The Washington times. [volume] (Washington [D.C.]) 1902-1939, 1923-01-25
TWO GIRLS FALL
VICTIMS To
DRUGLURE
Become Human Derelicts, Wills
and Bodies Broken, by
Loathsome Habit.

i
innocent women caught in the net
IF the drug monster!
Two innocent women who sur
rendered their lives into the keep
ing of drug slaves!
Two young girls. Their romantic
creams of love, home and children
hat were to be-smashed almost
| on their bridal day. Their loves be-
trayed-their wills broken and life
ruined.
Unspeakable suffering, hope lost.
and final surrender to the drug.
One is dead-the other lives on,
| her only thought morphine and
how to get it. The life Of the liv-
ing dead.
Two human derelicts. their Wills
and bodies bent to the master
the drug habit-rexealed the stories
of these four lives. sitting in lit
tie room at police headquarters.
Each was tale Of contrasts; the
untold tale Of what might have
been revealed by the story of
words. Each life had q similar be-
ginning in respectable American
home. Each had the advantage of
good childhood environment, fair
| foundation of education, and the
bright prospect Of equality of oppr-
| tunity.
Bodies wrecked, souls dead, con-
science smothered and moral sense
gone. Dead in every sense yet alive
enough to go through the motions
Of living, cunning enough to procure
the next days drug supply. Made
equal by a common necessity the
need of a steady supply OF mar
cotics to deaden the bite Of the
fangs clutching THERE bodies and
souls.
Accident Creates Habit.
A broken old man, white haired
and with all the ear-marks of senil-
ity, tottered and shiiffled out OF his
cell, the steel door changed behind
him. An ironic smile fitted over his
face as he looked at his own frail
body and then the steel cage. His
body and mind already were held in
the grip of q passion stronger than
walls of adamant or bars Of steel.
As he sinks into a chair he would
just one little shot of NOR
phine, one little shot," SO that he
speakable desire unsatisfied he col
lapsed in the chair and faced his
questioner, with high quavering
voice he states that his name is
Joseph Golf. His age he places at
fifty-eight, he looks more like seven
ty-eight.
Born in st. Paul, his father we'll
TODD hotel keeper He ran away
from school and home at the age of
twelve. He went to the north woods
ana joined lumber camp. A strong
tree Life for the next seventeen years.
First as water boy and assistant
COOK, and later, full strength and
maturity attained, the bold thrilling
life or river driver.
Wife Becomes Addict.
At Twenty-Five. out Of the woods
and taking a Job as railroad
brakeman. Then an accident. The
loss of a leg under a freight car.
Eight months in a hospital. Nor
prime to quiet pain, wonderful
paiiatiye good for a sick man
glorious also for man returned
TO health, and SO, morphine for
thirty long years. He came here
and met his future wife. wooed and
married her.
God only knows what she
thought when she found me out!
God only knows how she suf-
fered and resisted! But she died in
st. Francis Hospital. She was try.
ing TO take cure and the pain
and suffering Of it killed her."
1t is the cackling voice of her
lord and master. He rises feebIy
and hmps back to his cell. Some
one asks what he does now.
He is night clerk In a hotel in
Superior.
Another cell door clangs in the
distance. A moment later a tall.
dark, handsome man enters. He is
quiet and composed. He looks like
man who might have done things
in the world-for moment he in.
spires hope-but only for a mo-
ment.
My name is Raymond Peters.
ana L am thirty-two years old" he
says. Il am a common laborer.
was born in st. Cloud, MINI. NV
father was a restaurant keeper in
Sank Rapids, MINI. We moved
/ there when was very young and
went to school there for several
years. When I was fifteen years
OLD my family moved to a farm out.
side OF Little Falls, Mimi, and I
went with them.
Used Dope to Quiet Pain.
dlo not like the farm very well
so as soon as I became of age. I
moved in to Little Falls and got a
job in restaurant. Seven years
later went to Rainier, Mimi, and
opened a restaurant of my own
there. Shortly after / arrived I
met Caroline Burtis. We beca me
sweethearts and were married.
1T was not long after this that
1 found / was suffering from an in
durable disease / went to a doc.
tor at Fort Francis, Mimi. He
gave me morphine to allay the main
took treatment from this doctor
for severel months Finally he told
me that my case was hopeless
stopped taking treatment but 7
could not stop taking morphine. NV
wife suffered from asthma. sug-
gested morphine to her-and she
too joined the cult of the needle
slave.
| Three years ago I lost nv res
taurant in Rainier and we came To
Superior. Ever since I have been
working as a common laborer. INV
wife as waitress in a restaurant
wish that /. could stop taking
dope. but it is the only thing that
| keeps me up / am in and out of
A