Star Tribune from Minneapolis, Minnesota • Page 67

I'll 111 citemf kilf T' I lAk rt 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 ii ii 1 1 i 1 )i A til I Ill mi! i I lwo-bun Murphy, MHillHifc, Narcotic Squad A This liWJ" lf 1 11 DRUG RAVAGES I Above Are Five C) 111. JWmW wnWimfm IVlUICi Ul 1116 Same Woman, Laura Reed, Taken by Police of Jacksonville, Detroit, St. Louis, Cleveland and Boston. Note the Successive Inroads of Addiction Into Her Appearance-Minute But Notice-able Transformations Caused by Drugs. iioiis each time, needless I shudder to think to say, for the worse.

If women are beautiful when they begin wnai ausura ana violent things I mifcht have done with liquor in me when more phleffmatic men "run wild" after a few drinks Many of the stage, screen and nijrht-club II I I 1 ill rna 1 "Keep ill. llj I Wfl HI fl VWWWWWW LOVELY ADDICT This Picture of Miss Rahnghild Wendt Wriedy, know, a "rod" is a 1 IUIUlM I DM HOT 7 fllff rffff, il vYi luminaries that I call my friends were met in the course of my duties; I liked them because they had elements of Who Hinted to Murphy That 5he Was the Daughter of Danish Nobleman, Was Taken Several Years Before Dope Had Destroyed Her Beauty. pistol or a y' weapon using shot and powder. Mr. Quirk wanted to save me froir.

possible arrest as a violator of the picturesque about them, and perhaps they the bulhvan Law banning concealed arms. I call that being a good scout. were attracted to me for the sane reason. Some of them I tried to aid in their difficulties, where these came within the scope of my knowledge and faculties. On the other hand I cultivated the acquaintanceship of a good many people ui ui ugo tiicjf do not retain their beauty long.

In the closing; days of my narcotic agent' activities I came in contact with a womaa who had many; names but whose correct one, I believe, was Rahnghild Wendt Wriedy. She had1 been expelled from the State! of Massachusetts by the judge who tried her case1 when she was brought before him for the third or fourth offense. Drawn, haggard, pasty-faced and completely-unlovely, this girl showed me. a picture of herself taken in1 her prime. I could hardly believe it to be the same person.

It appears on this page; and it contains evidence for a skilled observer! that, even at the time it was' taken the girl had fallen into' the fatal whirlpool. Note' the wide, staring eyes and compressed lips. -She told, me that she was-the daughter of a Danish' nobleman. That I wasn'tj able to verify, but it well be true. Before this the'l puff-adder of cocaine his I had never I III I It I her before, but.

he I fi jN was ttrikingly beau- MB 1 1 Jj of tome orl, which jl f' IT i M1MWW become sufficiently aroused to demand an accounting. I am filled with pessimism during my career for the purpose of getting information and contacts that would be valuable to me in my work. I did not attend wild parties or liquor debauches. Anyone who knows me will testify to that. Incidentally, I never knew an agent who drank heavily and stayed more than a short time in the service.

The habit when I think of the scores of talented and famous people whose lives have been wrecked by the demon flower. At many points in my career I met people who might have achieved almost anything in their arts and profes CUM- -LoaJao I 1 laid him open too vulnerably to his enemies and enemies always accumu late for a man who engages in the suppression of vice and crime. However, some of my associations with But I could go on forever recounting such incidents. I promised to outline this week a simple plan for fighting the dope traffic. If the bitiinest of enforcement were handed over to me with carle blanche to proceed at I taw fit, my first more, would be a thorough reorganise-' lion of the ttjuad.

Vd call a national narcotic conference, to which only men of high ttanding in the community, of unimpeachable reputation, would be invited. Vd have doctor lawyer big business men, with, perhaps, a sprinkling of broad-visioned and progressive clergymen. The professional reformers, the professional police chiefs and narcotic agents would be banned not because these people may not serve useful purpose in the community, but simply because I believe the drug evil could best be combated by men of the type I have mentioned. From the assemblage of public-spirited volunteers at my convention I'd have elected a board of five or six men who would have charge of the whole enforcement program. There'd be one physician, one lawyer, one business man and so on.

Once the peril to the nation of continued drug smuggling and use was presented to, these men, I'm sure they'd be only too glad to offer their services. Justice for lliph and Low Would Work Wonders This committee would choose its own enforcement officers, who would be ordered to proceed peremptorily against drug venders, high and low alike. A new law would be passed, making the shipments of morphine-ester and other disguised drugs the subject of sharp scrutiny at eyery port. If these products are industrially necessary, they should only be consigned to manufacturers of unquestioned integrity and standing. The committee would wipe out another enforcement block- the "compromises' by which convicted violator! are able to settle a $5,000 fine 6n payment of several hundred dollars.

