PESTS OF THE PLAINS.

1895

The Rattlesnake's Sting and the Bite of the Hydrophobia Skunk.

Major Wilcox, a veteran surgeon from Fort Huachuca, told the other day of the red racer snake, a deadly foe of the rattlesnake and who fights the latter on every occasion. He cannot kill the rattler by a poisonous sting, but awaiting an opportunity seizes his victim behind the head and gives it a crushing squeeze in his powerful jaws. This severs the rattlesnake's spinal cord and causes death. The red racer then swallows the rattler, poison and all. Occasionally, when in the field, Major Wilcox treated soldiers for rattlesnake bites and found it easy to overcome the effects of the poison.

One day a private came to him with a wound from a rattlesnake's fangs in his index finger. The major hastily scarified the wound, broke open a rifle cartridge, poured powder over the wound and exploded it. This cauterized the injured part and so effectually dispelled the poison that only one-half the hand was swollen. The patient soon recovered. On another occasion a man cut off a rattlesnake's head, and, desiring to preserve it, packed cotton into the dead snake's mouth. The jaws closed upon the man's fingers, inflicting a wound from which he soon died.

Rancher Leonard, owner of a vast cattle range in New Mexico, in recounting his experiences on the plains, remarked that he feared the hydrophobia skunk far more than he did the rattlesnake. The snake gives warning of his presence; the skunk does not. This variety of skunk is not only vicious, but aggressive, while the rattlesnake seldom attacks unless disturbed. The hydrophobia skunk is probably the only animal, excepting the coyote, west of the Rocky mountains whose bite induces rabies. Besides this and because of its fondness for occupying the tents of frontiersmen at night, the animal is much dreaded.

Occasionally a coyote will "run mad" and bite another, and thus hydrophobia is communicated to large packs of the fleet footed animals and they race over the prairies and mesas, making mad every living creature in their pathway that they happen to bite. One of the amusements of the cowboys is to capture a rattler alive and get the creature drunk. With a forked stick the snake's head is held down, its mouth is forced open and whisky poured down its throat in sufficient quantity to intoxicate it. The snake will then try to coil its body as if to go to sleep. The action of the alcohol makes it "groggy" and the coils won't coil. When a stick is shoved before the snake's nose, it tries to strike, but the head and body wobble from side to side much as does a drunken man in his attempt to reach a lamppost. — San Francisco Chronicle.

Kick in Brewery Malt Puts Man in Hospital

1920

Barrel Explodes and Driver's Ribs Are Fractured.

NEW YORK, N. Y. — A barrel of malt extract, a fluid explained by the police to be a byproduct of breweries and much reduced in content, acquired sudden strength as a result of the heat as it was trucked thru the Bronx.

Unmindful of the ominous sizzling that came from its interior, Theodore Kirchy, the truckman, banged the barrel down inconsequentially on the pavement at its destination. The barrel exploded, the flying staves whizzing thru the air around Kirchy's body. Two of them struck him, fracturing a rib on each side.

The rest of the barrel and its foamy contents disappeared for a moment. Then the malt began to collect on the pavement and some of the barrel staves came to earth. No one else was hurt. Kirchy was taken to a hospital.

—The Saturday Blade, Chicago, Aug. 7, 1920, p. 2.

Aztec's Sacred Mushroom

1916

Mushrooms are dangerous enough in the United States, where those who gather and eat them prize their flavor, and sometimes perish by reason of wrong diagnosis, for the deadly kind that are called toadstools look much like some of the edible mushrooms. In Mexico it would seem that the mushroom situation is worse than here, for while Americans hunt mushrooms for food, the Mexicans have reason to regard them as both meat and drink. Read the following statement of what happens after consuming the sacred mushroom of the Aztecs:

It is a powerful narcotic, producing the most fantastic visions, and is regarded by the Indians as a key which, in their ceremonial, opens to them all the glories of another and better world. A tincture made by simply chopping up the plant and allowing it to soak in diluted alcohol for a couple of weeks is a most serviceable remedy for nervousness, headaches and insomnia. When chewed (the Indians say) it stops the painful coughing of consumptives.

