Young Bride in Jail Warns Girls of Drug

1915

Tells of Ended Romance and Fight Against Morphine

And so, this story of the tragic ending of a happy romance and a forlorn fight against the use of drugs, is a story with a moral.

LOS ANGELES, Cal., Dec. 16. — A little wanderer in the gray land of drugs tossed and turned on a cot in a cell at the matron's department of the city jail.

"Never take the first dose," she sobbed. "It's grip is terrible."

She was Mrs. James Dellarocca, 19 years old, and a bride of but three months.

In a separate cell on the floor below was her husband, facing a charge of forgery.

But even in the torment of her soul, that "little wanderer" sobbed that her next fight against the use of morphine would be a successful one, and with tears rolling down her cheeks told the story of her life in the clutches of drug habit.

How She Started

"When did I start?" she sobbed. "Oh, that is the worst part of the story. It was a woman who started me — a woman who said she was my friend. That was about four months ago. I knew that she was 'queer' — that is, she was a drug user.

"One day I was very sick. I had been ill for several weeks. I was suffering terribly. Then this woman came to me and told me she could relieve my suffering. I knew what she meant and I refused.

"She kept right after me. I was in agony. She said I could take it once and then not again. Finally I gave in. The pain was numbed.

"Oh, it's the same old story from then on. I could not stop.

"I was compelled to increase the dose every day. Inside of a few weeks I was taking a grain and a half.

She Meets Jimmy

"Then I met Jimmy" — Dellarocca — "it was love at first sight. I loved him. He asked me to marry him. I was foolish and told him yes. He did not know I was taking morphine. I decided it was best to tell him before we were married and I did so — two days before.

"I remember he put his arm around me and said, 'Never mind, little girl, you and I will fight it out together, you'll be all right in a little while.'

"We were married and we started to fight. We begun saving our money so that I could be cured. I could not stop, tho. I would take a little each day. But we fought hard and we smiled as we fought, because we were going to win.

"Then his business went broke. Our money went fast. He could not bear to see me in agony without morphine. He would buy it altho it hurt him to do it and give it to me.

"I became worse. The fight seemed hopeless. I was taking 2 grains three or four times a day. Then we were arrested.

"I am glad I have been arrested. I will have another chance to fight morphine. They tell me I can be cured and I am going to try, oh, so hard, for Jimmy's sake and my sake.

"Oh, tell girls never to touch drugs. Tell them to run from it. Tell them to stop their ears every time it is mentioned. Please do, 'cause it may do some good."

The "little wanderer" declared that her husband was innocent of the charge of the forgery of counter signatures to nine $100 checks.

"I will stay by him until the end," she sobbed as she turned her face to the wall.

Girl Twice Bade Suitor 'Shoot' in Suicide Pact

1915

Town Gossip is Blamed for Maryland Tragedy

The town gossiped about them. The story spread and the morsel of scandal was rolled 'neath many tongues. So they made a pact. They went out into the woods, kissed each other good-by and then there were shots. So much for gossip.

CRISFIELD, Md., Dec. 16. — Dying as the result of two bullet wounds in her lung, Miss Hilda Sterling told painfully but graphically of the part she played in a suicide pact. Her partner in the tragedy, C. Clifford Reese, a druggist of this city, was buried the other day. His widow is in a critical condition as the result of shock.

The coroner's jury rendered a verdict of death as the result of a gunshot wound, self-inflicted, and made an ineffectual effort to suppress three letters, two of which Reese had written before his death. One was written to Reese by Miss Sterling, who had been in his employ. In it she said that because of gossip she no longer would come to the store, tho she could speak to him on the street and still be friendly.

The Suicide Pact

The other notes were written by Reese and professed true love for Miss Sterling. They announced the purpose of the pair to commit suicide on account of the town gossip.

Miss Sterling told of their decision to commit suicide. She said they secured a blanket and went to a woods in an isolated part of the county. After wrapping up in the blanket together each took six grains of morphine, which Reese had brought, and lay down to die together. They went to sleep, expecting never to awaken, but both recovered, chilled and dazed.

Reese then drew a pistol and asked the girl if he should shoot. Upon her replying in the affirmative, he pulled the trigger; but the pistol refused to work. He then declared he would go to Crisfield and get a pistol that would shoot.

