The Washington herald., 1922-12-18
Seeks Reid's Sources
of Dope in New York.

NEW YORK, Dec. 17.-An ex.
haustive inquiry has been begun to
learn whether 'Wally Reid, the
movie star now lowering between
life and death in a Los Angeles
sanitarium from the effects of
drugs. obtained his supplies Of
! morphine from New York dealers.
At the same time an effort is
being made to establish 4 connec.
tion between William Williams, the
super -peddler OF drugs arrested
! here last week, and dea.ers on the
Pacific Coast, who supplied the
ultra fast set that caused Reid
| downfall
HOW DID HE GET 1T:
Dr. Carleton Simon. special deputy
police commissioner in charge of
the narcotic division, said that
| although Reid probably received
shipments Of morphine from VIII
Jams. there was no conclusive evi-
| dence that other stars on the
| Pacific Coast dealt with the peddler.
DR.. Simon seems more interested
in ascertaining the exact connec-
| tion between Williams and j. Her.
| bert Frank. an actor in Hollywood
| than any other phase Of the Reid
| case. Among the effects Of Williams
were found many communications
from Frank, all of which contained
references to narcotics.
In one letter in which Frank
asked Williams to rush" him come
&C" (cocaine) he conveyed the IN
| formation that he had been recently
| To- foty Il;
position of the case. he wrote:
THE attorneys. for the actors
equity settled the case out of
court"
LETTER TO PEDDLER.
Another of Franks letters to
the peddler closed thus:
IF you will quote me some
| prices perhaps I can do some
| thing for you here"
DR.. Simon said that Williams is
a real man Of mystery" He
was once an English barrister,
and later became an accountant
and also was interested in sta
tionery business.
| The statement of Williams that
he had been in the drug peddling
business only twenty months was
1 n.
The doctor said:
impression that the people in
general are addicted to the use
Of drugs. That il not true.
SPARES NO CLASS.
This habit does not spare any
class, but 1t seems that when
movie people become involved
the impression gets out that
many of them are drug users,
and this is very unfortunate.
1t is our desire to aid addicts,
not to in1ure them: to build
rather than to be a destructive
force. Drug addiction is a Sc
cret vice. In our relentless war
on narcotics we have found Just
as pitiable cases among those in
the upper strata of society as
We have among the Impoverished
victims in the slums.
| Daily stories of the poverty.
suffering and other Affections thar
go with the drug habit reach lis.
and more and more we appreciate
the seriousness of the menace that
stalks through our city and coun-
try.
l CEAA
wives come to us with infants
in arms pleading with us to assist
their husbands, who are addicts,
Mothers come broken.hearted, with
their pitiful tales of the suffering
brought into their homes through
the addiction Of their sons and
daughters.
There are many causes, but from
my observation would say that the
wave Of irreligious sentiment that
seems to have swept the country
is largely responsible The peo-
pie seem to be. drifting further
and further away from the
churches, and 1 am sorry to saw
that the influence of religion in
many cases seems to be waning.
And let me add here that there
IL no cure for drug addiction DOS
sible without spiritual uplift--