"LOTS OF CHAPS LIKE HIM"

Ashburton Guardian, Volume VII, Issue 1706, 8 November 1887, Page 2

"LOTS OF CHAPS LIKE HIM"

The following ia cv led from a series cf artiolea which recently appeared m the, columns of the " Melbourne Telegraph " : — The next caae eoaroely comes within the oateg >ry of a peraonal interview, for. though It contains the opinion of the victim, ha mangled body was some time 1 since consigned to a dishonored grave. The late X was employed m a large establishment ia Melbourne, his dutljs wth important, and be could not be absent from his work for more than a few minutes. A publlo-houßß stood conveniently and, for him, fatally near. Many times daring the day he was In the habit of slipping out quietly, taking a hurried plat of beer, and then hastening' V>aok to hie work. This, though im* por'ant, had, from long experience, become meohanlcd, and he could always, manage to do his work. But though colonial beer was powerless to destroy the hand, the sof'enlng brain oonld not resist its destruotiva influence One night he wandered out m that abstracted, muddied way which was peculiar to him when not actually engaged at hla work, ■ and uuxfc morning his mutilated body was . discovered upon a suburban railway line. He had b*en run over by a passing train, but whether his death was accidental or a suicide m the " horrors " will never, be known The coroner's jury charitably brought m a verdict of acoldenfc. This weak unfortunate wretch's opinion of local option may be inferred from what one of his fellow-employees told the re* porter. " We all knew that he tued to drink, but we never expected that thlg would ba thH shocking end of him, Ju»t before he was killed he was unwell, and had to go to a doctor, and as he had had a fit, and was very shaky, he asked me to go with him. Of course I went, The interview was a very short one, The doctor pre« sclbed for him, bnt eald meaningly to ■ hi as ; * <hla medicine will only help you; It will not cure yon. Give up beer, or your days ara numbered,' When wo got outßlde I had a long and serious chat with him about what tha doctor said, and spoke encouragingly to him of how the medicine would help him to knock off liquoring. " ' It's no use, old chap, 1 said he, ' unless the medicine will shut tha door of the— —hotel against me. If the place were only half a mile away from 'the shop* I could pull through, bnf as it ii I'm afraid the doctor is right, and I am & sonar, I don't know whether I am diff rent from other chaps, but the temptation comes on me every now and again awfully strong, but passes away very goon if I am on a jjb that I csu'fc le*ve. If there weren't so many pabs, *nd I couldn't get Ifquor within ten minutes of the oraving coming on me, I <hould be all right. It's the easy convenience of getting it that won't give me 4 chanoe. The door of the— —ls open to me day and night, and of oourso they'll etve me on Sundays, booauae they know me as a regular customer. T wish they'd pasß a strong Local Option Apt, and at anyrate give a chap a show by putting lass temptation m his reaoh. Well, I suppose it cin't be helped, and the dootor's right : the medicine can't cure mo, because I oan't help myself. I'm a goner.' ' " You see, sir, he harped on that ; and that's why I'm half-Inclined tp think tjjat bis death wasn't accidental. He believed that if the temptatiou wasn't all arou.n.4 dlai, pubs at the corner of every street, and two or three between, he coqid have o bucked it up ; and I believe so, too. I can take my glass, or leave it alone— he couldn't. 1 know lota of chaps like him." Simple, pregnant sentence, uttered carelessly by a moderate drinker J Tha. epitaph upon his dead frleud au evidence, m favor of local option— he knew lots of ohapa like htm ! . ■ , .