Kiss Each Other Good-by

After he had gone she decided to leave the woods, but found she was too weak and dazed to move. Upon Reese's return they talked for a little while and then agreed to complete the pact.

After kissing each other good-by, Miss Sterling sat upon the ground. "Shoot, Clifford, shoot!" she begged. He fired three shots into her body, of which two pierced her lungs. He then shot himself in the chest and this not proving fatal, put the pistol into his mouth and fired.

The two lay there for several hours. Finally the girl recovered sufficient strength to crawl to his lifeless body. She wrapped the blanket about the corpse, brushed leaves up over the lower part of his body and placed her own coat upon it.

She fell across his body unconscious, but regaining a little strength, crawled to the side of the road where she was afterward found numbed with cold and dying.

Ether — Latest Vice in France

1910

Paris. — Compared to the new vice which has broken out in France, that of taking ether, drinking absinthe and injecting morphine are virtues. This most modern vice has already assumed abnormal proportions, probably because the sale of ether is free.

Consumers of ether begin by breathing its vapor. Soon this pleasing effect wears off, then they drink it, The consumption of ether is not confined to any special class of society. It is asserted that 40 per cent of the poorer classes who go to the dispensary of the prefect of police are ether fiends.

Physicians say that a pint and three-quarters is as much as anyone can safely take in a day. However, druggists say that they have customers who use about four times that amount.


Drink Scourge in France

What the French call "alcoholisme" has grown to be a dreadful scourge, and a direful portent for the future of the people. In some parts of France the very medical men must be consulted early in the day if they are to be found sober. — Church Quarterly Review.


"Thank God" for Faults!

Thank God we do not live with saints! We live with people full of faults, and it is excellent, for the faults of others serve us either by imposing a salutary constraint or by the lesson that they give. — Paris Figaro.

May Prosecute Itinerant Drug Dispenser

1914

Broadly speaking, no one who is not a registered pharmacist may sell drugs legally.

Under this provision of the code officers may prosecute the traveling man who is reported to be visiting this city twice a week to sell preparations containing morphine, cocaine or other habit-forming drugs to young men and boys, unless he is a registered pharmacist.

When poisons are sold they must be labeled.

Officers are doing all in their power to check the sale of various preparations called "snow" by the drug victims. Appeals of mothers whose boys are becoming physical wrecks have been made and it is the determination of all the officers to enforce strictly all laws, whether state or interstate, which prohibit the sale of opium, morphine and cocaine.

Many Hideous Wrecks

Police officers and other observant persons give graphic descriptions of the suffering of drug fiends. Many boys and young men are but shadows of their former selves, their bodies are covered with sores where the hypodermic needle has been injected, and they are losing their mental, moral and physical stamina. In many instances the needle wounds have become infected, but this fact does not deter the victims from injecting the morphine or cocaine into other parts of the body.

The craving for strong drink is nothing compared with the craving for drugs after the habit has once been formed, and the chances for cure are very slight.

Because of these deplorable facts — because of the widespread and growing use of drugs — the public is aroused. The people demand the strict enforcement of all present laws and, if they be inadequate, the passage of new provisions which will increase the difficulty of young men to procure the "snow."

—Waterloo Evening Courier, Waterloo, Iowa, Jan. 16, 1914, p. 3.

Doctors Who Die Early

1906

The Principal Cause Is Said to Be Excessive Nervous Expenditure in Practice

The diseases which claim the most victims among physicians relatively to all males are gout and diabetes, and there is a high relative mortality from diseases of the nervous system, circulatory system and kidneys, says American Medicine.

From the nature of his habits the physician is not subject to accidents, and, though he is brought into contact with infection to a greater extent than other men, his preventive means are successful and his mortality from infection is very low. Freedom from prolonged muscular strains and high blood tension apparently saves him from arteriosclerosis, but suicide claims many, and so do the drug habits acquired by the nervously exhausted. It has been said that three-fourths of French morphine users are physicians.

The cause of the physician's early death is evidently the excessive nervous expenditure, insufficient rest and defective nutrition, inseparable from his calling, with its broken and restricted sleep, irregular hours of work, rest and meals, the worry when lives depend upon his judgment and the lack of a day of complete relaxation in each week. The physician who sees his patients every day in the week month after month and cannot learn to forget them when he goes home, merely burns the candle at both ends. He violates the law obeyed by every other animal, that there shall be short periods of moderate exertion interrupted by longer periods of rest when repairs are made. It is not too much work as a rule, but scattered work which prevents rest.

