enabled to regulate the conduct of its
employees and count on getting its work
done in time to meet all orders. Until
these measures were taken he hands
about the mill were in the habit of TAX
ing too much liquor at times when they
should have been at work, thereby caus-
ing great expense and delay. Under
the new rules no liquor can be brought
into the township without the consent
OF the uperintendent, and if man ar
rives there in an intoxicated condition
and looks for work he wastes his endeav-
Ors. No matter how valuable al en-
ploye may be to the company his useful
ness is at an end as soon as he dalles
with the forbidden cup.
After more than Two years Of indu,trl-
I,,;
part OF the mod colony is Just recover
ing from protracted and highly inflam-
matOry debauch. symptoms of alcohol
ic excitement we've first noticed amoug
the ''bolter," a cr,w of men who cut the
round timbers into boards, which are
afterwards sawed in square spool bars
For day or two the men acted strange
ly, singing and laughing abont thei-
work and making a great deal of need
less distul banca. They los. their appe-
lite for TODD, going all day without tast-
ing mOUthful. Later their eyes grew
bloodshOt, they shook as if afflicted with
palsy, and then collapsed entirely, so
they had 10 be put 10 bed.
A physician who was called to see the
pat ents had no hesitation in saying they
were all drunk, though some of the
sy -nptoms did not Indicate alcoholism
The pulse was slower and more regular
than in cases of drunkenness, while the
pupils Of their eyes were enlarged to
twice their original dimension. The
rooms Of all the men were searched for
liquor, and every newcomer was closely
questioned, but nobody could throw any
light upon the mystery. The men re.
named in a semi-COmaLose state for sew
eral days, returning to their senses and
rations alter repeated doses of bromide
and choral hydrate had been administer
ed. Every victim denied that he had ia.
ken any liquor. When asked to account
for their illness they said they believed it
was brought on from eating large GUAM
titles of the great brown and red ants
which they found in the hollow butts of
the trees. These insects are we'll known
10 all lumber camps, where Frenchmen
and others with taste for sharp acids
eat them freely, winnowing them from
sawdust and chewing them as they
would radishes, or mixing them with
mo,asses and using them as a substitute
for cranberry sauce. These ants burrow
no nes for themselves in the trunks of
aged trees. During the summer they
roam freely in the woods, but at the ap-
preach of cold weather they return to
winter quarters, where they apparently
freeze up stiff and remain until thawed
out in the spring. AS their bodies are
strongly impregnated with acid the
woodsmen eat them greedily, preferring
the taste of frozen ants to cranberry or
apple sauce.
1t is now believed that the workmen
were falsely accused of drunkenness.