The Manitowoc pilot. [volume] (Manitowoc, Wis.) 1859-1932, 1906-12-27
EARTHQUAKE CURE
FOR DRUNKARDS.
A Big Soldering Up Time They Had at
San rancisco-Thousands QUIT
Drinking,

WASHINGTON, ID. c., Dee. n
Especial. /" The Earthquake as
Rum Cure'-that will be the name of a
little treatise | shall write one of these
days, VIXEN 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 a camp he was ono
of the detail Of army surgeons assigned
to cooperate with the health authoriuea
in attending the sick.
Heroic Cure for Drunkards.
I'D hate to say, for fear of being act
cuScd of eNaggeration, he Went on.
'how many quite hopeless San Francisl
co soukS were shaken ont OF the run,
habit by the earthquake and ire and
by the long period of enforced ABSTINENCE
that followed The destruction of a city
by earthquake and fire is pretty heroic
method of cuI:ng rum fighters, ana III
not maintaiL.1g that il was meant maj
way. But Z am here to say that II
worked out tfat way in hundreds OF ny
stances that came under my own obsGi
walton.
"After the earthquake the sale of rum
was shut off tight.
The hard drinkers who were caught
in the rumless lrap by the shutdown
went through a black time of 1t.
san Francisco always was harI
drinking town. There's something IN th3
climate out there that makes drink tast'
pretty good. (
There were thousands whom the sud-
den deprivation of liquor hit hardi
They'd been drinking mordinately toi
wears, most of them, and when the hour
came which gave them no possible
chance to get even a sip of liquor how
they ~ curl IN and beat the air
Many Had the D, rs.
THE poor devils assuredly suffered
horribly. The hundreds of waterfront
wrecks who were on the verge OF de
lirium tremenS had an especially vicious
siege of it. ] never law or heard of SO
many human beings walking aimlesSly
around with jba y. Us in my life. They
moaned. howled. begged pleaded and inn
plored for liquor, but there wasn't any
chance for them TO get any.
For more than 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 nj
first be put - work with the rest Of the
They couldn't eat or sleep, but just
tossed around aud groaned Rromides
aud quieting drains were served out to
the worst eases. 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 bit. The coffee
and the rough fare of the camps helped
them. They got their share of the to-
bacco served out TO all hands, and that
put bit of spirit into them.
Just rs soon as il was perceived that
they were fit to work they We're 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
thing else but rum for years and years
1T made them sleep. The chill air,
full of ozone, helped. too. when they had
been hanging around the foul bacj,
rooms of groggerics most of their time.
1T was positively bully to see the way
those chaps cam" 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.
cdW SIdHIC anu INClUliIlSu
'' Nc to dag the booze thing. even
after they begin peddling it again, was
remark | overheard among them Il
dozen times day. II felt any better
| couldn't stand it. Haven't felt like
this since | was Il kid. Didn't believe
| ever would feel 50 chcsty and bully
again. No more suds-l'm through
The men of the better element who
were caught in the midst Of heavy con
tinuous drinking 10y the rum drought
were surprised and delighted, too. to
lind how vigorous and clear headed and
generally fine they felt without their
constant nips.
"Dut of curiosity. when the saloons re-
surped business early in July. | kept an
eye on large number of these follows
of all classes, whose cases had come
under my own observation. to note if
they would stick. Ninety-hyc per cent.
Of those | watched stuck.
"A large number of other medical men
kept an eye on the situation after the
reopcning of the saloons, just as | did
and their observations conceded with
mine. The great bulk of the chronic
rum fighters of the antc-earthquake pc
Rod chung to the water wagon when the
rum han was lifted and are on board Of
il vet, working amid the ruins, most OF
ihcm, and giving themselves the chance
in life that they deserve. ] honestly be
iirvc
Taking it altogether | believe this
was the biggest SOLDERING up incident in
history. Any other way of accomplish
ing the same result would have been i'm
possible"