The evening times. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1895-1902, 1901-04-25
New York Cotton Market.
GINGER AS A SUBSTITUTE.
4 Popular Beverage Used in PrOhI-
bItiOn Towns
- the Bsngor CommerciaLl

The drinking of Jamaica ginger is one
Of the recognized evils OF total prohibition
OF liquor selling all over the United States
and IN some communities il has reached
point where 1t Is net only dangerous to
the community at large. but has resulted
in the deaths of many individuals. When
asked about the sales of Jamaica ginger
a drug store proprietor told CONNER
ciaT' TepC.leT that there was no doubt
that much of it was drunk which was sold
Ostensibly for medicine strictly.
I lived in q temperance town for seven
years. said the druggist and know
all about the way Jamaica ginger is
drunk. The grocery stores all sell It in
great quantities. There was one man who
frequently came ineo my drug store 70
buy the stuff and al last / found out that
he got drunk on it. He was an old hand
At the art. and could drink a two-ounce
and half bottle off at one gulp- When
/ discovered the state of affairs | made Up
my mind that / would get nd Of him I
didn ike exactly to refuse to sell him
outright. for he was a man Of some pUOmi-
nence N the town.
y took a small bottle Of ginger and
poured out a third of It's contents Then
[ filed il up with tinctuTe Of capSicum
which is nothing more nor less than cay
enne pepper | thought that would fix
Two days after this the man came in
and demanded his ginger. gave him the
prepared bottle, and wondered what he
would do He hadn't bad a drink I
guess for some time, because he couldn't
wait TO get out Of the store before he
uRcorked he bottle and tipped the
whole Of that fiery burning mess into him
without a culver.
He didn't even make face and turn
ing TO me said. That's a little better than
you've been keeping lately, give me an
other bottle Then l told him what l
had done and he did nothing but smile
TO himself gave him to understand
then and there that / should sell him no
more and he never came into the store
again.
Now" continued the drug store man.
when that man gets so far gone as that
he must be pretty bad and I believe that
the taste that is brought on by iDIIIging
in ginger is worse than &nything else I
knew a man once who was hard drink
er- He went to the Kelley and came back
without MS taste for whisky Within a
year ne took to drinking Jamaica giIger
in little doses at first. then larger 9ntu
/ the back OF his store used to be piled with
empty bottles
- knew a girl once. beautiful girl
and to my great surprise her people came
to me one day and asked me not to sell
heT perfume OF any kind l consented not
to and wondered why they made such a
strange request. but one day I found ont
that the girl drank II and got drunk on
II Her father was one of the most prom
lnent lawyers in Maine or Massachusetts
She would drink violet water by the bot
tie and anything else of the kind One
gay she bought some oil of cloves and
! found out later from the attendant who
used TO take care Of her that she had
seen the girl drink an ounce of it at
u
tasted just put drop on the end Of your
tongue. sometime"
Recently it has been discovered that
certain druggists in Baltimore have been
using wood alcohol for the base Of their
Jamaica ginger, and an investigation in
stitUted by the doctors Of that city is g.
Ing on 4 man who was addicted to / g
habit bought four or ffve bottles Of the
mixture and proceeded to fill up Oh it
He was found inSenSible and when ne
came to himself he was almost blind
Within day or two he lost his sight
completely and an examination was made
The contents Of one of the bottle he had
left was analysed and found to contain
wood alcohol
The fuseI oil which is the poisonous
part Of wood alcohol has a direct effect
on the optic nerve, and causes partial or
total blindness, if not death. The drug
gists. or whoever made the mixture had
substituted a proportion Of wood for real
alcohol on account of its cheapness Al
COhOl costs $3.50 per gallon and the other
so cents There was the secret
It Is known that wood alcohol has been
used in the making Of cologne and bay
rum and only a few years ago some In
dams in northern Maine died from the
effects Of bay rum drink II vas known
that the mixture tf.ey drank contained
the poison