Botanists assert that the "sacred mushroom" is not a mushroom at all, but a cactus. That, however, is merely a matter of bald detail. What is important is the action of the plant on the system, This is attributed to an alkaloid principle it contains known as anhalonin, which chemists say is separable in the form of white, needlelike crystals.

The plant resembles a radish in shape. It has a button-like top, which is all of it that appears above the ground, and this is why it has been taken for a mushroom. The top is covered with prickles.

The early missionaries disapproved of the "sacred mushrooms." Because its use was part of the religious ceremonial of the native priests, the good missionaries called it "devil root." Another name of it is "dream plant," because of the visions it produces. Besides the dream inducing alkaloid, it yields a deadly poison; so it would not do for people unfamiliar with the plant to experiment with its effects on their own persons. People who have had it administered to them by physicians declare it is a remedy for the headachy condition that follows the drinking of alcohol.

—The Saturday Blade, Chicago, Sept. 16, 1916, p. 6.

Cheese With A "Kick" Coming From France

1919

Alcoholic Viands Considered for Shipment to U.S.

PARIS, France — Hail — alcoholic cheese! It is known of a truth that it is not proper for French importers to send any intoxicating liquors to the United States. But is there a law against exporting intoxicating foods? Mais non!

French wholesale dealers are turning their attention, therefore, to the cultivation of an American taste for vine-fed snails, canned bouillabaisse, melun, pont d'eveque, roblochon and other makes of cheese that has a kick to it, and foisse, the delicious short bread in Aveyron and the Pyrenees, of whole meal grain, eggs, cognac and unfermented wine.

Garcon! Some foisse and bouillabaisse, and have some yourself.

Bay Rum Has Them Barking Like Dogs

1920

Many Weird Ways to Evade Liquor Law Reported

Embalming Fluid and Rain Water Are Sold for Whisky at Immense Profit

Clamping of the prohibitive lid on the saloons and purveyors in various brands of intoxicating liquors has brought forth some strange and amusing schemes — amusing to all but the victims — by which professional and amateur "con" men have been enabled to bamboozle hundreds Of easy marks into purchasing even dirty rainwater at six or more dollars a quart. For instance. three clever "slickers" are under arrest in Chicago for selling John Lamorec two barrels of rainwater for $1,500. He was a victim of the ingenious "funnel game" which relies for its success on the fact that what comes out of the bung may not be a true sample of the entire contents.

Buffalo, N. Y., reports that three women and two men are in a hospital there, the result of a murderous swindle. A bootlegger sold them embalming fluid for whisky. It was diluted with vanilla extract. One of the women was unconscious for thirty-six hours and is in a serious condition.

Made Them Bark Like Dogs

Adam Rufnagle and George Crowley, two Cincinnati pals, couldn't get anything else, so they drank bay rum; they made such a row in their room that the police were called in. They were found crawling about the floor and barking like dogs.

Theft of nine barrels of sacramental wine was reported to the New York police by a wholesale liquor dealer. The theft was accomplished, he said, by siphoning the wine from his basement to an adjoining cellar by means of a seventy-five-foot pipe. The owner had a special permit from the Government to keep the wine in bond to be sold for religious purposes only.

Recently there has been a rush in Army stores in Baltimore for vanilla and lemon extracts, fair sized bottles being sold for 15 cents. Investigation turned attention to the extracts and the sale has been stopped.

"Deadly Bomb" Contains Booze

What was declared to be a "deadly bomb," brought to Los Angeles by a special agent of the Tucson division of the Southern Pacific, who suspected an attempt to wreck the Golden State Limited as he picked up the thing near Yuma, when pierced by a bullet fired at a safe distance gave forth the aroma of whisky, thus exposing the wiles of Arizona bootleggers.

Nathan Barrow of Uniontown, Pa., was charged by Harry Green with the theft of five hams. Barrow declared had been listening to a phonograph playing "I've Got the Alcoholic Blues" and, being in sympathy with the song, he fell. Asked to sing it, Barrow did, and the jury freed him.

