Eagle River review. [volume] (Eagle River, Wis.) 1890-1927, 1906-12-28
EARTHQUAKE CURE
FOR DRUNKAROS.
A Big Soldering Up Time They Had at
San Francisco-ThousandS Quit
Drinking.

Drinking.
WASHINGTON, D. c., Dec. "a
ESPECIAL. l." The Earthquake as
Rum Cure'-that will be the name OF
little treatise l shall write one of these
days, when / get the time, said an army
surgeon recently transferred from San
Francisco to duty here.
He was serving at one of the San
Francisco military posts at the time OF
the earthquake. and when the destroyed
city was turned into camp he was one
of the detail of army surgeons assigned
to cooperate with the health authorities
in attending the sick
Heroic Cure for Drunkards.
I'D hate to say, for fear of being ac-
cused of exaggeration, he went on
| "how many quite hopeless San Francis
co soaks were shaken out OF the rum
habit by the earthquake and fire and
by the long period of enforced abstinence
that followed. The destruction of city
by earthquake and fire is pretty heroic
method of curing rum fighters, and M
not maintaining that it was meant that
way But | am here to say that 1t
worked out that way i'll hundreds OF IN
stances that came under my own obser-
Walton.
After the earthquake the sale OF rum
was shut off tight.
The hard drinkers who were caught
in the rumleSs trap by the Shut-doWh
went through a black time of it. ,
San Francisco always was hard
drinking town. There's something IN the
climate out there that makes drink taste
pretty good.
There were thousands whom the sud
den deprivation of liquor hit hard.
They'd been drinking Unfortunately Tor
wears most of them, and when the hour
came which gave them no possible
chance to get even a sip of liquor how
they ,.4u curl up and beat the air.
Many Had the D. It's.
'"The poor devils assuredly suffered
horribly. The hundreds of waterfront
wrecks who were Oh the verge of de-
lirium tremens had an especially vicious
siege of it. | never saw or heard OF so
many human beings walking almiessly
around with the D. It's in my life. They
moaned, howled, begged, pleaded and i'm
plored for liquor but there wasn't any
chance for them to get any.
For more than a week hundreds OF
men were little less than wild men, and
the soldiers had all they could do to
handle them. These men could not at
first be put to work with the rest OF the
men, They We're too weak.
"They couldn't eat or sleep, but just
tossed around and groaned. Bromides
and quieting drains were served out to
the worst cases. But the open air and
the positive necessities Of the situation
began to bring them around after the
first three or four days
Working Helped the Cases.
''They began to eat a bit. The coffee
and the rough fare of the camps helped
Al Nl,n1- tlnir cl,n of fn-
bacco served out to all hands, and that
put bit of spirit into them.
Just as soon as it was perceived that
they were fit to work they were put at
it at the point of the bayonet. They
worked and the work was the great
thing for them. The labor drove the
liquor out of their systems and made
them hungry-and hundreds of 'em
hadn't been hungry for food or for any
sit made them sleep. The chill air,
full of ozone, helped, too. when they had
been hanging around the foul back
rooms of groggeries most of their time.
1T was positively bully to see the way
those chaps came around once the first
misery of their condition wore off and
they got to leading the normal life. They
filled out, became husky and strong.
Saw Chance and Reformed.
Me to nag the DOOZe InlDS. even
after they begin peddling it again, was
Ia remark [ overheard among them a
dozen times a day. If | felt any better
II couldn't stand it. Haven't felt like
this since [ was a kid. Didn't believe
i ever would feel so chesty and bully
hgain. No more suds-Im through
The men of the better element who
Iwere caught in the midst of heavy con-
tinuous drinking by the rum drought
were surprised and delighted. too, to
find how vigorous and clear headed and
generally fine they felt without their
constant nips.
"Out of curiosity. when the saloons re-
sumed business early in July, | kept an
eye on large number of these fellows
of all classes, whose cases had come
under my own observation. to note if
they would stick Ninety-fye per cent.
of those | watched stuck.
"a large number of other medical men
kept an eye on the situation after the
reopening of the saloons, just as | did.
and their observations conceded with
mine. The great bulk of the chronic
rum fighters of the ante-earthquake pc
Rod chung to the water wagon when the
rum ban was lifted and are on board OF
it yet. working amid the ruins. most OF
them. and giving themselves the chance
in life that they deserve, | honestly be-
lieve.
Taking it altogether l believe this
was the biggest SOLDERING mp incident il
history Any other way of accomplish
ing the same result would have been i'm
possible"