Of course, America will never be completely free of the 'drug evil without the co-operation of the nations which permit the legal growth and export of opium. China and India must fall into Tine the clean-up must be an international one. Although the international opium conference of 1924 accomplished something in spite of petty disagreements and friction among the delegates there must be others whose councils will proceed more drastically before we can be justified in hoping for any real lifting of the curse. The mere fact that forty-one nations should recognize in concert the seriousness of the problem is, however, a good sign. I do not believe that America is internationally blind to the monster dope traffic that is being carried on within her borders and over them.

It ia merely that the public as a whole has not sions but who were cut oJf forever from going forward and from peaceful old age by addiction to drugs. Julia Bruns, Olive Thomas, Wallace Reid, Juanita Hansen, Alma Rubens the list could go on almost through the space to be filled by the remaining installments of my story. In my entire career I know of only one fairly well authenticated instance of a cure Julia Bruns, whom I knew ifi the days when she seemed hopelessly shackled to her vice and afterwards when, by an effort of will that staggers the imagination, she threw off the yoke. Julia, however, did not escape the price of her years of addiction. Her body, accustomed to drugs, rebelled and collapsed when they were withdrawn; the woman who had been the toast of three continents died not very long after the cure.

Even the brief respite from drujjs which Julia enjoyed in the closing days of her life is rare enough. More frequently the steel vise closes with relentless determination, shutting out every quality in the victim's makeup that is worth while. One of the most curious phenomena in connection with the use of heroin and morphine is the effect of the drugs upon the physical appearance of the addict. There have been several instances where the drug fiend, under different aliases, has been photographed by the police of many cities, yet the only identification was by means of the thumb-prints. The face had changed completely.

On this page you will find the amazing rogues gallery record of Laura Reed. This woman was arrested in five States for drug using. Each time she gave another name and her photographs led police to believe they had the pictures of five different women. Apparently the use of drugs caused the' unfortunate woman's countenance to undergo a series of transforma- poisoned noble blood. I was continually running into people, drug; debased, ragged, apparently stemming from the scum of society, who turned out to be sons, daujrM ters, nephews and nieces of wealthy and distinguished men.

Blue blood and dope mix badly in very few years every vestige of former culture and refinement will have vanished if the' use of drugs is persisted in. And where wealth and family is concerned every effort is usually made to conceal the shame of the addicted relative, instead of openly seeking treatment for him. As a rule it is actually thought preferable, it seems, to leave the poor slave to his own devices rather than risk the notoriety of print and gossip. The cure might fail, the addict might not be helped, but at least the thing would be brought out into the open. There is too much secrecy about the extent of the dope trade in all strata of society, high and low.

I'd like to see the dope sewers cleaned out, the whole appalling question; brought out into the sun. That way lies the only, hope of correction. Next week I shall attempt to explode the "glamor" bubble that has grown up, in the pop-; ular mind, around dope dens and the gaudy dreams of the addict. I shall describe some of the actual dope dens that I have visited. I shall, paint a true picture of what the sensations of drug users are.

In addition I shall recount one of the most dangerous missions upon which I was ever engaged: the sensational clean-up in Cincinnati's Black Belt. The famous "Ace in the Hole case in Buffalo will be described, and I shall tell of my strange meeting with Kitty Gilhooley, the dope queen who presided over an international smuggling syndicate for several years. (To Be Continued) celebrities resulted in interesting and often amusing episodes. There was a time when I was keeping watch over a number of New York night clubs where dope users and peddlers might congregate. I dropped in at others to watch certain people who were under the eye of headquarters.

One night, in one of these places, Harry K. Thaw, who has been more or less in the public prints ever since his conviction for the Stanford White shooting years ago and subsequent release, arrived with several friends. A hostess asked me if I'd like to meet him. I said I would. Thaw and I chatted pleasantly that evening and after that he put himself out to be nice to me.

In a way, I grew to like him; he seemed to me a harmless, if misguided, man. In another club we both happened to be attending, later on, Thaw asked me who a lovely girl sitting at another table was. It happened that I knew her, through mutual friends in Washington, D. C. She was Fawn Gray, later to become well known as a motion picture actress as one of Thaw's protegees.

I was the chance fate's instrument who introduced him to her. He sent her to Hollywood. An amusing thing occurred when I met James R. Quirk, the famous editor of Photoplay Magazine. It was in a restaurant just off Broadway and I was introduced to him simply as "Two-Gun" He must have thought me a notorious gangster instead of a United States officer, for a little later when two policemen en tcred the place, he whispered 'There's the dicks, Two-Gun You look like 4.