Cured by Horse Liniment

Wesley Duke of Watertown, N. Y., found a chest of medicines left in his uncle's barn by a traveling veterinary, and, discovering that one of the larger bottles was suggestive of an alcohol [*bottle, drank the] contents. The stuff was a patented horse liniment, and Wesley was barely snatched from death's door. "It, was an awful nightmare," he says, describing his sensations when delirious, during which he imagined he was a two-minute trotter pitted against a fast thorobred runner.

—The Saturday Blade, Chicago, Jan. 3, 1900, p. 2.

*Note: That in brackets is missing in the original article and is suggested by the context.

Green Giraffes, 4-Tailed Elephants, Haunt the Victim of Wood Alcohol

1920

BY DR. BEN L. REITMAN

Wood alcohol is one of the most dangerous poisons known to science. Because it is one of the best known poisons in the world, people are losing their fear of it.

Thousands of persons in the United States probably have drunk it in the last three months. But the main reason that we are having so many cases of wood alcohol poisoning lately is that prohibition has only become a reality in the last thirty days. Previous to that time it was possible to buy a drink almost anywhere for 25, 35 or 50 cents. Today it costs 75 cents or a dollar, a prohibitive price for the poorer workers. They have sought a substitute.

Fatal Dose Is Eight Ounces

They have tried what we call "wood alcohol." The fatal dose of pure wood alcohol is eight ounces. The denatured alcohol which they are purchasing in drug stores, etc., that is, the great part of it, is grain alcohol diluted with 10 per cent of wood alcohol. Thus a man would have to drink a fairly large quantity of this denatured alcohol to obtain a fatal result.

The bum, the hobo, the man who just must have a drink, gets a bottle of denatured alcohol and goes into a saloon. He orders a glass of near beer. When he gets it he pours in an ounce of the alcohol — and gets a kick.

A few doses of this and he begins to get drunk. Then he gradually increases the dose. of alcohol until he is drinking it virtually straight.

Sees Four-tailed Elephants

A man doesn't necessarily have to drink a fatal dose to suffer ill effects. He suffers from strange hallucinations after but a short bout. But the major part of the cases we have heard about recently have been those where drinking the poison has been persisted in for two or three days.

There is a peculiar psychology in the effects of the poison. The victim sees four-tailed elephants and green giraffes and all the other different animals so long associated with delirium tremens. And then there is a peculiar half-blindness. The victim looks at you, but he can see only half of you — the other half, say the upper half, simply dissolves into space.

Regulations for sale? It would be a hard matter. Wood and denatured alcohol now is a commercial commodity widely used in industries the nation over. The people are able to buy it in department stores, in drug stores, in paint stores, and stories have been told of chauffeurs getting it out of the radiators of their automobiles.

A man might be able to drink a small dose of wood alcohol daily for some considerable time — but he shouldn't forget that it will get him in the end — and its after effects don't wear off easily and sometimes are incurable.

—The Saturday Blade, Chicago, Jan. 3, 1920, p. 1.


Lightning Plays Queer Prank

1920

MARIETTA, Pa., Jan. 1. — During a heavy electrical storm a bolt of lightning struck the residence of Charles Spanger and knocked out a beam in the middle of his garret without tearing a hole in the roof. The outside was considerably damaged. Fire ensued, but the downpour of rain extinguished it.

Wood Alcohol First Blinds, Then Causes Victim's Death

1920

Authorities Alarmed by Increased Use

More than 150 persons are dead and scores are dangerously ill as a result of drinking poison booze in various parts of the United States. Wood and denatured alcohol, homemade stuff with "a kick in it," hair tonic, perfume and various other concoctions, drunk to alleviate the thirst that will not down, are blamed. In all parts of the country steps are being taken to put down the traffic in these death-dealing drinks and to warn the public against indulging in them. Dozens of arrests in big cities have revealed plans to ship the poison booze to small towns and villages, the men back of these plans being willing to risk killing fellow-men in order to reap a few dollars.

Investigation by the Federal authorities at Washington has revealed that existing laws are powerless to stop the sale of wood alcohol to those who may want it. Congress, when it meets next Monday, will be asked to rush new legislation that will put such restrictions upon the sale of denatured spirits that the death list which is becoming of such big proportions will not be increased by leaps and bounds.

