The Indianapolis journal. [volume] (Indianapolis [Ind.]) 1867-1904, 1902-10-12
OPIUM DENS in CITIES
IN INDIANAPOLIS THE EVIL Is NOT
VERY PRONOUNCED.
A Traveller Tells of Their Presence I'm
the Big Towns Of the Pacific
Coast.

nne with an opium den or two, salo u
member OF the business stan OF the Prin-
cess Chic" Opera Company. which gave
two performances at English's Opera House
In the middle OF the week just ended i
want to say that IL the community has sue
ceeded In keeping this evil down so wen
that the discovery OF a joint in Its midst
causes surprise, the city Is In great luck
/ became interested In this opium smoking
practice while the Princess Chic organi-
zation was on the Pacific coast. end dur
ing the travels OF the company have made
1t point to learn just to what extent this
miserable Oriental vice Is gaining In prac-
tice. 1 know what I'm talking about when
i say that there isn't a large city In this
country that doesn't have from one to
dozen of these opium dens and the good
citizens Of indianapolis may feel that their
town is not one. two. three when 1t comes
to the standing of the various cities In re-
lation to the deadly drug.
'I visited a score or more of Chinese
opium dens during our tour of the Pacific
coast and feel that I'm quite an authority
on the subject of the beautiful poppy
flower and its influence over it's slaves.
The Chinese dens, of the kind that are fire.
quented exclusively by the pig-tailed
OrientaIs, are dark. cherries places. On
each bunk-and there Is seldom q vacant
one-a devotee of the drug may be found
hitting the pipe In listless, dreamy sort
of way. I've often seen the stuffy little
rooms so crowded with patrons that Ii
was necessary for the pipe-smokers TO
double up-two in each bunk-but the
Cinnamon. who live like rats, anyway,
never appeared TO mind being q little
crowded. The opium outfit is made up OF
the pipe, the lamp. peculiar little circular
shaped box for holding the drug the
needles used in holding the opium over the
flame of the lamp In cooking 1t, and the
knives for cleaning out the pipe bowl. The
pipe is called yen tshung;' the lamp Is
called yen dong the little box is known
as hop toy the needles rejoice in the
name o. yen hok,' and the cleaning knives
are nick-named yen ngow.' although that
is not. 1 believe. the proper expression in
choice Chinese.
LITTLE BALL OF OPIUM.
THE smoker holds his little ball OF opium
about the size of pea on the end of one
OF the needles, and as he cooks it over the
flame Of the lamp 1t bubbles and sizzles as
50 aling wax does when heated. Every once
il while during the cooking process the
smoker rolls the little pill over the bowl of
his pipe. and finally. when the pill is In the
right condition to be smoked, he heats the
pipe bowl slightly, thrusts the dope into 1t
and then proceeds to go away to another
world OF his own. The average Chinese
opium smoker can get away with about
seven pills at each hitting but there are
hundreds OF them that smoke a dozen or
more at a time. paid visit to one under
ground den In San Francisco. just of Du-
pont street, where there was an old white
haired Chinaman laid out in a dirty little
bunk. The proprietor OF the place vouch-
safed the information, and with a good
deal OF pride. too. that the aged devotee
OF the drug had not been outside the den
in two years, but had continued 'smokum
opyum alice time 1 will say this much
for the Chinese, however that ii isn't often
that you run across such a slave to the
drug as this withered old fellow was. While
most OF the Chinese OF San Francisco's
Chinatown indulge in an opium smoke
whenever they feel like IT, the practice
does not seem to affect them as 1t does
white people. An American cannot become
addicted to the habit without losing all
ambition; it makes him lazy and good for
nothing. But there are precious few lazy
Cinnamon in San Francisco. and China
town presents the busiest sight imaginable.
presume that the Chinese having always
been accustomed to smoking opium. not
SO easily influenced by the dreamy essence
OF the poppy.
while the dens patronized by the Chi
nese themselves are forbidding places to a
white man with OF smell and a
natural delicacy about things in general,
the joints with which the Mongolians cater
oil
extreme. They are nearly always magnifi-
Gently furnished with Oriental divans.
draperies and lanterns. and are kept clean
and free from the disasreeable doors in
which the Chinese themselves seem to de-
light. The smokers lie half disrobed on the
soft divans and are waited upon by yellow
Acknowledged attendants clad In spotless
white blouses and pantaloons. The Gus
tomary charge for private room is $3.50,
and If the smoker is not expert enough to
prepare his own pill at the lamp an extra
charge of 81 is made for the services of a
special attendant. I have noticed both in
San Francisco and New York that there
are usually as many women as men to be
found in these high-priced places, and the
joint told me that the women were his
most faithful patrons.
SMOKED FOR EXPERIENCE.
I'm confess that smoked one pill myself
Just for the experience. and never want
to smoke another. All the yarns about
bIissful dreams and moments of unearthly
happiness came back to me In the midst of
the most frightful nausea I've ever been
unlucky enough to run up against Talk
about seasickness! Why, seasickness would
have been a delightful sensation In COM
parison. If ever I wanted somebody to beat
the life out of me 1t was upon the occasion
of that first and only opium smoke Of mine.
The one thing about the practice that
strikes me as most peculiar Is the fact that
the novice will return to have another try
at hitting the pipe after his memorable
debut as an opium devotee Six or seven
pills must be smoked before any effect
other than one OF depression can be ex-
,perienced by the beginner, and IL a person
Is so determined TO become a slave OF the
drug to go through all OF those stages
OF misery he simply doesn't deserve any
sympathy. There is a great deal OF rot
written about the unhappy people that
have fallen victims to the dread opium
habit. The truth OF the matter Is that a
person cannot possibly fall a victim to
that habit or all bad habits OF human be-
ings. He must deliberately go about the
thing with the determination to give the
drug every chance in the world to secure a