The Lake County times. [volume] (Hammond, Ind.) 1906-1933, 1922-10-06
SAYS COCKTAIL
LURES ADDICT
TO MISERY
British Aristocrat Is We
nomous in Denunciatlon
of Modern Drink.
BIZ THOMAS c WATSON

[sTAFF CORRESPONDENT 1. N. sERVIcEl
LONDON, Oct 5.-''1he cocktail Is
poisonous; worse than that, ii Is an
inhidious drink which lures its ad-
diets 10 worse misery than any real
drugs have ever doae," That IS the
Latest pronouneement OF Sir Claude
Champion de C<eSptgny, the last OF
the old Corinthians in London and
whose ancestors came over with
William the ConQueror,
Sir Claude represents the last of
the old feudal knights, Every Mon
day night, in season or out OF sea
SON. he fills-and very well fills at
that---the same seat at the National
Sporting club. when that institution
puts on its usual boxing programme.
But II Is to some other age that
Sir Claude belongs, a few months
ago q cousin Of his whose name and
armorial meanings are writ large in
Burke's and Debbrett's Peerages, Of
Tended the old gentleman on some
matter of family dispute and a law
case was threatened. Sir Claude
startled London society and the ar
istocracy by declining to join issue
with the aristocratic relative in
court and challenged him instead to
a duel.
DENouECEs Law COURTS
THE law courts" he said. are the
refuge of the proletarial Noblemen
and gentlemen must settle their dis
putes on the field OF honor, with
rapiers in their bands and not have
the family secrets argued over by
middle class lawyers and decided by
low class jurymen-"
So serious was he that the Kink
had TO intervene, but the affair had
TO be settled outside tho law courts.
It was in the National Sporting
club that the International News
Service correspondent ordered dou-
BILE Martini for his friend from Tex
as. and by good fortune our seats
were next 10 the one occupied by
the bold baronet aforementioned.
He sputtereed over his half pint
OF fruity port when he heard the
order and gave vent to his indigna-
tion- That's the curse OF the age"
he doomed Concentrated drink
ing. You merely drink cocktails be-
cause you achieve the feeling OF
drunkenness without any OF the
pleasure OF appeasing your thirst.
Go on drinking these cocktails, with
their wild. hilarious results. and you
will have this country as dry as
America
Good. wholesome drink never has
harmed anybody. Damn! A man
Is n man who can drink his stoup
Of ale or his pint OF port. but what
is there to those fiddling thimble-
fuis OF concentrated alcohol? That
IS a mystery to me.
DRINK FOR EFFECT
Look at all you young men You |
merely take g. drink for the after
sensations not to quench an honest
thirst. That Is why you scorn |
wholesome home-brewed ale or
health giving port and take to those
poisonous concoctions invented by
some devil in a hurry. BAH"
And, like all gentlemen OF his |
class, Sir Claude wrote to the Times |
about 1t. That raised the interest |
ing question OF the origin of the cock |
tail. and very soon the discussion /
in the newspapers became academeic |
and historical.
One historian Ga gourmet, as WELD |
traced the origin of the cocktail to |
the old cockfighting days at Hamp- |
ton Court, when the owner OF the |
victorious gamecock stood drinks /
to the number of feathers his bird |
had plucked from the tail Of its OPP |
ponent.
One day the owner OF the victori- /
Gus gamecock was so poor that he I
could only afford two fashions OF |
Old Tom Gin. so to exc IL out they t
had to pour IL out by the thimble- /
full. and inadvertently the bartender /
dropped a portion of Angostura bit /
ters into the potion. The drink pro- :
duced so keen an appetite for food /
that aperitifs promptly became the I
vogue, and the cocktail was the |
Americanized outcome of the aper!tif I
Punch and Judy Is a contraction I
of Ponttus and Judas. a relic of the |