Daily Kennebec journal., 1902-03-25


took a quick lock at his eyes. Vino,
he said. and told the captain that
Texas probably had been both drunk
and crazy for month. The little ser
geant had known it all the time, out
hoped to save his friend, and almost
lost his own life in the effort. once IN
the guard house the big Westerner
mind snapped completely. His once
amiable disposition gave way to hoihi,
cidal tendency, which finally turneo
against himself and he commlt'eo
suicide.
IT is the opinion Of experts VINO
have looked into vino drinking as
disease that the natives put so1ne pc
caliar drug in it, either an OIL eA-
t-acted from the Nipa nut or soine
vegetable drug of which they ohiy
Lnow tbe secret AS an illustration OF
the hold the habit gets on man, the
storv is told of a soldier who served 1or
two wears in the Philippines. in actlVe
corvice hut with gun unloaded except
With the most peculiar charge ever
thrnst into a krag. He became one OF
the frs; victims of vino, but his de-
nortment was so excellent that ms su-
charge against him. The best they
could do was to take every precaution
that he should not get drink OF 'he
stuff.
He recognized his weakness, anu
submitted meekly to daily searcil VI
all his belongings. This delicate uu'y
was intrusted to his mate, VINO hhe"
the man was we'll worth saving. Des-
mite every precaution, in barracks vi
in the field in active search Oh an
enemv. that queer set look in the eyes
showing a brain inflamed continued.
He steadily said that he was not drink
inc and his bunkie, who honestly
searched all of his belongings tilne
after time. was forced to say that ne
simnlv could not be drinking, as there
noeitive,v was no vino to be found any
where. e.+
on one occasion, in a running hgnt
with the insurgents, the soluler III
ouestion was complimented personally
nv his colonel for making praVe
charge on a group of bolomen WIN
clubbed gun, laying about MIN IKE
windmill. That night the punKie, wno
had watched his mates charge Will
admiring but curious eyes. mace d
furtive examination of that JaHlineo
Krap 1t was storehouse OF Nino'
and the most formidable gun TO lts
nossessor that ever cracked poio-
mans head The plate and spring
where the shells should have been nao
heen removed, and fiat bottle nlleo
with vino lay snugly in their place.
In addition, a rubber cork from a meo-
;cine bottle had been jammed down
the barrel to the breech.
The barrel then had been filled with
the poison and another cork pressed
into the muzzle until it was just out OF
sight.
| Evidently the big drink in the barrel of
| the weapon was intended as an emer-
| pency ration, when in the field far from
| new supply of vino. The soldier who dis
covered this strange weapon at 'a lrst "hs a.,
| got ont of the barrel The vino Vlcum
| Showed him by taking his ramrod ana
| pressing on the lower cork, at the same
| time holding the gun upright. Inc cork
| in the muZZle flew out with pop, ana
| there was the VINO. To the credit of the
| brave soldier with the vino loaded gun ~
| can be said that after thirty Gays unuei
| guard he recovered his senses and showed
| that he knew well how to shoot that long
silent and much absued Krag. But these
are only a few of the milder instances OF
what vino will do with man.
| Captain Frank II. Lawton, who re-
| turned from the Philippines couple OF
| weeks ago, and now is in the Army bu ID
| ing in New York, had excellent opportu
peculiar drink in it's various forms After
service in Cuba he was sent to the Phil
| ippines with the twenty-first regiment,
| and remained there more than three
| wears. For one year he was Provost
| Judge of Manila, and in that position saw
| much of the weird work of the native
| drinks.
properly means wine but in the islands
1t is applied specifically to sort of toddy,
distilled from the sap of the Nipa palm.
| 1t is a poison with alcohol in II; tnat
about whatNit is. No alcohol distilled
from the Nipa could have such an effect
on the brain as does vino. unless some
drug were added to it. l think this drug
may be extracted from the oil OF the Nipa
= nut, but | have never been able to find
out what it is. Anyway. whatever 1t Is
it does the business. When acting as
Provost Judge / have seen many bott.e
of it placed on my desk after being taken
from a prisoner. When they start out
| with bottle of it they generally land un-
der guard before II Is all gone, the stuff
| Is so powerful.
? "Vino proper is a colorless liquid with
/ a pungent and not unpleasant taste, but
1t is mixed frequently with other drinks
under various names. l should estimate
that it Is about five times the strength
2
teen drinks of our whisky will go down
under three of vino. And worse than
that. he will go absolutely crazy and do
the most extraordinary things. When
under its influence his entire character
, changes, and, of course, he docs the
, things tnat are least expected Ninety
per cent of the deviltry-and in that
J word | include grave crimes-that Is
committed in the Philippines by our men
Is done when they are under the influence
of vino. and virtually are out Of their
minds When they get hold of it our men,
. not realizing its strength, drink the poi
son IL 1t were whisky There are reg
ular distillerles and breweries and regu-
} lar wine cellars there, but the poisonous
vino is made by natives In the outlying
districts in large quantities and with the
crudest of plants.
| strangely enough, the natives are sing
ularly absteminous when it comes to vino.
Probably they know and are afraid of the
stuff. In all my experience Of more than
year as provost Judge, had no more
than six natives before me for drunk
enness. The Cinnamon, too, are shy of 1t,
and I remember of trying only one on
that charge. 1t isn't that the natives and
Chinese are too poor, but because they
| either are naturally absteminous or get
| their vino jags somewhere in hiding. OF
| course many of the soldiers brought be-
| fore me would say they hadn't beeI
drinking, but I believe half of them
meant It. as they wouldn't call taking
two glasses of whisky drinking. They
forgot they were up against vino, though
| Ar first the officers blamed the climate