Devils Lake inter-ocean and Devils Lake free press. (Devils Lake, Ramsey County, N.D.) 1905-1909, 1906-06-15
SUFFER J /. |: FOR OPIUM.
SAN FRANCISCO FIRE CON
sUMED ALL SUPPLIES.
Users Of the Drug to the Number Of
10000 Deprived Of It and
Many Rave for Their
I'D n stDope.'

San Francisco. of the abundance
OF supplies which have been sent here
since the calamity OF few weeks ago
nothing has been more heartily wei
coined than the quantity, small though
it be, Of that brown, gummy substance,
the dope fiend's', key to paradise, the
absence Of which during the period Of
devastation and turmoil is responsible
for many cases OF insanity, temporary
and permanent. 3 &
The opium fiend needed but little the
lack of food, water and shelter, but
the want of his dope" actually drove
him crazy. None but those who have
become a prey to this drug can realize
what it means to go without it for
"a hours, two days, a week, and in
some cases even longer. A living hell
was theirs while they hunted from
place to place besieging the few re-
naming drug stores Of San Francisco.
scampering 10 Oakland, where the ar
ticle was equally scarce and eventually
becoming insane when their craving
could not be satisfied.
And such prices! Here, where more
of the drug is consumed than in any
other four large cities Of the country
combined and where it was almost as
common and marketable as the ordi-
nary articles Of diet, the diminished
supply pushed the price up to $40 a
shell. and almost impossible to get at
that. Those searching for relief from
the pangs Of the fiendish habit gave
the authorities nearly as much trouble
as the starving men, women and chill
dren who were piteously crying for
bread
Spokane and Seattle soon came to
the relief of the pillmakers and rushed
in the hop by. the hogshead. but even
then the supply was far below normal.
Only those who know San Francisco
can imagine the situation. Nearly all
the opium-smoking ..joints" were in
Chinatown, yet the real swell pipe.
hitters" had their dreams in other sec
lions of the city. Every house in
Chinatown could muster full quota
of t.dope" fends, to say nothing OF the
visitors who came along regularly for
their little seance. These conditions
naturally would make Chinatown the
center of the industry, and it was here
that most Of the stuff was stored in
adequate quantities. .$ I'D X; Il
The fire soon annihilated Chinatown
The WoeSsn shacks went down before
"a Ao mo {, g VIII oat boPoras +bo ,ox,tpt,
and when the fire had spent its fury
the smold ering embers and filthy de-
bris choked up the streets, the tunnels,
subways, dugouts and underground
passages for which this section was
noted. These burrows contained most
Of the city's supply Of the opium, and
while there may be some Of the drug
that survived the flames, it has not yet
been brought to the surface.
The HOP sharks were noticeable
all over San Francisco before the first
day of the conHagration had passed.
They could be singled out running
about in wild frenzy, begging at the
few remaining drug stores for relief.
They numbered fully $1,000, white and
4 r g t.
yellow. h. N
The day after the fire started these
sufferers added thousandfold to the
difficulties Of the authorities and Oak
land soon became the center of their
siege. There was no relief in that
quarter and by the morning Of the sec
ond day the fiends literally stormed
the drug stores. with little result.
The soldiers, vigiiant at all times,
would corral these morbid creatures,
and when they became temporarily in
sane would turn them loose. The sto-
ries which travelled east that many
people were crazed by the excitement
and horror were in some cases nothing
more than instances Of the "pipe hit
ters' rawlings. t 5s58