The Sunday telegram. [volume] (Clarksburg, W. Va.) 1914-1927, 1916-02-20
wenty grains a day, and that cost.

\ there went into the business OF CIV
I Ing prescriptions for 81 apiece, ant
we could buy our stun out there. Thu
federal officers got on to that ant
closed down on outsiders coming II
and getting 1t, but some took rooms
out there and got residence.
~ tried to stop aoout. a year ago
cut II of short, but ! couldn't do 1t
/ had to give 1t up, and as was go
ing all to pieces finally made up my
mind to get myself committed to the
workhouse az a prisoner, although
have never committed any crime ex-
cept the violation OF the drug law.
took the treatment, and although
came out weak and need lot Of build
ing up with food am cured. ] have
no desire for drugs. sleep any time
! lie down and otherwise l am per-
fectly we'll"
Samuel Ryan, 40 years old. began to
smoke opium in 1893, and three years
ago took to the hypodermic needle
This Is Ryan's statement:
1T took everything in the world
had. got to living only for the drug.
/ thought Of nothing else but 1t. II
wasn't because Of any Of these dreams
you read about, but because ] had tc
get It to live, just like air to breathe.
! | did not know what to do and | had
no hope.
II travelled around with other drug
fends like myself, and. believe me.
you got to know lot OF them when
you are looking for the junk. One
night five or six OF us were standing
on the corner talking about our
troubles when another fiend we knew
came along and asked us II we wanted
to take cure. He said some people
were starting private cure and five
would come up and go through with
1t 1t wouldn't cost us a cent, and we
might get paid for our time.
1--WE all went. Every drug user !
have ever known wants to get cured,
and we arrived at this place, where
they said it would take about twelve
days to put us through. AS first OF
all they took us upstairs and gave up
good jab Of morphine, 1t wasn't so
bad.
"The cure, when they got down to
! 1t, was terror. AS near as | can Zig
ure 1t out 1t was bclladonna and blue
mass pills. and II tore us to pieces.
But there was this one thing: We
Lol n IoI - - Uiny,l Vic ore opI cnni In I
service people, who came in commit
tees.
"About an hour before these CON-
mittees would show up the cure people
would give us all nice white pill.
They didn't tell us what was in the
pills, but they made us feel fine. II
you ask me / would guess that II was
good shot Of morphine. but don't
know The visitors would come along
ask us how we felt and we would say
we felt fine. and they would 80 away
saying, Wonderful! WONDERFUL
zone of the visitors studied me
pretty close one day and then leaned
over me. Say he whispered, you
look as II you were getting some
thing OF course shook my head,
but a night or two later another iel-
low and myself picked two Yale locks
with a knife, slipped downstairs and
jumped out of the first story window,
getting away. Two OF our friends
wanted to come, too, but they we're
too weak to get ont of bed. There
had not been any visit that day.
81 went over to the metropolitan
hospital the last OF September or the
first OF October this year. l got there
at $3.50 o'clock in the afternoon and
at o'clock they put me under the
cure and l was under 1t for seventy
two hours. l do not remember what
/ did then, but when came out OF 1t
was in a bed which had sideboards
and l was tied down with sheets.
~ was so weak when l came out |
couldn't stand up. They told me to
go out in the yard. and ! could hardly
do anything more than crawl. was
blind too; the stuff they shoot into you
affects your eyes. | was there for
ten days, and when was discharged
! was still so weak | had to sit on the
floor to put on my pants. | got across
the ferry somehow, and the first thing
did was to get over to Forty-second
street and buy two strong jabs of
morphine"
Feared Insanity under Care.
George Miller smoked opium, ate
morphine and took hypodermic for
seventeen years. He worked steadily.
His story follows:
II went up to that private cure in
July, 1916. and stood it for seven
days. Then l demanded my clothes
and walked out. ! couldn't stand what
they gave me and feared ! would go
crazy or die under It. was one Of
the patients they gave the white pill
to before the social workers came in
to visit us.
"a friend of mine got sent to the
workhouse and took the treatment
there He wrote to me early in Jan
uary to come right over and went
to Commissioner Lewis. He gave me
a letter to Magistrate McAdoo, who
sent me over there. What l am doing
now Is telling every one ! know about
the place. II the drug users Of the
city get to know about 1t they will
swamp 1t.
'They are getting the drug now,
but It is costing more than ever. The
Italians have the morphine monopoly
and the Greeks have the heroin. The
morphine is made in this country, as
understand, and is shipped to Italy,
where 1t is sent back with the emil
grants. They get about IS bottle
now, against s1.25 two years ago. The
heroin you get is horse heroin, made
for animals"
1Iy.t,t.. NY,o1a,L ,,aobooio want