The Saint Paul globe. (St. Paul, Minn.) 1896-1905, 1901-10-06
CURES THE OPIUM HABIT.
Chicago Has a JaiIer who Succeeds
With the Worst Cases fsitf

Opium eaters, devotees ?. of the little
sticky brown ball that brings oblivion
and bliss and later horrors, and users
of other deadly poisonous opiates and
drugs praise the jailer of Cook county
and his wife. 1t Is Father 4. Whitman,
and Mother Whitman now, w Z those
eight persons, six men and two women
who have rid themselves of "a degrading
and crime producing habit that Acursed.
their very existence, through the sym
pathy and efforts of the kindly taller
and his wife-but this is not the story.
A semI-serious problem confronts Jailer
John L. Whitman In the future treat
ment of his forced proteges. who take
THIS cure of their own free will a cure
winch leaves them as pure physically as
a newborn babe and with an appetite
that is phenomenal. 1t is this appetite
that has caused the remaining ''fiends"
for they SO call themselves to fear.
that Father" Whitman will have to
abandon his crusade against dope" tenn
porarily. The treatment requires from
fourteen to twenty days During the,
first or the OBSERVATION-DISCLOSURES week.
the patients lose all desire to eat They
see things and are in state hor.
dering on delrium tremens During this
stage tn patients are isolated in the
debtors department of the. jaiI.awhere
they can see all the things that push
themselves to the front, and will not
De made the sport of the other inmates
of the jail
with the beginning Of the second. treat
ment, which is known as the tonic
week, the patient begins to see life in a
dlnerent light and develops the appetite
Oh an ostr1ch-and here is where. the trou-
Die begins. Jailer Whitman feeds the in
mates well; for each inmate he is allow
&c IL cents day. His plans for. a1noun1&
VI Various Icods ne has to purchase are
maze accordingly. But stree he has wit
messed the cure of his first class of
opium eaters he sees that if he continues
tne work of rescue he has begun extra
Snppiles Will have to be procured. I'm
less this is done he will be forced to re-
peat What he did before the last of his
CLASS was discharged as cured. He will
nave 10 buy and pay for the extra food
Out OF his own pocket.
III is astonishing, said Jailer Whit
man TO reporter, "how fast the appe-
tte grows after we put the patient on
the tonic treatment. 1t out distances
any growth of appetite I ever heard of or
knew. The regular allowance of food is
ordinarily enough to satisfy the heartiest
caters, but when the patient has begun
TO eVince an interest in his inner man
there is no limit to what he will and can
eat: The regular meals did not suffice
by the less hungry. If he could not beg
he would borrow, and if he could not
borrow he would help himself. When I
found out what was going on I learned
that our supplies would not hold out, SO
bought additional supplies for the pa
tents, as the county would not furnish
them. The expense would if kept up be
a heavy drain, but as long as there are
inmates mere who want the treatment L
Will see that they get all they can eat.
They need have no fear on that score
Five of the eight inmates who have
been cured of their desire for the opiate
are still confined at the county jail. The
others have served out their sentences.
and when they left the gloomy north
side building they showered their bless
ings on the jailer and his Wife. They
We're going out into a new world; one
that had no terrors for them, for they
we're slaves" no longer Of the two
women who took the "cure" one was
discharged the other day from the Jail
She was a wreck physically and morally
When she began to serve her sentence.
hen arrested she was found living in
leVee dive frequented by colored men.
and women
She was the worst kind of attend, ;"
said Jailer Whitman, land l. hardly
thorght she was worth the effort itswould
require to treat her,
An outcast, and white, she HAD no
friends in the new world opened up to
her DESTROYS of remaining tfues to the
facing the outside world again ana beg
ged to be allowed to remain witt D. the
jail From a miserable, brokengdown
human being, whose face was a mirror
of riotous dissipation and the Color Of
saffron, she was transformed into
healthy woman Her face was full and
her complexion pink and fresh. The ply
sician who had treated her has wife and
children, The other night she was taken
into his home. 3@3tM
The other woman, known as williams
said: II have been thief ali my life
1 was .fiend'. among 'fiends., TO get
my dope / stole. and here am came
here wreck and with no desire to live,
not even for more dope / listened to
them and ] took the cure, hope to
| leave here. If don't and feel the old
desire to steal coming back / viii yet as
far away from Chicago as /. can before
!! commit another crime, for / never will
face Father and Mother Whitman as a
prisoner again. | never knew mother
love nor home. Mrs Whitman has
been a mother to me and this jail has
been the pleasantest place / have been
In for, Chicago Daily. News