The Saint Paul globe. (St. Paul, Minn.) 1896-1905, 1902-08-19

victim Of drug that owns
~ him, body and soul. James
-- Parker prosperous business
man with money coming into his Golfers
and the foundation Of a fortune laid.
Jack Parker, hollow-eyed, pale-faced,
with sunken cheeks, without ambition,
living from hand to mouth, hunted by
the police.
From a high station to a low station,
from wealth and aff1uence to poverty and
degradation. This is the history OF the
fall Of man who was led from his posi-
ton of influence to his present state Of
humiliating slavery, by the narcotic drug
that wrought his ruin.
Ten years ago James Parker was grad
uated from the University Of Tennessee.
He became a business man. entering into
partnership with his wealthy father, and
gave promise of a successful business ca
reer. He fell a victim to the potent, in
sidious charms of morphine; his fortune
withered away; his prestige vanished; his
manhood fell away from him and he be-
came a tramp, shuddering at the sound of
his own name, seeker of shadows, a
lover of solitude and the drugs that held
him in bonds of abject slavery.
Once he reformed. He married q beauti-
full woman, but the siren voices Of NOR
phine and cocaine wooed him from the
arms of his wife and sent him out again
a wanderer on the face of the earth.
Broken-hearted, the woman who had
married him sickened and died. From
that moment the CDR JeckyI' Of James
Parker was banished and the '.Mr. HYDE
of Jack Parker asserted itself. and be-
came predominant.
He plunged upon the career OF a gam
bier; from the gambling game to the
opium joint was only a step; from the
opium joint to the use of cocaine injector
was only another step.
Today the James Parker. weIl-known
throughout the state of Tennessee, has
ceased to exist, and ''Jack" Parker,
hunted by the police, has appeared in his
stead
This is the story he relates himself:
BY James Parker.
I have been asked to give my personal
experience with opium, morphine, cocaine
and hashish or Indian hemp The first
two are narcotic in effect and tend to
sooth and quiet the nerves; whereas the
latter two irritate and excite I have
used them all and therefore am in a DO
sition to speak truthfully and honestly In
regards to the effects OF the different
drugs. I shall not exaggerate nor belittle
a single word. The old saw about those
that dance must pay the fiddler holds good
in my case, as I am certainly paying him
dearly for my early dancing, but have
no one to blame but myself so there is
no use crying over split milk, but look to
the future to build up and blot out the
past.
If this story will be the means of saw
ing one soul from hell on earth shall
feel amply rewarded for my work
To begin, don't believe there is or ever
was human being that deliberately ac-
quired the morphine or opium habit from
choice Of his own personal pleasure. The
beginning can always be traced back to
one or more Of the following causes: Ths
first and most common is from being given
by physicians to alIay severe pain or pro-
duce sleep and rest to weak and emac-
lated patients. Again. patients begin TAX
ing the drugs themselves for the same
causes. Of course. the desired results fol-
low, as the powerful drugs place the pa
tent in such ease and comfort, both
physically and mentally, that it is kept
up day after day till at last he realizes
the terrible truth. He has the habit and
must have the drug. Then, again, 1t is an
accommodating habit. He finds the dose
must be increased to acquire the desired
feeling, until. at last, the drug acquires
such a hold upon him that he is at the
mercy Of its demands. At that stage he
will do anything to get 1T; he will pull
the clothes of his back to get money in
order to buy his favorite. If he should
be placed in position where 1t is inpos-
sible to get 1t the sufferings. both men
tally and physically, are beyond descrip-
ton. There Is nothing to compare to the
suffering endured by a drug flend entirely
cut OF from his favorite drug all of a
sudden. I went through it and will de-
scribe the torture further on.
1t must be understood that only speak
for myself, and as the different drugs af-
feet everyone differently. Hasheish On
dian hemp may take you from the earth
and place you in paradise. There is moth
Ing like the pleasureable sensation, for