OCR Text |
Show The Opium Dons. Smco the prevalence of opium smoking iu this city was brought to s the attention of tho city council last s Tuesday evening, the owners of these t dens are very particular about thtte - they allow to enter. Up to that lime i no attempt was in ado to keep the - matter a secret, or to dieguiao the : . fact that the practice was carried on 1 night and day, hut now thti place . are so well darkened at night that unless one was actually aware of the fact, it would never occur to the mind , thai from 9 and 10 o'clock every night uutil daylight in the morning these places are crowded with persons per-sons who have become confirmed and almost hopeless opium smokers. There is one building, the principal resort ol this kiud in tho city, which is csllid the "dive," aud this is where to ute the street boy's parlance par-lance "high-ioued" persous ai seiuhltf The frequenters of this place arc said to be tun belter class ui cprn.uy uieu anu tasL noiutu, though the utteudance is not coufimd to eitner u die two classes of persons, but "respectable" nun aud women make a practice of spending the greater portions of their nights iu these dens. There aro also three or four other places, not so large, which are frequented by persons considered not only low in a moral point of view, bat from every other standpoint, aud cannot even boast ol having a respectable habitue. They are all, however, well attended, and it is estimated that the proprietor of the '"dive" nets from his opium business busi-ness a sum of $15 to $2o every day. The practice is not an expensive one, Lut in its results is said to be ten-fold as pernicious as whisky drinking, the habit being more difficult to break, ; and the efle'Ct on the morals, physique and mental faculties being meal jculably worse than that growmg out 1 of drinking liquor. It penetrates the h ood aud bones and if once the practice prac-tice be stopped until the system com meuces fo puriiy itself, it is followed by racking pains, aud tho victim :fl in a slate that can only be compared to dilinum tnmens, but in a greatly aggravated fotru. The idea thai boys are enticed mto the dtr.s and givtn cpium dees uoi gain credence. It is a very expeusivo article, though but little ij needed, aud boys going in there are comptl .td to pay their ten, fifteen or tweutj -Sve cents just the a&mo as anyone the. Since, however, the reject agitation in the matter, but few boys aro a: lowed to go in, and iu tact it is very difficult for any one to gain access, unless personally known to some of the frequenters or to the Chinamen themselves. It is seldom that;ihe most confirmed smokers consume con-sume more than half a dollar's worth a day. though persons have been known to smoke a couple of dollar's worth in a night. The smoker is given the amount asked for, and furnished fur-nished with a peculiar pipe, made ex press'.y for opium smoking, the ttem of which is like a flute, while a bowl eh sped after the fashion of a small dish, and covered, with a small hole through it, is placed on the stem a ehort distance from the end. It is the universal custom to lie down while smoking, and a small lamp with which to burn the opium is placed before the smoker. The places on which persons smoking lie are common com-mon boards covered with Chinese rush matting, hard, small and very I inconvenient, and these are nlaccd ! one above auoiher, about three feet between each, ' and here many persons spend wlicle nights. Some times on one of these beds, or sleeping sleep-ing places, which are five or six feet , long, three or four feet wide and three feet of room above, as many as four persons may be seen smoking opium at a time. When the places are crowded, which is not unfrequently the case, white men, Chinamen, and women, are al! jammed promiscuously promiscu-ously together, some sleeping, ethers emcking, and all lying around in the most disgusting contusion, with no regard whatever for decency. Stiil, no charge of immoral conduct in these places has ever been preferred. pre-ferred. The peculiar e fleets acd fascinations of this vice are difleretit on diflerent natures. Tue ceueral eCect, however, of opium smoking, is to produce a sensation of the most delightful drowsiuess, during wliich all thoughts of care are banished and a feeline of the utmost content. amounting to ideal tl si, pervades the whole bein?. If sleep ensues, aud it generally does, the dreams of the sleeper are most ecstatic and he s carried through "iong reaches ot delight," and the opium emuker awakens, as it were, to visions of green fields, beautiful flowers aud Elyeians plains through which he roams at wiHftH mingled into each other iu unbroken succession. This is the charm; the pain, nature's cotupeus-a-tion for undue pleasure, follows, but though terrible at tiaiee, is not suflicient to break the spell or causo the smoker to desist and abjure his pernicious habit. It will be readily seeu how strong is the temptation, when such delights follow the practice. Until within a moderately recput poriod the habit has been confined to the fast sexes of tho town, but now persons of respectability and eotne stauding, are fast taking to it u a temporary relief froin their cares, and as a less no'.icabio Tice than drinking; but the worst features is that boys or young men, ranging trom 17 and la to '23 years of age, are becoming continued in tue habit ol opium smoking, aud their numbers are rapiJiy swelling. 1 In view of these tact, U is wi II that immediate and determined acuoo be taken to check the gn-wih of ibis i fearful practice. ! Associated with thesj dens is generally gen-erally a gambling house, and in'o theie latter places but few white persons per-sons are allowed to enter. There does no'eem to be a class of people iu the norid, juJgiun from tiie specimens speci-mens here, who so generally practice gambling as the Cnincse. Beneath one of these opium places is a gam- ! bliug den.nuJ the greatest trecaution 1 has been uLen to prevent uny one ' cainiii' entramv. A c. II ir bixteen I feet has turn dug, tru feet from the bottom of which thick walls have been erci ted and roofrtl over; on top of this again six feet of earth has be n placed, and down in Una hole a number num-ber of theao heathens assemble nightly, night-ly, aud no mailer what occurs below, it is impossible to hear it above, through the thickness of tho earth above. I |