The Washington times., 1904-11-20
Confession of One Who
Became a Victim by
Accident.
Drug Soaked He Drifts
Finally to Colony
of Wrecks.
Eating of Blotters Is a
Weakness of One
Companion.

- OPE fiends are becoming more
numerous every day, the doc
tors tell as. Especially is this
true among those Of the more
refined classes who cannot resist the
temptation 20 free themselves from the
troubles Of everyday life. They pre-
fer TO forget their sorrows ia the
dreams of opium. morphine and cocaine
rather than give themselves up to the
coarser joys of alcohol.
That there are many accidental vic
TINS OF the dread drugs is also true.
one OF these unfortunates. "a former
member Of New York's smart set. ana
FOR Two years a slave TO King Nor
phlne, has made the following confes-
sion;
Nobody takes TO morphine on pur-
pose The little syringe and white tab
iets DO not appeal 10 ones curiosity as
does the strange looking pipe OF the
opium smoker with its accompanying
paraphernalia. Nor are there NOR
phine Joints 70 lure the seeker after
new sensations and induce him 10 have
q pipe Just 10 see what il Is like
No. In almost all eases the morphine
habit originated Ia some illness or
other. IL was taken 10 relieve suffer
ing, and was prescribed by a physician
In my own case, for instance. tbe fam
iiy doctor gave me the drug to heen
me from going insane-Taylng mad
with pain. as surely / should have dor
had there been no relief This relief
treatment continued. of necessity. fo,.
several weeks, during which nv p,rs.s
gave me One-eiEhth Of a grain fo,,r
times a day Al the end OF those ror-
fearful weeks 1 had become a '.6end .,
That Is the word which describes mos
accurately victim of the drug. II H.
not elegant but il is exact.
A Fiend Without Knowing II
or course, when the nurses sbut ~.
on stepped my daily allowance of roor-
phine. 1 began 10 suffer from the Uyant
or II. 1 did not realize at first vybat
was the matter. 1 was as uervoue as
twenty cats, and ached in spots am
over my body, particularly In nv Joints
My knees suffered most, and at tirnag
my limbs were beyond my control aIto-
gether- AS the days passed. OH. how,
slowly, the pain grew worse until
was suffering more than when had lain
III In bed. Then i bethought me of tba
relief 1 had received from the IitrIe
syringe and asked the nurses for II
They said:
'Oh, you don't need that any more
You'll be all right soon. You're nearly
we'll"
Nearly Well" Perhaps / was, but II
getting well made me feel as / felt
then i should have preferred To be get
ting H. l thought 1 should iump ont
OF the window 10 kin myself II / could
not have an inJection-just = little; not
enough TO harm, only to ease my nerves
ana those fearful aching joints
j was too weak 20 go out myself. so
1 Dribed bell boy TO get what L want
ed-tubes with the little white tablets
which are the morphine; a hypodermic
syringe with its slender needle that
one may push through the skin without
leaving mark II one be careful. and a
Dhial OF distilled water In which 10
dissolve the tablets
j had watched the nurses so often az
lhey gave me my half a grain a day.
that j knew just what TO do As soon
as i could ger out Of sight / dropped a
tablet one-eighth of a grain into =
t-~A+ N-'tef~-A "a REfa W AAHktlAF0 wafer
this up into the syringe and The,
s-s-s-s-s into my thigh. Before 7 mad
pulled the needle out / was in paradise
Then i wrapped the syringe IN a snl
stuffed il into my shoe for
safekeeping, climbed into bed and had
sweet slumber. When / awoKe 6v-
hours later i felt the need OF another
shot" and took IL.
And so ] began my journey along the
road that all morphine ''hends" travel
whether they viii or no, and uuou
which. though one look carefully. one
finds few footprints pointing back.
There are exceptions 10 this rule. how
ever. as 10 most rules. and for the eS-
ceptlOns I am thankful. Were there no
chance whatever 10 turn back I should
not be sitting here today writing these
"reminiscences. j should be with hum
dreds Of poor devils / have known-ofr
Ina the beyond somewhere hope I'm
heaven. But during the two years that