Morphiomania – An Addiction, Must Have Morphine or Opium

1878

Morphiomania

Morphiomania has become a great scourge in Berlin since the introduction of opium injections as a relief from bodily suffering and sleeplessness.

Tradespeople, merchants, judges, barristers, soldiers, students, doctors and clergymen become the victims of the habit, and when the medical attendants are called in it is too late to counteract the evil.

At first, these subcutaneous injections offer the quickest and easiest means to allay pain and bring rest to the sufferer. But to prove effectual in its cure, the treatment must be continued for a certain time; and during that period the patient becomes so accustomed to these skin injections that they become indispensable. When the medical practitioner refuses to increase the doses, the patient unable to sleep or rest without the calming injection, procures the necessary instruments and applies the remedy himself.

Sometimes, also, even after the patient has been cured without any undue doses, and when he should dispense with the opium injections, he delays doing so under the plea that they make sleep and rest so well. In fact, when once these subcutaneous injections have begun, they can rarely be left off. Like drink, the appetite for them increases until chronic drunkenness ensues.

Two Despondent Men Attempt Suicide: Laudanum, Morphine, Noose

Atlanta, 1896

BOTH WANTED DEATH

Two Despondent Men Attempt Suicide in Two Ways.

LAUDANUM, MORPHINE, NOOSE

One in a Wagon Yard, the Other in a Shed.

WILL SIMPSON TOOK DRUG POISON

He Was Found with a large Quantity of Drugs In His Stomach, but Was Saved.

The suicide mania was abroad in the city yesterday. Two citizens were seized with the desire to end their existence. Both tried the usual methods of suicides.

One of the desperate men attempted to hang himself in a deserted shed. He was found and cut down just in time to save his life. His neck bears the imprint of the improvised noose, and it also has a decided crick in it.

The other unfortunate decided on the laudanum and morphine route to the other world and he swallowed enough poison to kill several men. He was found in a wagon yard and hauled to the hospital just as the poisonous drugs were taking effect. Before the doctors could pump out the man he was nearer to death than is usual in cases when would-be suicides are saved. His was given up as a hopeless case, but at the last moment the man was saved. He is very sick now.

The poison patient was picked up by some farmers in Morris's wagon yard, on Decatur street, adjoining the police station. He had taken an ounce of laudanum and three grains of morphine in his desperate effort to kill himself. The discoverers of the man called in the police and it was found that the sick man, Will Simpson, a bartender, who works for J. G. Sprayberry, on Decatur street, was in a very bad way. He was getting worse rapidly, and but for the prompt action in sending for the ambulance and hauling the man to the hospital he would have died in the yard.

Simpson lay between life and death at the hospital nearly all day. The physicians and surgeons in charge devoted several hours applying the restoratives in such cases, and after hard work they were rewarded by seeing the sick man begin to revive. He improved slowly, and late in the afternoon was on the road to recovery. Last night the physicians said that he would recover. Officers Shepard, Walton and Abbott took charge of the man when he was found, and they sent him to the hospital. He declined to tell why he had swallowed the drugs. When told that he might die he said that he had nothing to say beforehand.

Hanging In a Shed.

The would be suicide who attempted to hang himself is not known. His name was not taken at the Grady hospital. It is not the custom of the officials there to take the names of patients who attempt to kill themselves. The man is a negro. He was found in an old shed on a lot on Liberty street, near the old barracks in the western part of the city. He tied a cloth about his neck for a rope and jumped off into space with the other end of the noose fastened to a rafter above. When cut down the darky was breathing hard and was in a dangerous fix, but he was brought round all right.

—The Atlanta Constitution, Atlanta, March 16, 1896, page 9.

Live To Face Shame

Couple Tried To Dodge Disgrace By Suicide In Kansas City.