Warning by Employers

Large employers of labor have been asked to warn all their men of the danger incurred in drinking stuff with "a kick in it." Most of the deaths and cases of total blindness resulting from drinking wood alcohol have been among the laboring classes, the people who were unable to put by a large reserve of booze when the country went dry last July.

Symptoms of poisoning by wood alcohol are vertigo, nausea, vomiting, headache, dilated pupils, delirium and unconsciousness, rapidly followed by death unless a physician is called immediately. If recovery takes place there is serious danger of blindness. Blindness has followed the taking of so little as five teaspoonfuls of wood alcohol and less than half a pint may cause death. There is no antidote to counteract the effect of this poison booze. Once absorbed into the system, there is nothing that can be done.

Started With Christmas Jags

The ravages of wood alcohol made their appearance the day after Christmas in towns in Massachusetts and Connecticut, where thirty-six persons died as a result of drinking booze that had been distributed from New York. At the town of Chicopee, Mass., eighteen persons, including one woman, died. Discovery then was made that great quantities of the booze had been shipped throughout the New England States for the Christmas trade. The shipments were traced to New York, where several persons are under arrest.

Federal agents arrested five men who are believed the heads of the gang which flooded five eastern States. The headquarters of this gang was in New York. A wine and liquor dealer, a druggist and an undertaker are among the prisoners. A saloonkeeper and his bartender also were arrested. Charges of murder in the first degree will be placed against the last two as a result of the deaths of four men from wood alcohol, the victims all being roomers over the saloon. Thirty-five persons have died from wood alcohol in New York since Nov. 1.

Twenty-seven deaths in Chicago are attributed to the same cause. One Christmas party resulted in three deaths, those of two women and one man. The man, a former saloonkeeper. was stricken while at the bier of his wife, who had died after being stricken with blindness.

—The Saturday Blade, Chicago, Jan. 3, 1920, p. 1.

Home for Drunkards' Wives Is Closed

Kansas, 1910

KANSAS CITY, Kan. — The home founded by Carrie Nation, the Kansas "joint smasher," in this city as a refuge for drunkards' wives, will probably be closed and the property returned to Mrs. Nation. The reason is, there are not enough wives of drunkards in the largest city of Kansas to warrant the continued operation of a refuge for them. Mrs. Nation has requested of the Associated Charities, the organization which is managing the home, that the property be deeded back to her.

The home has accommodations for 40 women but there are no drunkards' wives in it now. The Associated Charities is using it as a home for unfortunate and homeless women. About fifteen women now occupy the home.

Peter W. Goebel, president of the board of directors of the Associated Charities, admits that the home is a failure as far as being a place for the housing of drunkards' wives.

"That is the 'distressing' condition that exists," Mr. Goebel said. "There is no use in denying it. We cannot find drunkards' wives to live there.

"Mrs. Nation has asked that we return the home to her. The members of the board of directors differ as to whether or not this should be done. She has agreed to pay us for what repairs and improvements have been made at the home and at present the association needs the money that would be thus received for other branches of work. At our next meeting we will finally determine what stand to take concerning holding or releasing the property."

Mrs. Nation wishes the home returned to her so that it may be sold and the proceeds of its sale used in the construction of a home for boys which she is building in Oklahoma.

In 1902 she bought the property, which was the homestead of C. N. Simpson, one of the pioneers of Kansas.

Mrs. Nation secured most of the $4,000, which she originally paid for the property, from the sale of the small souvenir "Carrie A. Nation hatchets" which she and her friends sold for 25 cents.

After Mrs. Nation had given the home, all the churches of the city and many fraternal orders subscribed money to pay for its furnishing. The grounds about the home, an acre in extent, are well shaded and the building itself is a spacious structure of brick.

—Oelwein Daily Register, Oelwein, Iowa, Sept. 27, 1910, p. 2.

The Heart of Jumbo the Elephant

1904

It's the Biggest Heart in the World

ITHACA, N. Y., Jan. 30. — The biggest heart in the world, that of the elephant Jumbo, is preserved in the museum of the department of neurology, vertebrate zoology and physiology of Cornell University. If the heart were not so large it would stand in a glass jar on the shelves of the museum with hundreds of those of other animals and men.

