Hair-Raising Confessions Of Confirmed Drug Addict

Radio Record, Volume XII, Issue 33, 27 January 1939, Page 12

Hair-Raising Confessions Of Confirmed Drug Addict

Miserable Life of Dope And Crime Revealed By Former "Fiend"

OT since ‘*Asylum,"’ William Seabrook’s epic of the D.T.’s, have I read anything to equal, in its own seamy way, ‘Shot Full — The Autobiography of a Drug Addict,’’ by Francis Chester. The author — ‘‘that rare specimen, the reformed dope-fiend’’-led for over twenty years a life of erime and vice, originating in what appeared at the time a perfectly harmless "taste" at a cocaine orgy. "t was invited to take part in a ‘snow party" 1 was overwhelmed with the curiosity of youth (‘PI try anything .::ce,’ I thought), quite ignorant that I} was playing with the fiercest fire that can devour flesh and blood." Mr. Chester’s subsequent revelations startle you one minute, sicken you the next. He makes no at-

tempt to gloss over anything. The language he employs in telling his appalling story is mostly in the underworld vernacular of America and England, in both of which countries he pursued his drugsodden and lawless way, until at long last he not only conquered his vice, but, joining forces at Home with Scotland Yard, was largely responsible for cleaning up the drug traffic in Liverpool, and London’s Chinatown. Short Of Murder Like all drug addicts, Mr. Chester stopped at little short of murder in his frenzied attempts to obtain money with which to keep himself steadily "shot full." He was not a "one dope’ man; he used any narcotic he could getopium, cocaine, heroin-anything. There is only one thing more pitiful than a confirmed drug-taker, and that is a drug-taker deprived of his dope. He will go to amazing lengths in his frantic determination to satisfy his awful craving.

Positively harrowing is a chapter in his book ("Deprived and Depraved") in which he describes what he went through when, on One occasion, his incarceration in prison prevented his getting drugs. "When | lay down it was not to sleep. The ‘yen,’ as the Chinese call deprivation of drugs, was full. upon me. My joints started to ache... and the night seemed like the eternity of the damned, Towards morning w terrible tearing at my vitals developed. ... It was as if every joint in my body was parched with thirst. So terrible was it that | wound the _ pillow-case round one knee and a_ towel round the other, to prevent them from rubbing together. .. ." In his time, Mr. Chester associated with every. kind of criminal, from the common "spieler"’ to the white-slaver, and he was in every conceivable sort of racket. He exposes many of the tricks employed to fleece the gullibie public by unscrupulous sideshowmen at fairs, earnivals, ete. At a carnival in Utica he "became a "grifter.’ "This consists of working an apparatus somewhat like a roulette wheel, except that at roulette it is possible to win." The Secret Bond Most astounding are Mr. Chester’s revelations of the manner in which drug-fiends throughout the world are hound together by their common vice, and the devices by which, in strange towns, they seek each other out, almost by instinct, and obtain supplies, even though they be in hospital or prison. Chester’s struggle to "break his fetters" and his ultimate reformation make telling reading. So strongly did he conquer his craying and regain his self-control that, when he came to associate with the English police in breaking up drug rings, he was able to smoke opium in Chinese dens to allay suspicion, without wanting at any time to go back permanently to the habit. "Shot Full’ is positively encyclopaedic in its slang and underworld jargon. And it contains the answer to anyone who is toying with the idea of giving dope a trial: That answer is "DON’T!’-

A.R.

M.

"Shot Full-The Autobiography of a Drug Addict’ (Francis Chester: Methuen, London). Our copy from the publishers.