Kansas City, Aug. 17.-Overcome by remorse on account of the disgrace they had brought upon their families, Mrs. Nora Bradley and Charles Dunbar, both of New Albany, Ind., attempted to commit suicide by taking morphine, in their rooms at 903 Troost avenue, yesterday. They were discovered before the drug had done its deadly work, and by prompt and hard work Dr. Snider and Dr. Bell, assistant police surgeons, saved their lives. Mrs. Bradley is now at St. Joseph's hospital. Both are convalescent, and with a few days' quiet will be able to leave for home, where they expect to go.

About 4 o'clock yesterday afternoon E. Pofenberg, proprietor of the apartment house at 903 Troost avenue heard groans and heavy breathing coming from the room occupied by Dunbar and Mrs. Bradley. Looking over the transom he saw the man, and woman lying on the bed in an unconscious condition. He immediately summoned aid and the police ambulance was sent for. Both were so near death that the physicians were in great doubt about saving the life of either. It was nearly 10 o'clock before they showed signs of improvement.

Until a few weeks ago Dunbar was a druggist in New Albany. He is married and is the father of three children. Mrs. Bradley is the daughter of D. W. Carpenter, a manufacturer of the same place. She is married, too, and has two children. Dunbar and Mrs. Bradley became infatuated with each other and finally left together. They went to Omaha, where they remained two weeks and then came to Kansas City. They engaged rooms first at 903 Troost avenue as man and wife, and remained there until the national convention, when Dunbar went to work for Gus Lund, a druggist at 635 Minnesota avenue, Kansas City, Kan., and lived across the state line. Recently he found employment with C. A. McCampbell at Sixth street and Minnesota avenue. They returned to live at the Troost avenue house about a month ago.

A reporter called at the city hospital this morning and talked to Dunbar. He is a slender man with dark eyes and hair and a sharp, protruding chin. He discussed the attempted suicide freely. "Some persons," he said, "advance the theory that a man is crazy who attempts suicide. This is not true, at least in my case. I was just as sane when I took that morphine as you are now or any man of your acquaintance. I am also positive that the same applies to Mrs. Bradley. It was simply a case of having made up our minds that nothing except death would relieve the terrible remorse we felt."

"Who first suggested that you end your lives?" he was asked.

"She did," he answered. "It was her idea several weeks ago. Ever since she first suggested it, it seemed to be the one thought uppermost in her mind. I did all I could to dissuade her. I argued that everything would come out all right in some way, but it was of no use.

"Finally I gave in last Monday. We had only $2 left. I went out to a drug store and bought a sixty-grain bottle of morphine. In the meantime we had made all of our preparations for death. That is, we had written all our letters. I took the morphine to the house and dissolved it in water. This solution I divided in two equal parts -- almost to the drop. It was 1 o'clock Tuesday morning when I prepared the poison. I also brought back with me a bottle of chloroform. We each drank his portion of the morphine solution. We saturated handkerchiefs with the chloroform and she placed hers over her face as she lay on the bed beside me. I intended to do the same, but don't remember whether I did so or not. We lay there for, it seemed like an eternity before the morphine began to take effect. Anyhow, it must have been two hours. Then the light faded."

"Why did you select morphine?"

"It was all left to me. I selected morphine because I thought it would be sure and blissful."

"Didn't you think of shooting?"

"I had a revolver, but to end it all that way never occurred to me. It would have been too harsh."

"Are you glad you didn't succeed?"

"Yes, I am. I have had all I want of that. I expect to go home so soon as I am able to travel and hope to receive forgiveness there."

"How much money did you have when you left New Albany?"

"Exactly $110. They said back there that we took $1,000 with us, but that's not true."

The reporter then visited St. Joseph's hospital to see Mrs. Bradley. She is good looking with light hair and blue eyes. She is still too weak to talk much although the physicians say she is out of danger.

She was asked who first suggested the "double suicide."

"I don't know," she answered wearily, "we had been talking it over for some time. After we had decided to die together I left the means of dying to him. He selected morphine. We drank it Tuesday morning at 1 o'clock and I put the handkerchief saturated with chloroform over my face and supposed he did the same."

"Are you glad your life was saved?"

"Oh, so glad," she replied, her face brightening, with a smile. "I'll never try it again. I'll bear my cross hereafter, however heavy it happens to be. Mother has been telegraphed for and she will be here tomorrow. I'll know then what it is best for me to do."

