Richmond times-dispatch. [volume] (Richmond, Va.) 1914-current, 1914-12-20
DOCTOR ARRESTED :.
ON COCAINE CHARGE
]. w. Williams Said to Have
Prescribed Illegal Quantities
for Patients.
POLICE LIST PRESCRIPTIONS
Physician Is Bailed for Appear
ance in Police Court To-
Morrow.
POLICE LIST PRESCRIPTIONS

Dr. j. w Williams a practicinp
physician. with Offices at 4O1 East
Franklin Street. vas yesterday after
noon arrested at his home, 4Ol Gov
crnor street by Detective Sergeants
Rrengel Atkinson and Bailey on n
warrant charging him with unlawful
iN prescribing cocaine for the use of
hahitual users of the same the said
Z cocain" not being prescribed in good
fhlth for such habitual users as were
under the said DR.. j. w. Williamss 8
{ pf"!"3si"na! care" DR.. Williams. who
HhEc ms age as seventy-nvc was
paiied In the sum Of $500 for his ap-
pcarance in the Police Court to-mor-
row morning.
The arrest of DR.. Williams is said
10 be the result Of several weeks un-
firing efforts on the part of the de-
| tectives who took him into custody
! According to information secured at
police headquarters last night, the
police have been endcavoring to trace
70 a source a number of cocaine cases
which have been brought TO their at
| iehuon in one way or another.
SAY HIS PRESCRIPTIONS WOULD
HAVE SUPPLIED WHOLE HOSPITAL.
Detectives lest night said that ma
tcntS of Dr. Williams had secured a
suNicient amount OF cocaine within the
iaSt nineteen days to supply the ,ncdi-
/ cal needs Of all the hospitals i'm the
~! ior wear. they said that his
prescriptions to patients during the
last four or five months called for an
amount OF the drug sufficient to meet
thc requirements of the local hospitals
Tor twelve years. According to the
police. Il record OF many prescriptions
written by DR. Williams in the last
i"w weeks has been secured, and these
nave been tabulated for the purpose OF
court evidence.
DR.. Williams was brought to police
headquarters following his arrest and
Was allowed bail there by Justice OF
.he f.ace Purdie. who wrot. the war
rant for his arrest. This is th. first
case o! the kind with which the Rich
mond police have had 10 deal Dr.
Williams. IN his talk with Major Wer-
ner. prof.ssed ignorance OF the law in
respect 10 prescribing cocaine for
patients. He secured William VI. Jus
'ice. Jr as his attorney. and is ex-
pcctcd 10 fight the ,ch3rse.
40 DIFFICULTY IN SECURING
COCAINE ON PRESCRIPTION
Evidence secured by the police Is to
me effect that the majority of the pa
ticnts who have been In the habit of
securing the drug on prescriptions
written by DR.. Williams are young men
between the ages Of twenty one and
twenty-four years. They are said to
have found no difficulty in securing
cocaine once they were able TO get the
prescription
Attention OF the police was called to
the alleged operations Of DR. Williams
some time ago In the case against O.
D. l-nmpkin, who was arrested on a
charge of forging the doctors name
10 a prescription for an amount Of the
drug. This case began the investiga-
ton which resulted yesterday in the
arrest of the physician. 1t Is also said
70 nave begun Investigations in other
directions, and. according to the no
lice. may result in sensational de-
vclopmcnts before the mattrr is con-
cludcd
There has been an epidemic OF for
series OF the Lumpkin kind recently
Clarence Howdyshell. Q. y. Lumpkin
j.. Il. Miles, Jr.. and negro known az
f!hto nave been arrested on charges
OF forging the names OF physicians to
prescriptions for various amounts of
the drug. Their cases have been con-
tinucd from time 10 time by the police.
VINO wcr" working the more i'm
porant portions of the cases Howdy-
shell ana LumpkinS were patients OF
DR.. Williams, and ii was his name they
are alleged to have forged to prescrip-
tions
SALE HAS REACHED
SERIOUS PROPORTIONS
The police would not say last night
that there is wholesale traffic in the
W NY III iNicn!nOnu, out admitted that
the sale OF the dope" had reached
enormous proportions within the last
few months. Not only is this true OF
the amount of cocaine sold by drug
gists on prescriptions furnishd by
physicians but 1T Is said that the sale
of the drug OF the streets. in bar
rooms. poolrooms and elsewhere has
largely increased But few weeks pass
that there is not at least one person
arrested on charge OF selling cocaine
Major Werner last night called at
tention to the law which governs the
prescribing of cocaine and which led
to the careful writing of the warrant
against DIR. Williams The Chief of
Police said that IT was necessary to
prove that, at the time the prescrip-
tion was written, there existed in the
mind of the physician the intention
that the drug be used for unlawful
purposes. This is due to the fact that
the law recognizes the fast that
habitual user of the drug requires many
times the amount which would suf-
flee. in n medicinal way, for the per-
son who was using II for the first time
The intent is generally proven by the
knowledge of the person who secures
the drug and the amount prescribed.
PAMPHLET TELLS OF TREATMENT
OF COCAINE USERS
DR. Williams, In pamphlet which
ueteCliNeS lOulu III MS OHlcep mas nau
printed after his name, in practically
every case where 1t appears, the
phrase. Medical College of Virginia
He claims to be fellow OF the Vir-
glnia state Medical Society, fellow
Of the King William Medical Society
and fellow of the American Medical
Association. a number of testimonials
were given purporting to have been
written by former patients. testifying
to the cures DR.. Williams had effected
in the treatment of morphine, cocaine
and alcohol users. Extracts from n
number Of medical journals and news
papers. testifying to the thoroughness
of his treatment. are also printed in
this leaflet.
DETECTIVES RAID ALLEGED
COCAINE JOINT ON BROWN STREET
Detective Scrgeants .Krengel, Akin
son. Wiltshire and Bailey early this
morning rnided the place Of Pompey
Flournoy and Willet Crump, both coll
| ored, at 1927 Brown Street. and arrest
ed the negroes on a charge OF illegally