The Washington times., 1923-01-23

Became Enmeshed in Drug
Traffic and Slipped Down
to Defeat and Despair.

Traffic and Slipped Down
to Defeat and Despair. !
SUPERIOR, Wis, Jan. 49,
sThe Kingp
Unkempt, clothed like a beg
gar, with pallid face and furtive
eyes, but still a ''king." That
'title" is branded on the brow Of
William r. Gossett, forty years
old. Federal narcotic agents and
the police named him "Dope King
of the Twin Ports"
A s'king," who has for his robe
o rag, for his scepter q brush. He
Ia window washer. But withal
O liking" whose subjects are fur.
tive beings who seek, the dark
corners Of the city and move in
the shadow of night. Subjects
that live in constant terror,
haunted by q desperate fear
the drug slaves fear Of losing
sure access to his drug supply
the nemesis Of the "iunker."
Has Tried for Success.
Gossett was arrested on December
Is, together with his wife In q raid
by Federal narcotic agents at
Superior Wis. Mrs. Gosseft was re-
leased but Gossett is being held with
out bail in the Douglas county jail.
Fifteen other persons were taken In
the raid. :.
The life story Of William r. Cos
gett is tale Of contrasts story
a A1w~ ks-1a - -
never secures, q firm hold upon sue
cess.
The little town Of Murphysboro,
In southern Illinois, where the farm
: ers flock to market on Saturday,
where the air il clean, where life
pursues an even course, and nature
IN her most generous mood blesses
the work of man-was his birth
place: a birthplace and condition that
now c. srasts oddly with his en-
vironment-liying in haunted fear,
responsive only to the drug craving
that enslaves him and living with
no thought Of the future other than
to satisfy his desire for morphine.
The son Of a well-to-do dry goods
merchant, opportunity for an hon.
est. useful career in life was his, but
to-day he Is sociaf outcast.
Injury. Led to Drugs.
Tragedy Is written there.
Drugs are the answer to this
wrecked life. to this story of al
king" 1t was after an accident to
his right ankle that Gossett first
started on the downward patELIhe
path that led to his kingdom" Dope
relieved the pain of q tubercular
ankle. And for nineteen years his
more or less imaginary pain has been
deadened-but at what cost! En-
meshed in the folly OF his own weak
ness, slave to an abiect craving that
viii never be satisfied. except at the
grave side, a phantom Of the boy of
Aurphysboro, he has followed path
devious indeed.
A nomad seeking some spot where
the haunting fear could be allayed or
thrown aside, where drug supplies
could be easily obtained. Ever on
the move.
Becomes a Pedler.
Working with his father In the
dry goods business, unable even to
be Of moderate assistance, he was
sent out on the road as q travelling
salesman to see if he could make
good in that line. Try as he would
the results were discouraging. Ca
pable only Of mediocre effort, he
achieved but small results. At last
ne was obliged to let go and he went
to Kansas City.
It was then he realized the posi-.
bilities and prosperity attendant upon
drug pedling. He decided to com.
htne his own vice with pandering to
the same affliction In others. He
started his window washing business,
q blind" for the transactions Of the
small time" drug pedler.
Driven out OF Kansas City he fol-
lowed an aimless course through
Missouri to ITennessee-from Ten
nessee to Texas In the latter State
the underworlds Of San Antonio.
Brownsville, Waco. Houston and
Dallas knew him well.
In Dallas he devoted the gains of
the drug pedler to the business of
real estate. Again his efforts ended
On failure.
He Meets the Girl.
It was In Tennessee that Gossett
met. wooed and won a girl whose
story Is as strange as his own.
They met. each with a kindred
vice and a haunting fear. One the
son Of a respectable merchant-the
other the daughter Of a physician.
They married.
To her q son was born twelve
pears ago. and now 1t is the prayer
or both that
please God our son will never
know the torture and slavery that
IN ours
The couple went to Kansas City
70 1--we; moved from there to St.
raul Mimi; moved again to Du.
!uth. MIMI. and finally to Superior,
Prelude to Wife's Story.
Demand makes the market. Cos
eett knew his market weIl-mor-
phine at $40 an ounce. and slaves
to pay for it.
It was while waiting for his daily
We've grain portion of morphine in
the superior police station that this
man. whose home revealed over 81.
GOO worth Of narcotics to the no.
pice. told his story. 1t was a pre-
lude to the story Of his wife. en-.
shaved even as he had been.
she u only twenty-seven years
old. Written In indelible lines nm
her face is the tragedy of life.
She - the queen" A queen nv
virtue Of the fact that She Wa.
Joined In wedlock to the 49,
obviously "honored" with the titIa
of 'the dope king OF the Twin