But Jumbo's heart is so big that it lies in a barrel stowed away in the cellar of the museum, glass jars not being made large enough to hold the great mass of muscle. Some time it will be dissected by a class of students and then thrown away.

Jumbo had a heart ninety-eight times as large as the average human organ. It now weighs 36½ pounds, after having soaked several years in alcohol. A human heart, which weighs a little more than a pound, soaked in alcohol for the same length of time, weighs 10 ounces. The human heart is less than six inches long. Jumbo's is 28 inches, and 24 inches wide. The ordinary heart could be contained in the main artery of Jumbo's heart. The walls of the artery are five-eighths of an inch thick, while the walls of the ventricle are three inches thick.

When Jumbo met his heroic death at St. Thomas, Ont., trying to save the baby elephant and being himself killed by a locomotive, his carcass was sent to the Ward Natural Science establishment at Rochester. The skeleton was presented and put on exhibition and the hide mounted.

Dr. Burt G. Wilder of Cornell purchased the heart of the animal to add it to his colossal collection. The brains of Jumbo were also desired, but these had been shattered in the collision. When the heart reached Ithaca it was found impractical to preserve it by the process which retains its original shape, and so the organ was put in a barrel of alcohol. It had not been removed for years until Dr. Hugh D. Reed lifted it from the barrel to show to The Herald correspondent.

—The Sunday Herald, Syracuse, New York, Jan. 31, 1904, p. 23.

Judge Plays Racy Society - Thorkildsen Case

1920

Judge Plays Racy Society

Decree In Borax King Divorce Case Excoriates Social Conditions Among Wealthy

LOS ANGELES, Feb. 24.-—The decision of Judge Works in the famous Thorkildsen divorce case, read from the bench at the conclusion of a sensational trial lasting twenty days, mercilessly flayed not only both principals in the case but as well most of those who figured in the case as members of the fast society set to which the Thorkildsens belong. He awarded Mrs. Thorkildsen the degree, $30,000 as her share of community property, $15,000 alimony payable in sixty monthly installments and $10,000 attorney's fees, roughly one-tenth of what she asked in a money way.

"The court's opinion embodied a terrific excoriation of social conditions such as were described in the case and which he declared were largely the fruits of alcohol and of great wealth in the hands of persons who do not know how to use it. Aside from the financial findings the court's rulings on the disputed points were as follows:

There were no acts of cruelty such as were mutually charged, except the one involving the transmission of diseases, as both principals were inordinate consumers of alcohol and "wallowed in the same trough."

He was the "donor" of the ailment which figured so extensively in the case.

Mrs. Thorkildsen's suit was filed in Good faith and she was not guilty of desertion.

He was guilty of misconduct with Mrs. Agnes Smith.

Both sides expressed themselves as satisfied with the findings.

Following is Judge Works' opinion:

In an experience of twenty-eight years at the bar and on the bench, I have never known the air of a courtroom to be burdened with the recital of such a mass o£ shocking and unprintable testimony. The columns of the newspapers of the city have been filled daily with startling stories of facts brought out at the trial, but the genius of newspaper management notwithstanding the frankness of the press of today, has balked at a reproduction of the real details of the evidence.

A faithful report of the trial would have made the vulgarities of Rabelais and Laurence Sterne seem, by comparison, like the pruderies of Jane Austen or the prosiness of Henry James. The personification of vice and licentiousness stalks through the pages of the record that has been made here. We who have worked together for these four weeks have heard from the witness stand, in a crowded courtroom, things of which one would hardly think, in the secret recesses of his own soul, without turning out his lights and locking his doors.

—The Evening State Journal and Lincoln Daily News, Lincoln, Nebraska, February 24, 1920, page 2.

Prison for Poison Booze Men

1920

HARTFORD, Conn. — Nathan Salzberg was given a prison sentence of from eight to twelve years, Frank Rose three to five years, Saul Joseph three to five years, and Jacob Bronerwine one to three years. The four were charged with the sale of wood alcohol whiskey which resulted in thirteen deaths here at Christmas time.


Three Robbers Get $368,250

Two Safes Are Blown After They Chloroform the Watchman

PHILADELPHIA, Pa. — Police authorities said they had no clue to the identity of three men who during the night chloroformed, bound and gagged a watchman and robbed two safes in an office building of $368,250 in securities, of which $118,000 are negotiable.

