The Black Hills union and western stock review. [volume] (Rapid City, S.D.) 1904-19??, 1905-09-15
OPIUM DEN
Probably Nowhere Else IN Earth Do Devotees of the Drug Reach So
Low a Pit of Degradation.

Aa-til i'sGt Sul ~ ~ oNt' ~
burning opium. The air was heavy
With the pale BLUSH smoke but through
ii could be seen half a dozen forms
spraWled on uss BY the side of each
lay a small lamp, and one could smell
III" rank oil with which they We're kept
alisht.
OF the smokers, there was one white
woman two white men, Il flashily
dressed Mohammeaan. II having the
markings of Il steamboat seranS and
the sixth Il BengHli. Going from per-
son To person was a young native
oman very good looking and deckcd
from head to foot in jewelry. She
rolled the pills"
AS we entered. the white woman
had her opium pipe over the lamp and
WAS inhaling deeply. The young native
woman was rolling a pill' for the
Mohhlnmadan, QuiZZing him about his
good looks as she did so.
The making of the pill is an art. The
woman took a needle shaped something
lik" Il Emitting needle and, picking some
of tn" stick. opium out of IA jar III the
center Of III" room, held ii over the
amp Immediately there followed a
suffering and Kissing from the burn
ing opium and a little BLUSH vapor
Noatei upward from the needles point.
With deft fingers she passed til" needle
over the lame ana hen when it had
been cooked sufficiently. crammed it
into the pipe. The pipe is a long
Stemmed affair. hut the re~cep,acle in
which the Opium is placed is but Il tiny
hole and tai@s only II pill at a time.
She handle the pip" to the Noham-
neaan, who indolently leaned OYER
toward the burning lamp and began TO
draw. From the MohaMmedan the
woman went 70 Of I'll" whites. filed
his pipe and by the time she had
reached the sixth, the first was ready
for another pill. .
Every Il OF the smokers Was heavy
eyed ana in their faces was east the
stamp of sloth and sensuality. Except
for the soft whispcrings of the young.
native oma hardly a word was
spoken. They lay there like 81 many
logs and smoked and smoked. AS We
Watched, the white woman put her pip.
to one sid" and. With fixed nycbails,
gazad at the ceilings. Probably her
mind vas With the gods. in dreams OF
an ~opiuln-fed brain. The soleS OF her
shoes We're worn and her partly DIS
heNeled hair hung around her face.
She seemed about thirty-fvc years old,
sharp featured, with thin lips and
through marks that opium had left on
her face one could see signs of refine
ment and culture. The Bensali proprie-
tor openly Sneered as he told us her
story.
She is but a Beginner. sahib," he
said This hainr the third month T
have heard fiat She was a .mams,hih,s
uemsahib'-whnt Won can royprnnss-
to tha family of an English merrhant
Heinr new TO the courtry she could nor
sleep during the hot months and her
ayah taught her the use of poppy. The
merchant a short time 6 went to
Relaitth (F,npland) but she remained
behind saving she vas about TO he
hurried Thereupon they gave her
much money and now she ]iyas here"
And when hnr money is hnished--"
Tho Renrali shrugged his shoulders
and pointad through n window toward
thai section of the civ horlerins he
Calcutta madam We could hear the
drunken shouts and SEE. th, hundred,
of lights from where NO stood.
"Thcy must have snloke.. said the