Tulsa daily world. [volume] (Tulsa, Indian Territory [Okla.]) 1905-1919, 1916-05-07
Desperate in Craving for
Opiates, They Stop
at Nothing.
BECOME BURGLARS
More Than Fifty Robberies
in Tulsa Attributed
to Them.

Driven on by lash of craving,
held in the firm grasp Of habit. not
one but a score of morphine and CO.
caine fiends stink through the hall
ways of office buildings in Tulsa
every week. seek out the offices of
dentists and surgeons and from them
steal the drug. which will for the
time, quiet their hunger and nerves,
but leave them a sobbing. shaking
form, awaiting another opportunity to
| lay hands on more of the opiate
which Is denied them Oy law
| Within the past three months more
than fifty offices in Tulsa have been
robbed. in several instances the same
office being broken into on three and
| four separate occasions and drugs
valued at several hundred dollars
| taken
The fiend will do anything to get
his favorite drug" said X. Moran,
| acting night sergeant at the police
| station, yesterday in discussing the
number of recent robberies reported.
when a fiend uses the last of his
drug, for the time he does not think
| of where he will get the next sup
| ply. 1t is when the effects of the
drug begin to lose their hold on his
nerves and his mind that his thoughts
turn to this subject.
Becomes Desperate.
at is then that he seeks a way of
replenishng his store. And as the
condition of his nerves and mind be-
come more and more unsettled by
the loss of the drugs upon them, he
will scheme and plan He has no
| fear of meeting opposition to Sc
cure the narcotic. 1t is true they
do not wish to harm anyone, but
this is only a secondary considera-
ton. They will use force if it is
necessary. This was illustrated by
the man who forced the office girl
of a local doctor to stand quietly by
| while he made a thorough search of
the office. He did not come to kill
anyone, he sought only the drug, but
probably II the woman had tried to
run, he would have used the gun. if
only for protection"
The hold that this drug can take
upon a person is often demonstrated
in a police station where the fiends
twill plead with the officers for one
more shot" before their "kit" is
taken from them and they are placed
in the cells.
Women Hide Drug.
Many of the women fiends prepare
for the search at the station by hid
ing quantity of the morphine or
cocaine III tnelr nalr. IL Is Tor TINS
reason that many of the officers
make the women take down their
hair and even search the flower on
their hats for small packages or
decks of the drug.
There is not day passes that men
and women, some of them very well
dressed and showing good education,
come to my office and beg me to sup
ply them with small quantities of the
drug. They threaten to kill them
selves and do many rash deeds if | do
not supply them and yet | am helpless
to do anything for the creatures. If
! did | would be liable to a large fine
and even Imprisonment" said a prom
inent physician yesterday.
And his is but one of the many such
cases. Every day there are men and
women from every walk of life trying
to secure the drug by legitimate means
and failing, there are those in the
depths of the habit, willing to mur-
der and rob to secure the drug.
Stll at Work.
Following closely on the bold rob
berry Of Doctor Hendershots office
Friday morning. when a young man
entered and. at the point OF re-
volver. forced the lady attendant TO