The Abbeville press and banner. [volume] (Abbeville, S.C.) 1869-1924, 1903-09-23
- What Whisky Does.

"This Man Knows Whisky" is the title
of an article In the Cleveland Post. The
article IS in the form Of comment upon
the statement made by. young man who
was under arrest for killing his step.father,
a crime that he had committed under the
circumstances OF great provocation. here
is the article:
"I would not touch whisky if it was to
save my life. I have seen too much OF it's
work. I have seen the misery it has made
for nv mother. l have seen, too. the brute
it made OF my stepfather when he was nn-
der its influence. If it were not for whisky
our trouble would never have happened
and would not be in Jail. never touched
the stuff, and I've made VOW l never
will"
These are not the words Of an impas-
stoned temperance theorist. They are the
calm, deliberate utterance OF a young man
who killed his drunken stepfatber IN de-
fense of his mother. and was incarcerated
in a Cleveland police station. A police lieu
tenant had pressed a glass of whisky upon
him, urging him that his weakened condi-
tion demanded it.. But he knew whisky
and he had no use for it.
Here is what might we'll be accepted as
an expert opinion upon the eject OF
whisky
This yorng man has had experiences that
nave SHOWN R.ll WlldI WulShH VIII oo'
does not need to theorize. He speaks with
positive information.
But for whisky he would not have been
in Jail. -.
Decidedly true. And equally true it is
that but for whisky few other people ever
would be in Jail. It is not putting it too
strongly to say that whisky causes nine
tenths OF the crimes that get people in Jail.
This young man has seen the misery
whisky has made for his mother.
And who cannot call up from ones own
recollection dozens Of mothers whom
whisky has made miserable? =.
Scarcely a community or social circle but
has several-often good, patient, uncom-
planning heroines who have given up hope,
and whose desolated hearts are left to feed
on the agony of despair.
They bear the deprivation, the neglect,
the abuse, the blows, and utter no, moan,
but III their hearts there is moaning al
ways. .,
The earth has been salted with tears
shed by mankind in sympathy with the
brave women who send their husbands ana
sons to battle. sitting alone at home with
their tears and fears. but such women are
happy, proud. exalted, compared with the
drunkards' wives, crouehing with tears and
fears and shame, while their husbands
give their liges up, to the devil-Drink.
The bright, sweet hopes Of their bridal
days have become mockery. The vows
upon which they staked their life happi-
ness have proved light as air. The love
that once bade fair to be a shelter in every
storm has been beaten down and torn TO
ruin by whirlwinds of bestial passions.
There are millions OF women like this.
"I have seen, too" says this young man.
"the brute whisky has made of my step
father when he was under its influence"
Yes, there is the truth-it makes man
brute. He may be good and kind and ten
der when he is sober, but whisky makes
him a brute. He may be provldent and
thrifty when he is himself, but filled with
whisky he becomes an entirely different
class of being. :. =,
Sober, he may not be able to realize that
he can be brute when drunk. He may
he the last one to know the misery that hls
drunkenness causes in his home. he can
not view himself in correct perspective. :,
But this young man who was sent to jail
because of whisky speaks the simple truth:
He. has seen how whisky turned good
man into a brute, happy wife into mis-
erable drudge, and devoted son into an
unwilling murderer.
And whisky is no respecter OF persons.
What it does in one family it will do IN an
other. What it makes of one man 1T has
made of millions. The woes OF this one
woman is a woe that ever goes crying and
moaning throughout the earth.