Yorkville enquirer. [volume] (Yorkville, S.C.) 1855-2006, 1906-12-04
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CURE FOR DRINK
Big Soldering Up Time They Had at
San Francisco.

1.-The Earthquake as a Rum Cure
that will be the name of little treatise
I shall write one Of these days, wher
I get the time." said an army surgeon
recently transferred from San Francis
CO to duty in Washington. says cor
respondent.
He was serving at one Of the Sar
Francisco military posts at the time
Of the earthquake, and when the de-
stroyed city was turned into a camp
he was one of the detail Of army sur
geons assigned to cooperate with the
health authorities in attending the sick
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 absti-
nence that followed. The destruction OF
city by earthquake and fire IL pref
ty heroic method Of curing rum fight
ers and I'm not maintaining that II
was meant that way. But I am here
to say that it worked out that way in
hundreds Of instances that came under
my own observation.
After the earthquake the sale of
rum was shut Off tight.
1.-The hard drinkers who were caught
in the rumless trap by the shutdown
went through black time Of 1t.
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
sudden deprivation Of liquor hit hard.
They'd been drinking inordinately for
years, most of them, and when the hour
came which gave them no possible
chance to get even sip Of liquor
how they did curl up and beat the air!
"The poor devils assuredly suffered
horribly. The hundreds Of waterfront
wrecks who were on the verge Of delir-
ium tremens had an especially vicious
siege of II. I never saw or heard OF so
many human beings walking aimlessly
around with the D. T's in my life. They
moaned, howled, begged, pleaded and
implored 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 were 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.
"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 a bit of spirit into them.
| Just as soon as 1t was perceived that
they were At to work they were put
at 1t 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
anything else but rum for years and
years.
ut 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 of
any they got to leading the normal
life. They filled out, became husky
and strong.
ut was astonishing to note what
really good looking fellows many OF
these fellows became under the infiu-
ence of abstinence from rum. hard
work, coarse but wholesome food and
clean living. And the thing surprised
them as much as 1t did those Of US who
were merely studying the situation.
"'Me to flag the booze thing, even
after they begin peddling 1t again,
was a remark overheard among them
dozen times day. If felt any bet
ter couldn't stand It, Haven't felt like
this since I was a kid. Don't believe
I ever would feel so chesty and bully
again. No more suds-Im through
1.-The men of the better element who
were caught in the midst Of heavy,
continuous 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. Dozens OF
these men came to me in the early
stages Of their deprivation for quieting
things that would enable them to get
I bit Of sleep, and they looked pretty
hopeless and down in the mouth at
this stage of 1t. They looked and act
ed very differently, though, after
fortnight or so, and the way most OF
them threw verbal rocks at the Demon
Rum was a caution.
"Out Of curiosity, when the saloons
resumed business early in July, kept
an eye on a large number Of these fell
lows Of all classes, whose cases had
come under my own observation, to
note II they would stick. Ninety-five
per cent of those I 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 observation coincided
with mine. The great bulk Of the
chronic rum fighters Of the ante-earth-
quake period clung to the water wag-
on when the rum ban was lifted and
are on board Of 1t yet, working amid
the ruins most of them, and giving
themselves the chance in life that they
deserve, l honestly believe.
Take it altogether believe this was
the biggest SOLDERING up incident In
history. Any other way Of accom-
plishing the same result would have
been impossible.
"They sobered up at the point Of the