Amador ledger., 1901-02-22
"A CHINAMAN'S
GRATITUDE.
Story of a Morphine Taker.

"Well, there's one good thing about
Chinaman, anyhow he's grateful"
reminisceRtly remarked a Washington
man who put in a couple of cruises as
an apothecary in the United States ma
w. "You may of late, in the great
mass of rubbish that's been written
about the slant eyes. have seen that
fact disputed, but just happen to
know that a Chinaman's grateful. How
ever, in order to make the point clear,
I'll have to begin at the beginning. So
here goes:
"When was serving on board a
cruiser on the Pacific station, / had as
shipmate private marine named
alb, well, Tom Kingsley is near enough
to it. Some of his people, of good sta
ton, are still living in Philadelphia,
and this boy hurt them enough, SO we'll
just make it Tom Kingsley. Kingsley
went to the ship with a detachment of
marines quite awhile after l was at
tached to the vessel. 1 noticed him
particularly as soon as he came aboard
not so much that he was a tall, broad
shouldered, fine looking chap, who
completely outclassed the bunch he
Joined with in appearance and bear
ing, as because l saw what his trouble
was as soon as l clapped my eye on
him. l understood as soon as l made
the discovery why Kingsley was wear
ing the uniform of buck private in the
marine corps. 1t was because a slav-
cry to which he had become addicted in
civil life had rendered him unfit and in
competent to keep up with the process
sion in civil life.
THAT is to say, 1 didn't need two
looks at Kingsley to see that morphine
had him. His gray eyes focused to
pin points, and he had all of the other
exterior indications of the man chained
in the morphia bondage.
"At the inspection on the Sunday
following Kingsley's coming aboard l
watched my immediate chief, the ships
surgeon, narrowly to see if he was 60
ing to get on to Kingsley when he
passed by the marine in following aft
er the commanding officer. When the
surgeon passed by the row of marines
drawn up in their mastering clothes,
eyes straight ahead, l observed that
he gave one sharp glance at Kingsley.
and that was all.
Below, In my stateroom, after in
spection the surgeon looked at me out
of the tail of his eye.
"'Have you noticed that marine,
apothecaryP he asked me.
Yes, SIR replied.
Hum! Pm glad to be corroborat-
ed, yet was sure l couldn't have been
mistaken said the surgeon. Better
have an extra eye to your store Of
morphia. Keep it under cover
However, Kingsley didn't become
incapable. He was an admirable sol
der of the sea. He was always right
on the minute, top notcher on guard
duty, a spick and span man always.
The marine officer in charge of the
guard never, of course, suspected that
there was anything wrong about Kings
ley, and he thought SO much of the
mans faithfulness that he had him
made a corporal a couple of months
after Kingsley Joined us. Kingsley
was always under the influence Of the
drug Of course. He never ran out of
the stuff. You know how morphine
slaves provide against that awful con-
tingency. He kept on edge all the
time and never appeared to overshoot
his limit. Kingsley surely was man
of powerful self control in that respect.
However, l knew that it would get
him in time and throw him. 1t always
does throw its victims If they give it
rope enough, you know, and morphine
is one of those things that just de-
mands all the rope it wants.
kingsley knew by intuition that l
knew about his habit, and he avoided