The Clarksburg telegram. [volume] (Clarksburg, W. Va.) 1874-1926, 1906-01-12
COKE
SUBSTITUTE
FOR COCAINE

ASSnt a year ago the managers OF
the various coal companies located
il this vicinity began to notice with
growing Suspicion certain peculiar
actions on the part Of a number OF
their employees The suspicious as
time went on were confirmed and
only this week they made startling
discovers, and one that affected q al
most every branch of the service;
A L a,first glance the layman would
say that What existed among the
suspects s was nothing more or less
than fondness for alcohol. But IN
the majority ofrcascs the parties IN
question we're positively known to
never touch drop Of alcoholic
drinks.
s. The. symptoms which attracted
'i' attention first, were very flushed
faces, highly excited nervousness,
a restless twitching Of the limbs,
scratching Of the body, as though
itching, and in fact almost every IN
dication was present that the party
had been imbibing. This detection
in the employees gradually spread to
z every part Of the service from the
mines to tile and even to the
outside men and sspriyate detect
tiyes.. At last the company sec
reilly put a force, consisting OF
detective. a doctor and miner to
work to ferret out the mystery, and
last week after careful scrutiny and
research they found the root OF the
matter. The cause of the flushed
faces and nervous manners was
nothing else in the world but sScoke.V
Not the medical kind Known prop
erly as cocaine, but the plain old
fashioned coke, that is made from
the bituminous coal.
The way in which this strange
practice originated was peculiar IN
Stbe extreme. and it was discovered
bv the miner; who with the doctor
and detective was set to work to
learn the truth of the mystery.
This miner went to work alongside
of suspect, an. Italian, but for a
number Of days his task was fruit
less. One evening on coming ont
of the mine, the American was com.
planning to the Italian of being tired
from the day s work, when Joe the
Italian, said eswait minute" TAX
ing from his pocket small paper
nacket he opened it, disclosing q
coarse grayish powder. atch'
he said. Taking pinch between z
his thumband forefnger he placed
II to his nose and inhaledait with a.
sigh Of satisfaction. Next he ex-
tended the powder to the American
who repeated his actions. In de-
scribing the effects the American
said he felt a sudden sense of ex-
filtration. and all the fatigue OF the
DAYS work seemed to fall from HIM
like a garment. A delicious warmth
stole over him and he could feel ms
face burning. He was conscious OF
talking yol6bIy. but had no idea OF
4 what he wasissaying.if He felt as
although he was che only thoroughly
normal man and athat all others ne
1net,had been using the same drug. !.
II THE effectsof~the powder wore OIL
soon. however. and the next morn
:s,sine he set to wort0it To find on the
particulars of this strange occur
renee. andin doing so,herevea!ed
weird story =; sfE; i'iss
!. The Italian, Agelo nicucci, it
seemed came Of a good family, but
Was the black sheep. His brother
was noted chemist, and in fire.
ouenting the laboratory Angelo had
picked up Jlight smattering OF
chemicals, but only enough as it
turned out to do himself harm In
sore unaecountable way he touna
Fiat by crushing small piece OF
coke to a'powdef, then sprinkling IT.
With water, and elettingM stand IN n
fhs air and sunshine until
" the Oxygen d1lo SSsS- -,
came Thoroughly sufdsed with
the ichthyol in the coke q
mild formof hexamethyle tetramin
was produced, This when. whitfield.
4 gave rise to the sensations noted
above. The italian had told, a few
of the discovery and allowed them 70
test it with the results asstated. Inc
use Of this powder, Of course, Great
ed a craving that It could not satisfy
-asid as d consequence; the next, step
vghs to the genuine cocaine, as one
! ~ two very unfortunate cases bear
proof,
The coal companies have offered
a reward,of $4,000 to any of their
nhysiciians who will find an anti.
4 dofe or cure for the first stages OF
the .sscokep habit before it passes on
ia the more violent and fatal second
stage the real article-ooc g