The Abbeville press and banner. [volume] (Abbeville, S.C.) 1869-1924, 1903-05-06
THE GREAT DESTROYER
SOME STARTLING FACTS ABOUT
THE VICE OF INTEMPERANcE.s T.,
Whlsky's Terrible History Ia Written In
the Misery and Shame and Ruin Of .
Hundred Generations - Strong Drink
tho Cause OF Most of tho Murders.

the Misery and Shame and Ruin Of .
Hundred Generations - Strong Drink
the Cause OF Most Of tho Murders.
Time, last Monday afternoon; place,
room in New York tenement :house; :
dramatIs Personae,, a man, a woman, four
little children, and an invisible monster,
to be later on materialized and unmasked.
The woman is in bed, holding close Ito
herself her two-day-old babe.
The three children, all sick with scarlet
fever, are in another bed in the same room.
The door opens and in comes the man,
the husband Of the woman and the father
Of the four little children. ..l.' ~, .l,f;.. a
He looks wild! His eyes are bloodshot!
great puffs! He shakes like leaf IL the
wind!
A moment he stands trembling in his
shoes, and then he cries out to the little
woman with the tiny babe on her arm:
Money! Give me some mon.y!"
II have none" answers the woman; "you
know have none"
The Withholding mah curses! He rayed
about the room like madman! The
mother and the th-ee sick children tremble
with fear! y
Money! I LAY, money!" cries the man
once more "You know I have none," the
wife again replies.
The man whips out pistol, and, aiming
at the woman with the little babe in her
arms, fires. once, twice, three times!
The wife's mother, hearing the noise,
rushes in and the still smoking weapon
is turned on her! Screaming, she at
tracts the attention Of the police, and the
man is arrested-ss he stands waving his
revolver and cursing, while he gazes at the
form of his wife on the floor!
1t is terrible picture. 1t is difficult
for us to look upon it as having been an
actual occurrence. ..f,-
A devil, a fend, might have shot at that
poor, weak woman with the little bit of .
babe in her arms; and such devil or fend,
having done so, might have stood over the
PROSTATE form and cursed it as the life
ebbed away.
But how could human being commit
such deed?
1t was not human being who did that
deed. 1t was the work Of the invisible
monster we spoke of-which monster we
now drag into the light and call by it's
true name-whisky. -.
1t was whisky that did that deed. The
man had been drunk for four straight
weeks; and when he went into that room
where his wife and children were he was
not O man, but demon. .... L
The whisky had dehumanized him.. It
had destroyed his love foT his family, wiped
out his tenderness of heart, killed bis
humanity, and left rampant in him only
the mad, senseless rawlings Of the drink
crazed maniac.
He did not see the mother, he did not
see the little two-day-old babe upon the
mothers arm-he simply shot at the .thing
which, according. to bis disordered fancy,
stood between him and the hre-water for
which he thirsted! ... r...- .,...,.
We have told the story in the fewest,
plainest words possible, and but little else
remains for us to do.
The man who drinks whisky. even
though he may drink it in what he calls
moderation, cannot say that he will not
yet become the murderer of his own flesh
and blood.
It will naturally occur to the reader
that it is story that is likely to be re.
peated in any home where whisky Is al
Men are pretty nearly alike the. world
over. Whisky is The same sort of thing
everywhere, and everywhere its effects are
identical.
It is an enemy with which you can take
no chances. It has no honor and no heart.
Cold-blooded as the grave and venomoMs as
hell, its tactics are always the same: First,
to tempt, then to deceive, and finally to
destroy.
Whisky is the one thing with which no
one can afford to experiment.
Experiment? There is no experlment
about it! We know what it will do with
us if we fool with it!
Its terrible history is written in the
misery and shame and ruin of hundred
generations!
The great world-poe knew well what he
was about when he made one OF his char
acters exciaim:
20, thou Invisible spirit of wine, if thou
hast no other name to be- known by, let us
call thee devil!" :. E,
A devil it is, pure and simple, gloating
over the wrecks it makes, laughing In
fendish glee above the ruin it works! 80.
Rum has no conscience. The sanetities
of life find no favor in its eyes: 1t has
no veneration for the kindnesses that make
life beautiful.
Commanders have been known to fill
their soldiers with whisky just before tax
ing them into battle. Why?
Because they knew that the whisky
would inaame their passions, deaden the
natural kindness Of their hearts, and 20
enable them to kill their fellows with the
better grace. :.
The effects of the stuff are degrading and
brutalizing. :,
1t makes no difference how noble one
may be to begin with, it is within the
pOWeE VI diCOliOl w uiohS q hhoA ~
him.
A large percentage of the murders COM
mitted in the world are inspired by strong
drink. 49,,
Crazed by rum men do things Of which
they would be quite incapable If sober
and in their right minds,
OF course this. is an old story, a very
old one; but in the presence Of a tragedy
like the one we are now considering we
cannot resist the temptation to tell the
old story just one time more.
We love the young men. Apart from
the fact that in them lies the hope for the
future of our country. we are interested IN
them for themselves alone.
And because this is so we say to him:
For Gods sake, for the sake, OF your
mothers love, i she is alive, OF her men,
ory if she is dead, and for the sake OF
ali that you hope to be in this world-let
whisky alone.-New York American.
Anti. Drink Crusade.
In Denmark a curious method is now
adopted for the purpose OF preventing per-