Forest City press. (Forest City, Potter County, D.T. [S.D.]) 1883-19??, 1907-01-10
EARTHQUAKE CURE FOR DRINK.
Big Soldering UP Time They Had at
San Francisco.
From the New York sun.

The Earthquake as a Rum Cur, tha,
will he the name Of a little treats. shalt
writ" one ot these days. when ! grr the
time. said an army surgeon ircrntl,
transferred from San Francisco.
"Id hate to say. for fear of being ar-
cuscd of cNaggorAtion he Went on. how
many quite hopeless san Francisco soaks
were sh;,k"n out Of the rum habit by III.
earthquake aud fire and by the long per
iod Of enforced abstinence thai followed.
The destruction OF a city by earthquake
and fire is "A pretty heroic method of cur
ing rum fighters. and I'm not maintaining
that it WAS meant that way. Hut am
here to say that II worked out that WAY in
hundreds of Instances tina came. under my
own observation.
After the earthquake the stl,. of rum
was shut off tight.
San Francisco always was a hard
drinking town. There's something in the
climate out there that makes drink taste
pretty good.
THE poor devils assure,lly suffered hor-
ribly. The hundreds Of waterfront wrecks
who were on the verge of dclirium ire
mems had an especially vicious siege of it.
] never saw or heard of 50 many human
beings Walking aimlessly around with the
ID. rs in my life. They moaned howled,
begged, pleaded and implored for liquor,
hut there wasn't any chance for them to
get any.
For more than a week hundreds OF mon
were little less than wild men. and the sol
dicrs had all they could do to handle them.
These men could not at first be nut to
work with the rest Of the men. They were
100 weak.
"Thcy couldn't eat or sleep. hut lust
tossed aIound and sroaned. Bromidcs and
quoting drains wrr" served out to the
worst cases. But III" open air and The
positive necessities of In" situation began
4 Al hYjnO tIn,, r., rot ,I q. Lac. t,., thu
or four days.
They began to "a; Il bsi. Tho coffee and
The rough fare Of the camps helped th.m.
They got their shar. Of the tobacco served
out 10 AL hands. aud that pu, a biz Of
spirit into th.m.
Just as soon AZ ii wis perceived that
they Were fl To work they were pu, at II
nj the point OF the bayonet. They worked
and the work was tho great thing for
them. Tho labor drove the liquor out of
their Systems and made them hungry
and hundreds of EN- hadn't been hungry
for food or for anything else bur rum for
years and years.
1T made them sleep. Tn. chill :.ir. full
of ozone. helped, too. when They had been
hanging around the foul back rooms Of
Groggerics most of their tiinn.
1T was positively bully To see Tho way
those chaps came around once tho first
misery Of their condition. wore OFF and
Aney got 10 .'aulnS me norma! llfc. They
filled out, became husky and strong:
III was astonishing TO note what really
good looking fellows many of these fellows
became under he influence of abstinence
from rum. hard work. coarse but whole
some food and clean living. And the
thing surprised them as much as Il did
those Of us WHO wor" merely studying The
situation.
Me To flax the booze thing even af-
ser they begin peddling ii again. was a re-
mark | overheard among them "a dozen
tones 81 day. If / felt any better /
couldn't stand it. Haven't felt like dis
since j was Il kid. Didn't believe | ever
would feel 50 chosty and bully again. No
more suds-l'm through.
The men OF the better element who
were caught i'll tho midst of heavy drink
ing by the rum drought were surprised
and delighted. too. to find how vigorous
and clear headed and generally fine th.v
felt without their constant nips.
Out of curiosity. when the saloons re-
sumed business early III July. I kept an
eye or a large number OF these fellows Of
all classes. whose cases had come under
my own observation. 10 note # they would
stick. Ninety-flve per cent. of hose
watched stuck.