The Abbeville press and banner. [volume] (Abbeville, S.C.) 1869-1924, 1907-04-24
THE GREAT DESTROYER
SOME STARTLING FACTS ABOUT
THE VICE OF INTEMpERASGE.
%ConcealiTs Whisky's Work-Xany1
CaIamities For Which Liquor Il
Responsible Are Attributed to-

ConcealiIg Whisky's Work-Xany1
CaIamities For Which Liquor IL
Responsible Are Attributed to-
Other Causes.
1t is well known that many caiamj
tiles for which liquor Is really responj
sible are attributed to other causes
in the published accounts. The Pttts5
burg Despatch, in a recent article,I
exposes the various explanations
which are commonly given in this,
connection. The. Despatch says:
Apoplexy, heart disease, gastrftisI
and pneumonia frequently appear onI
he death certificates to the Allegheny
County morgue, but were the truth
told, these deaths In hundreds on
cases, each year have been superin3
duced by alcohol.
the mortuary records of the couni
ty during the past few years show
that there has been a remarkably
large number of sudden deaths fotj
which habitual intoxicatior was the,
primary or direct cause. Fatalities,
and tragedies in many cases maybe
attributed to the use Of alcoholic
drinks, and in nine cases out OF every
ten the persons who have committed
suicide during the past decade in and
about Pittsburg were driven insane
Or rendered destitute and despondentI
by drinks curse.
Death due to pneumonia Is the
cause often ascribed by physicians
for the death of their patients. III
order that the friends Of the dead BID
not subjected to humiliation, the
words, 'superinduced by acute alco3
holism,' are frequently omitted from
the certificate which Is sent TO the
coroner.
Pneumonia claims perhaps the
larger share of drunkards. Whild
under the influence Of drink men sub
ject themselves to exposure. While
on a prolonged debauch they ard
careless about their dress, and havd
no regard for the condition Of tho
weather, with the result that they
contract severe colds, while the sys3
tenn is not in condition to fertffy
them against illness, and death toll
lows.
THE old stereotypedp phrase. killed
by a train,' is used hundreds ofstime3
in a year by the P%ittsburg newspa}
pers, and it is brought into daily us4
as a result of drunkenness. InvestiI
cation into the death Of most persona
killed while walking the railroad
tracks has proved that the vfctim5
we're under the influence of liquor.
Records of the local hospftaia
show that seventy per cent. of I'd
victims Of accidents placed undef
their care are due to intoXication, am
in ninety out of every hundred case
brought to the hospitals In patro
wagons Demon Alcohol has figured
prominently.
IF any man or body Of men 1
Pittsburg' thinks he is fully alive t
the deplorable conditions that hav
been wrought by alcohol and Its KIN
dred d%estroyers Of life, homes an{
happiness, he is wrong.
1.-The whisky bottle Is in evidenS
in most of the novels In therdistricH
inhabited by the families who ar
frequent applicants for aid at tn
office Of the Department of Charitie1
and Correction.
1.-The liquor laws in Alleghenj
County are as stringent as in an
other place in the United States, buI
Notwithstanding this topers are mul
tiplying, our prisons are filling VI,
and records Of charitable institution
show that intemperance is flourish
ing, and nothing is being accom-
plished toward curing the drunkard.