The Washington herald., 1922-12-22


prints the second imstallment Of
o series Of articles BY Mrs. EvsyI
stt A. Trscin, widow Of "Dxtek"
IrwfH, drug addict Of this city,
scho ended his lifs s0ith an over
dose at the Colombia Hotel last
Friday.
Yesterday Mrs. Irvin described
ho,c the ease soith which drugs
could BE- procured IN Washing-
ton had driven her hxsbamd to
his death and had ruined her life.
To-day shs relates hosC the in
sidious habit converted him from
a kind, providsnt husband into a
brute toho beat and turned her
out and took money from her at
the point Of a gun to sdtiats his
craving for narcotics.
By MRS. EVERETT 4. IRWIN.
MY husbands life was a con.
ASA tinuous civil war-a war of
Two conflicting parts Of his soul.
There was the good. manly part
that wanted to provide and care
for me. and the Wild. dsvil.may-
care part that abused me and
could only be satisfied with the
stupefaction Of drugs.
TRlED TO HELP GOOD.
Daily. ] witnessed this combat.
] entered into 1t and did all in
my power to assist the good part
AND TO stamp out forever the
part that was the seat Of ali his
trouble ana my unhappiness
But II Was the wild. untsmed
part that turned out strongest,
and since the two could not live
permanently within tn. same
Lody II must kill the other part
Hence, the fatal potion OF drugs
ana his shameful suicides death
MARRIED. THREE YEARS.
The good part Of my, husband 5
soul WAS the part that knew
~ien we were married three
years asU-August T. 1918
Then Everett Irwin was EN-
piUyed as ID construction expert
al the Key Bridge He was kind
10 me and DID everything that he
thought would please INT and
MAX. rne happy WAS happy.
for loved him
For nearly a wear this happi-
ness continued We were always
together. We approached. as
nearly as Is possible. the happily
married couple
NOTICED CHANGE.
Then. as we neared the end Of
our first year of married life. i no.
ticed that things were not quite
the same There were times when
he treated me differently. but I
made no mention of IL. for ! sup
posed that probably he had been
irritated at his work and that his
actions were unconscious.
A short time later ! was told by
friends that my husband had been
a drug addict prior to our wedding.
and that they believed that he had
returned to the habit. This, I
told them. must be untrue
DENIED USING DRUGS.
When his Indifferent attitude
continued l questioned him regard
ing the use of drugs. He told me
that he had used them for a short
time several years before we ' ere
married, but that he had taken h
cure" and had learned his les
son."
believed him.
Time passed and the change
which I had noticed continued TO
become more and more pronounc-
ed. was in doubt as to the cause
until one day I found a spoon in
his pocket. watched and found
that he always carried a spoon
with him. This. later learned,
he used to measure the drugs.
Realizing that our happiness was
endangered and that he was in
need OF Immediate help, I confront
ed him with the facts that I had
discovered and pleaded with him
to assist me in my efforts to free
him from the horrible habit.
COULD NOT RESIST.
He would remain in his room for
days at a time, suffering and at
times almost a ravine maniac, but
straining every effort to avoid re-
turning to the drugs for relief.
But each time he would give way
to the part of his soul that was
slowly carrying him with the cur