The Appeal., 1902-02-22

dency, which finally turned against him
self and he committed suicide. s -
1t Is the opinion Of experts who have
looked into vino drinking as a disease
In it, either an oil extracted from the
Nipa nut or some vegetable drug of
which they only know the secret. AS an
illustration Of the hold the habit gets on
q man, the story Is told of a soldier who
served for two years in the Philippines,
in active service, but with gun unloaded
except with the most peculiar charge
ever thrust into a Krag. He became one
of the first victims of vino, but his de-
pertinent was SO excellent that his SUI
Deriozs could not make amy direct charge
against him. The best they could 40
was to take every precaution that he
should not get a drink of the stuff. ""
He recognized his weakness, and sub
mitted meekly to a daily search Of all
his belongings This delicate duty was
Intrusted to his mate, who knew the man
was well worth saving. Despite every
precaution. in barrac cks or in the field I'm
active search of an enemy, that queer,
set look in the eyes showing a brain In
famed continued. He steadily said that
he was not drinking, and his bunkie, who
honestly searched all of his belongings
time after time, was forced to say that
he simply could not be drinking, as there
positively was no vino to be found any,
where. --' n2 .. :. -
On one occasion, in a running fight
with the insurgents, the soldier in ques-
ton was complimented personally by his
colonel for making a brave charge on a
group Of ,bolomen with 'clubbed gun, lay
ing about him like windmill That
night the bunkie, who had watched his
mates charge with admiring but curious
eyes. made a furtive examination of that
jammed Krag. It was storehouse of
vino, and !the most formidable GIN to it's
possessor that ever cracked a boloman's s
head. The plate and spring where the
shells should have been had been re-
moved, and a fiat bottle filled with vino
lay snugly in their place. In addition, a
rubber cork from a medicine bottle had
been jam1ned down the barrel to the
breech. 7s &. 81. u !, r. 81
The barrel then had been filled with the
poison and another cork pressed into the
nnuzzle until it was just out of sight. X
Evidently the big drink in the barrel
of the weapon was ,intended as an erner-
gency ration, whom in the field far from
a new supply of Vino The soldier who
discovered this strange weapon at first
was at a loss as ito how the liquor could
be got out Of the barrel. The vino VIC
tim showed him by taking his ramrod
and pressing on the lower cork, at the
same time holding the gun upright. The
cork in the In1uzzle flew out with pop,
and there was the vino. To the credit of
the brave soldier with the vino loaded
gunit can be said that after Thirty days
| under guard he recovered his senses and
showed that he knew well how to shoot
that long silent and much abused Krag.
But these are only .asssfew OF the mflder
instances of what vino WIFE do with a
man: s " IS IS - - e, ,5 a
Capt. Frank LaWton who returned
from the RhHippines couple of weeks
and Nc
New York had excellent opportunities to
observe the workings OF this peculiar
drink in it's various forms. After service
| In Cuba he was sent to the Philippines
with the Twenty first regiment and re-.
mained there more than three years For
one year he was Provost Judge OF Ma
Mia. and in that position saw much of
the weird work Of the native drinks
! The word vino, = said Capt. Lawton
properly means wine, but in the islands
it is applied specifically to sort Of toddy
distilled from the sap Of the Nipa naln
II is a poison with alcohol Id it, that's
! about what It is. No alcohol distilled
from the Nipa could have such an effect
ION the brain as does vino unless some
drug were added TO It. think this drug
may be extracted from the oil OF the
sNipa nut; but i have never been able to
find :sout what 1t is. Anyway. whatever
II is, IT does the business. When acting
as provost judge I have seen many q bot
tie Of It placed on my desk after being
taken from a prisoner When they start
out with bottle Of it they generally
land under guard before It Is all gone
the stun is so powerful. BSs
inO proper Isl colorless LIQUID with
q punEent and not unpleasant taste, but
/ II is mixed frequently with other drinks
under various names II should estimate
that y IS about Ave times the strength
ct WhlSky, ~ man rho can stand Az