The Birmingham age-herald. [volume] (Birmingham, Ala.) 1902-1950, 1916-12-08
Claim City Has Reputation
Among Drug Victims Over
Country as wide Open"
ARRESTS ARE
SCHEDULED AS THE
NET is TIGHTENED
Number of Druggists in the
Outskirts of City Expect
ed to Face Serious
Charges
"we have just begun to fight.s

"We have Just begun to fight.s
That's the way DIR. NJ. y. James,
federal revenue agent, described the
fight which the government authorities
have started here to break up the
Illegal sale of narcotics.
Dr. w. P. Wilson, a local dentist, was
arrested yesterday at the instance of DR..
James, and at the hearing before United
States Commissioner r. B. Watts, he
was bound over under bail of $1,000 to
await the action of the federal grand
jury. Bond was made and he was later
released from custody.
The arrest and preliminary trial of DR..
Wilson yesterday was the third case of
proprietor of the Owl Drug company,
and w. N. Nelson, proprietor of the Nell
son Drug company, were the other two
men who were charged with violating
the Harrison anti-narcotic law. All were
placed under $1,000 bond and bound over
to await the action of the grand jury.
TWO CHARGES MADE
DR.. Wilson was arrested following the
filing of charges by DR.. M. p James, the
federal agent, to the effect that DIR. Will
son had been issuing prescriptions in the
practice of medicine in which he is not
licensed, for narcotic drugs to be taken
DIR. Wilson was also charged
with using fraudulently the name of Dr.
e. A. Wilson, a doctor of medicine In
the absence of his attorney, DR.. Wilson
declined to make any statement and
waived preliminary examination before
the commissioner.
I'VE propose to close up Birmingham
concerned declared DIR. James yester--
Gay. This city has recently gained the
reputation among dope fiends of being
wipe open and many of these unfortu-
mates from other cities where we have
practically stopped the sale of the
'dopes' have flocked here, where the
supply seemed to be plentiful and easy
checking up the druggists and physicians
in other cities and towns. the violators of
the law became very bold here.
THE arrest of the two druggists
and one dentist is merely the begin
ming of our work. We expect to have
no less than five physicians who have
been issuing illegally prescriptions for
narcotics. There are also a large
number of druggists, principally on
the outskirts of the city, who have
been guilty of violating the law We
have only begun our check of these
places. but we have already found
enough to show us that the dope
do i
Birmingham was wide OPEN.
HOW CASES ARE FOUND
I'VE have not checked any of the
physicians prescription lists yet and have
only begun our check of the drug stores.
The easiest way for us to find what
physicians are violating the law is by
the drug stores, for there we
find their prescriptions. We have already
discovered that many prescriptions have
been forged and we are led to believe
that one of the dope f1ends, highly ed
ucated man, is writing these forged doc
uments. However, he seems to have
been smart enough to forge the name of
physicians who We're writing large
number of these orders for narcotics, at
least in most cases this is true.
1--WE are in communication with several
of the leading dope tends in Birming-
ham, and with the information we are
gaining from our check of the drug
stores and what we have learned from
other sources, we are confident that Bir-
mingham will be air tight so far as
narcotics for illegal purposes is con-
cerned, at no far distant date"
1t was announced yesterday that the
charges of illegal sale of narcotics
brought Thursday against W. N. Nelson
of the Nelson Wheeler Drug company,
will be considered only as charges
against Nelson as an individual. j. o.
Wheeler who was formerly joint owner
of the company, stated that he had dis
posed of his entire holdings in June, 1915,
and that the corporation name had since
been changed to Nelson Drug company.
In view of these facts, the federal au-
thorities will prosecute Nelson as an in
dividual.