—The Saturday Blade, Chicago, March 20, 1920, page 1.

Drunken Tomcat Leads Detectives to Liquor

1920

Officers Find Felines and Humans in Hilarious Condition

NEW YORK, N.Y. -- Confounding those who say that cats will not drink "hard liquor," Harold B. Dobbs, internal revenue agent, avers that a tipsy "Tom," reeling along the street led him and brother officers to a cache of fifty gallons of alcohol and other intoxicating beverages in the cellar of a saloon.

In the place, according to Dobbs, were several more cats, and all hilarious. Moreover, there was a determined effort made by each cat to obtain a share of a dark brown liquid that had leaked from an overturned demijohn on the floor.

Thomas Fitzgerald, proprietor of the saloon, and his bartender, Hugh Leckey, were arrested and charged with violating the prohibition amendment.

--The Saturday Blade, Chicago, March 27, 1920, page 9.

A Big Problem with Wood Alcohol - It's Deadly

1920

NO WOOD ALCOHOL DEATHS IN IOWA

Des Moines, Jan. 1.— No reports have been received by the state board of health of death in Iowa from drinking wood alcohol concoctions. Some weeks ago the death of two negro porters in Sioux City from drinking a toilet preparation was reported. One report of blindness from drinking bay rum has been received.


WOOD ALCOHOL CLAIMS TWO MORE

Chicago, Jan. 1 -- Two deaths resulted from wood alcohol poisoning supposedly the result of New Year's eve celebrations, were reported today. Today's victims were John Walstrom, 18, and Joseph Pinco, 65.

--Waterloo Times-Tribune, Waterloo, Iowa, January 2, 1920, page 2.


ALL WOOD ALCOHOL IS VERY POISONOUS

New York, Dec. 31. -- All wood alcohol is poisonous and it does not possess a single property by which anyone except a chemist can distinguish it from ordinary "grain" alcohol. This warning was issued tonight by Dr. Reir Hunt, professor of pharmacology at the Harvard medical school, in a statement explaining dangers of the poison. "It is impossible to prepare non-poisonous wood alcohol."

--Waterloo Times-Tribune, Waterloo, Iowa, January 1, 1920, page 1.

Man Drinks Painkiller, Fined $5 and Costs

1920

Remedy Containing 65 Per Cent Alcohol Proves a "Dazer"

ST. LOUIS, Mo., March 25. -- Go easy on the rheumatism medicine.

That is the advice of Allen McKay of this city. McKay was arrested on Ninth street in a seemingly dazed condition. A policeman said he appeared to be intoxicated. He was called before Judge Mix next morning.

"It was rheumatism medicine," he told the judge. "It contained 65 per cent alcohol, but I didn't know that when I drank a bottle of it."

"Did it cure your rheumatism?" the court asked.

"It killed the pain."

"Five dollars and costs."

--The Saturday Blade, Chicago, March 27, 1920, page 1.

Plenty of "Kick" in Grocer's Brew; Still Blows Up and Wrecks Store

1920--

NEW YORK, N.Y., May 20. -- The plate glass windows of a grocery store in South Brooklyn were blown out a moment after Policeman Francis Smith had passed the building at 2 a.m. By the time Smith and Policeman McMahon had climbed through the jagged aperture and made their way through the store's tumbled heaps of cans and green goods, scores of residents of the neighborhood were pouring into the street.

In a back room of the grocery were found two stunned men, who later at the police station, where they are held for the Federal authorities, described themselves as Dario Santeveshl, 35, proprietor of the grocery, and Tony Petitschi, 49, the grocery man's friend.

The police say the explosion was of a home-made still. Apparently a milk can filled with "mash" had been put to boil on a gas stove. From the top there had been a spiral copper pipe running to a barrel. The lid of the milk can was clamped down so tightly that the steam supposed to condense in the pipe, and run into the barrel as "hootch," blew up. There was little left of the can and windows in several other buildings in the neighborhood were broken. The residents for a time attributed the explosion to a "blackhand" bomb.

