Yorkville enquirer. [volume] (Yorkville, S.C.) 1855-2006, 1908-03-03
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WHEN A MAN Is DRUNK.
Legal and Lay Opinions on an lmpor-
tant Question.


Guilty" replies the prisoner.
Il find you 50 and costs"
That is the scene enacted frequently
in a Rhode Island police court on 1.-The
morning after, and is the ordinary
charge or, in the usual way Of putting
it, a plain drunk" A repetition of
the offense within a short time brings
a penalty Of a larger fine, and continued
sprees make the tippler a common
drunkard." who may be sentenced to a
term of Imprisonment.
There are various opinions as to
what constitutes drunkenness or intOX-
ication, using the word to express the
effect on a man produced by spirituous
liquors and not by drugs or opiates.
The law on the subject reads. "A per-
son is drunk in legal sense when he
is so far under the influence Of intoxi-
eating liquor that his passions are Wis
IDLY excited or his judgment impaired
by the liquor"
But If a man is taken before JUS
tice on the charge Of drunkenness and
pleads mot guilty" evidence must be
adduced to prove that he was drunk.
A law in regard to proof is as follows:
"The simplest and most satisfactory
evidence of drunkenness will be the
statements of witnesses as to the ap-
pearance, condition, manner, language,
or acts Of the accused, or other attend
ant circumstances from which a state
of intoxication may be presumed"
The paragraphs above quoted put the
case as plainly as it can be put; there
is no loopholc. Legal and lay opinions,
however. are two very different things,
and a man may be drunk legally, when,
according to his own ideas and that OF
one or two others, he is sober and vice
versa. One may be as drunk as lord
and walk steadily, while another may
stagger all over the walk and yet have
a perfectly clear head and definite
destination. They are both under the
influence of liquor" but no policeman
will arrest a man who is going along
without outward evidence that he is
anything but sober. Neither will he
arrest a man who is a bit unsteady,
provided he is not annoying people by
lurching into them or saying things to
them In other words, they are drunk
physically, but not legally, as far as
e
But, granting that man is drunk
physically, is he also drunk mentally?
Is his judgment impaired? AS rule it
is, yet there have been and are cases
where a man may be unsteady on his
legs, as has been said, and, notwith-
standing can talk nationally on any or
dinary topic and conduct himself as a
sober member Of society.
Then is he drunk morally? The ac-
count reads: His passions are visibly
excited" But that is not the effect in
all cases where one has drunk too
much, according to the statement of IL
quor dispensers in the city. He may
grow sleepy or, as it was put "dopy,'
and slumber quietly, a state which can
hardly be called immoral. And he may
expand and grow genial, be prompted
to unwonted acts Of kindness and
generosity which make for "the great
est good of the greatest number"
There are, it is said, as many cases
of benevolence under the influence Of
liuuor as Of malevolence, but the i'm
moral drunkenness Is the kind most
likely to attract notice. For example,
a man ordinarily sober and homeloving
drinks more than he should and eXcites
a certain side of his nature which Is
normally undisturbed. He goes home,
sees something that affects some par
ocular nerve centre unpleasantly, and
by the way of expressing his displeas-
ure beats or kills his wife and children.
There are many instances when men
have performed feats Of valor, have
made brilliant speeches, or created
great literary, artistic, or musical mas
terpieces when they We're not legally
drunk as far as the law goes. but they
were not their normal selves by any
means. Dutch courage" is an example
Of this.
A barkeeper in the city In an estab-
lishment which eaters to the better
class of trade" said: II consider man
drunk when his sense Of knowledge
has left him. He may be steady and
have no appearance of being drunk,
but if he doesn't know what he Is about
or what he is saying, he is, in my opin-
ion, intoxicated. If people make trou-
BILE or start rough house they're put
out. but that doesn't constitute drunk
enness. It's merely that the liquor
creates high spirits in some. not intoxi-
cation.
That is one definition Of drunkenness
by layman, the loss of mans sense
of knowledge, and to a man in that
condition the barkeeper said he would
refuse to sell any drink. The proprie-
tor of a rum shop of a different type re-
fuSeQ 10 give an explicit opliiloli ao ~
when man was drunk. He told by
way Of illustration the ancient story of
the man who had absorbed a large
quantity of liquor and on his way home
wandered off the road into meadow
He then lay down and held to the grass
to keep from falling off.
This man was without doubt legally
drunk, for his judgment was very much
impaired. The barkeeper in this place
and another barkeeper in a some
what similar resort held the opinion
that a man was only drunk when he
could stand up no longer. One of them
added that that was a decision given in
a sort of law in New York, but was
unable to prove his statement
This was the idea in the olden days
of Merrie England. AS long as a man
was able to stand, and even afterward,
as long as he wasn't dead to the world.
he was comparatively sober. Accord
ing to the old chrCniclers, gentlemen
of that day gathered around the was