Having determined to die Dunbar and Mrs. Bradley wrote numerous letters. Dunbar recited that he was a member of the Elks, Masons, and Knights of Pythias and requested these organizations to take charge of the funeral. Mrs. Bradley's letters were to Miss Poffenburg and simply gave directions as what should be done when she was found dead. Dunbar's letters follow:

Exalted Ruler, K.C. Lodge:

Dear Brother-I want to ask a favor of you. Will you please wire the parties named below of my death; also of that of Mrs. Bradley, as found on another paper.

We deserted our families about six weeks ago; has been nothing but suffering since the time we left, and to think or know we could never return or right the wrong to our loved ones at home we think it justice to them that we should die. C. DUNBAR.

Dear Brother - I may have been expelled from Lodge of Elks, but you will find my card. I also have been member of Jefferson lodge of Masons No. 104, New Albany; and Ivanhoe lodge, Knights of Pythias, in good standing when I left home.

I ask you to help and assist my wife and children toward having an undertaker to take charge of my body and ship home without the expense of having someone come here.

Please wire George Steinhauer, New Albany lodge 270. Have him confer with Masons and Knights of Pythias to have the lodge to guarantee undertaker bill here; if not the lodge have as individuals to do so, to take the worry off my wife until she gets insurance money. Please telephone Mr. C. A. McCampbell, Sixth and Minnesota avenue, Kansas City, Kan., as he is a Knight of Pythias, and I have worked for him. The undertaker bill will be paid, but wish to take the worry from her at present. If you can possibly make arrangements, Mr. Carpenter will pay for Mrs. Bradley, his daughter.

Wire Dr. C. P. Cook, East Spring street, New Albany, Ind., of my death, and have him tell my wife. C. DUNBAR.

The letters left by Mrs. Bradley were as follows:

To Miss Nellie Poffenberg - Nellie: If you all think best in the morning, put my black skirt and shirt waist on me; If not, leave me as I am until you hear from my mother. Give all my love. Good-by.

Nellie, please send my father this telegram first thing in morning: "New Albany, Ind., Mr. D. W. Carpenter - "Nora is dead. 903 Troost avenue." When clothes are sent for, send everything, both Charlie's and mine, and oblige your loving friend, Nora.

Use this money for telegrams and express package.

Please wire D. W. Carpenter, East Third street, New Albany, Ind.:" "Nora is dead." Wire to guarantee undertaker's bill. Will send remains. Please have exalted ruler of Elks to send message.

Dear Nellie (the daughter of Mrs: Poffenberg, landlady at 903 Troost avenue); I did not have the money to pay this week's rent, but have sent home for it. My mother will send it to you, and you please express my things to her. You will find them already packed. She will write you where to send them. Yours lovingly, FRIEND NORA.

Dunbar and Mrs. Bradley eloped from New Albany, June 26. Both were members of good families, and their elopement caused a big sensation. Their names were constantly linked together and several months ago Mr. Bradley attacked Dunbar with a revolver, but his aim was bad.

--Dubuque Daily Herald, Dubuque, Iowa, August 18, 1900, page 4.

Comment: Poffenberg is spelled three different ways in the original article.



TRIED TO KILL THEMSELVES.

Kansas City, Mo., Aug. 15.-Charles Dunbar, a druggist, thirty-five years of age, and Mrs. Nora Bradley, thirty years of age, both well known in New Albany, Ind. were yesterday found in an unconscious condition in a lodging house in this city, as a result of each having taken thirty grains of morphine with suicidal intent. Dunbar, who has a wife and four children in New Albany, is said to have eloped on June 26 with Mrs. Bradley, who is the mother of two children and wife of a prominent citizen of New Albany. They went from New Albany to Omaha, where they remained until the first of July, when they came here. Dunbar secured a position in a drugstore, where he worked but a short time. Later he was employed as a cigar salesman, but he did not succeed at that, and soon found himself without employment or money. In despair he and Mrs. Bradley decided to end their lives, but they were discovered in time and will recover.

A lengthy letter was found in their room. It contained a detailed statement of how and where Dunbar wanted to he buried and a request that a message be sent to Rev. C. P. Cook at New Albany, Ind., asking him to tell his (Dunbar's) wife of his death. The letter also contained this startling sentence:

"We have taken poison because of the wrong done to our loved ones."

--The Fort Wayne Sentinel, Fort Wayne, Indiana, August 15, 1900, page 25.