According to the police, they found near the wrecked apparatus a forty-gallon barrel of wine and a three-gallon jug of alcohol. The two prisoners suffered only from shock.

--The Saturday Blade, Chicago, May 22, 1920, page 4.

Prohibition Discussed - Public Must Regard Alcohol as Evil

Atlanta, Georgia, 1906
----------
THE SOCIOLOGICAL SOCIETY.

Prohibition Discussed -- Public Must Be Taught to Regard Alcohol as Evil.

The Atlanta Sociological Society held an interesting meeting last night in the Carnegie library, having for discussion the subject of prohibition.

Interesting talks were made by Dr. R. R. Kime, Dr. Charles E. Dowman, Dr. E. C. Cartledge, Dr. R. J. Parks, J. D. Cleaton and others.

The process of thorough education, demonstrating to the public at large through this process the utter evil of alcohol in all forms, was advocated as the best method to be pursued.

The unanimous sentiment of the meeting was that prohibition, if effectual, was heartily to be desired, and to make prohibition effectual and possible, the public must be educated up to the point where they will look upon whisky and alcohol in all forms at all times and for all purposes of utmost evil, and nothing else.

--The Atlanta Constitution, Atlanta, Georgia, November 9, 1906, page 6.

Love, Booze, Temper, Murder

----------
ANOTHER MURDER.

Again Love and Booze and Temper End In Murder—Inquest Held on Saturday.

John Miller, a Slav, was shot and killed during a quarrel at the tipple at Sample Run, near Sample Run schoolhouse. It is the old story of jealousy, maddened by fiery liquor. Miller, it is alleged, was to have been married two weeks ago, but after his sweetheart, Lizzie Telli,[*] had danced with one Pete Horwath she would not live up to her promise, and Miller accused Horwath of meddling and made dire threats of what he would do.

Both men went to Clymer Saturday and both indulged in that which maddens the brain of a sane man, and it is alleged that Miller threatened death to Horwath, who took the precaution to secure a revolver before starting home in the evening.

About 8 o'clock in the evening the men met at Sample Run tipple, where, according to Horwath's testimony, Steve Honesky hit him over the head with some weapon, knocking him down, and as he lay he shot at Honesky, who ran, and then at Miller, who fell. Horwath went to his boarding house and told them he had shot Miller because he was attacked and then went to the office of Squire France to give himself up and prefer charges for assault and battery against Honesky and was met by the latter, who had preceded him to the squire's office to prefer charges against Horwath for the murder of Miller.

Honesky said it was one John Urchuk who struck Horwath. All three men were arrested.

Dr. Ney Prothero, who attended to Pete Horwath's injuries, Oliver Householder, Earl Fleming and Joe Kauffman drove to the scene of accident, and each walking on separate tracks at Sample Run tipple with lanterns Dr. Prothero discovered Miller's body beside track lying on his face and a bullet having entered left chest. The man was still warm but life extinct. The men carefully placed the body in schoolhouse for night and Coroner Gates was notified and at 9 o'clock Saturday morning held an inquest, the jury consisting of Howard Smith, Oliver Householder, Ezra Helman, John Byron, William Laud and Lew Helman.

The jury rendered a verdict as follows: "John Miller came to his death from a gun shot wound, said gun fired by Pete Horwath."

The deceased and accused had been the best of friends and worked in same room in Sample Run mines. But a week ago, September 7, they had words over the girl named Lizzie Tilli, whom Miller intended to marry, but she turned him down for Peter Horwath. Miller had not touched liquor for two years until this time and he started drinking and claimed he and Pete must fight it out for the girl, and the Saturday following he or Pete would marry the girl, depending on who survived.

Miller was dead Saturday, September 14, the girl fled to Barnesboro two days previous and Peter Horwath, Steve Honesky and John Urchuk all lodged in Indiana jail to await the decision of the December court.

--The Indiana Weekly Messenger, Indiana, Pennsylvania, September 18, 1907, page 1.

[*] Lizzie's last name is spelled two different ways, Tilli and Telli. A couple other papers from the region only have Telli. But in one, the Indiana County Gazette, Indiana, Pennsylvania, 9-18-1907, Honesky is Honskey and Horwath is Horbat . And I'm not going to sort that all out!