1936-10-31 — Page 13

THE HONGKONG TELEGRAPH. SATURDAY, OCTOBER 31, 1936.

HEROIN MENACE UNMASKED

REPORTER

TOURS

DRUG H. Q. "I VISITED FOUR

IT is estimated by experl-

enced officers of the Imports' and Exports Department that Hongkong contains from 2,000 to 3,000 oplum and heroin divans.

As a result of extensive inves- tigations, the ""Telegraph" is able to state that Liese figures are, if

anything, an under-statement of (in reat position.

In order to make a thorough Investigallian of the heroin

menace In Hongkong, the "Tele- graph" sent a reporter into Ure actual stronghold of the drug racketeers-thə divans,

This investigator was able to disclose that certain areas re actually' teeming with divann.

He visited four divans in one area. They were located with In a radius of five minutes' walk- Ing distance.

Numerous dens have sprung up during the past few months in the outlying districts. Unlike the older

divans, they cater exclu- sively for the heroin smokera These new dens are particularly prevalent in Aberdeen and Yau- mall, and in Shanghai and Rc. clamation

Youmati,

Streets,

waitresses have been introduced

The

to attend on, and prepare deadly pills, for the customers.

Import and Export Depart ment offerra have a well-nigh hopeless

tank in attempting to stamp out this terrible menace. One aunce at heroin can make about 30.000 pills, ens

enough to supply divan for weeks.

In addition, the possession of the major ingredients of a pill, without heroin, Fin no under Hongkong law.

offence

WIFE'S PETS

AS BAIT

She Is Now Suing For A Divorce

New York, Oct. 20.

HEROIN DENS

AND FOUND-"

NEWSPAPER INVESTIGATOR TELLS STRANGE STORY OF UNDERWORLD TOUR

Special to "Telegraph"

Y first introduction to the deadly heroin pill-in colour MY

and smell not unlike a

sugar candy drop-was arranged for on ́a tenement floor at Cochrane Street, off the Central Market.

The specifications laid down for the required "inside" news- paper story were, chiefly, for a specimen to be brought back. "specimen" in this case meaning the drug addict with sound ex- perience who was to help us uncover this heroin menace portedly killing people slowly by the hundreds in Hongkong.

Our party for this great adventure included a confirmed opium smoker pressed into service as a guide.

bowl.

T

No algnißeant passwords-nofter ten cents. These disappeared, mysterious tappings on doorwayal one after the other, with a rather for admission-aene +f the monotonous regularity. inta the

interior of a hanky-panky business your writer; envernous

smoking of thrilling fiction in over fond of making---nwalted our arrival at! Que guide had risen splendidly toj the divan, but a freedom in rome: the occasion, Fur Air ARISTIent, i

to make these ing and going that lodes ill for he even contrivedl the Reneral narcoties situation. pills produer a merry naise in the This freedom was observed at all process of being sucked through that tiny hule set in the middle of the the dens subsequently visited.

bowl. Two private cubicles occupied the !

1 examined the bowl and the bam- Cochrane Street floor, and what little

bos tube to which it was screwed,| existed lbe- accommodation

with much curiosity. tween these and the verandab was

The Arst Ind taken up by the two beds of which i

an oddly familiar I discovered this den could boast. Both

beds look, The

old friend in new guise-nothing other were occupied. We patiently awadi- ed our turn.

thin

Chinese an ordinary

table! Wine-hung from which the nose had beep removed-by sawing--ta' ex- pase the aperture now being made the conveniently to serve heroin smoker.

It was during the mid-day hour when people somehow always con- trive to have a "quick one" in be, tween busy momenta.

Party

of three? querled the divan proprietor. "How

many

Very

Crute though it was, it met all the

after

fortnight's sustained debau chery confined to herom alone.

They say dry-rot sets in the banes after a. me. Then it has to be heroin all the time.

Now, our inde in keeping strictly to opium.

INTO THE SLUMS

To burrow more deeply down into the narcoties mire, it was necessary to penetrate further into the slums. Our first experience was of an esin- bishment connected with the upper stratum of addicts-labourers and ordinary working people who could still afford to discriminate. yisited a very much poorer, and of Courac dingier, den, where the Amokers had descended in Alearded dress.

Thither we were bundled by our kulde, now much refreshed for his noan hour smoke.

TOW

alley in which we presently found The ground floor divan in a side ourselves, was screened from outside shop. observation by a busy tinsmith's

The continuous racket set up by It made more realistic the impress 01 ol a Dante's Inferno after we had stepped into a dark interior, whose only light was derived from Inevitable smoker's lamp.

ร

mar of

the

Here were bunks Instead of beds, all set in tlers and all occupied, by reeking humanity. indistinct and inert, sprawbed about The Buraps.

phere of a crowded and unventilated And, over all, the stifling atmos room, heavy, too, with the pungenti smell of oplum cloyingly sweet smell at vantila-the odour of heroin.

and 员

A place to breed consumpti, even under the best possible con- ! ditions.

EMACIATED ADDICTS The valaries of a supposert Goddess

were. of Dreams

in this divan. equally divided in their preferener for opium or heroin, changing often from the one to the other as fancy prompted.

to

It would be impossible, therefore, single out any one of them as utering particularly from the effects of sustained heroja Indulgence,

For tinė

Jest, they presented lentical physical characteristics. frame -nourished, emaciated and wracked by prolonged Indulgence

unhealthy-looking faces

whose "Sane

more?" This hopefully, other marked feature is protruding from the divan proprietor.

lips fashioned by over-fond You sce, these pills are very pulling at the pipe that momentarily cheap, much more so I bought by cheers. the hundreds. Then they come to Exactly what the you packed in the ordinary Chinese wrought by heroin are, can best letter envelope, which is white with be described, 1 Imagine, by people a red band running down the mid- with technical"

experience.

MRS. EDITH LONGO, lamps" And then, "Black or red practical requirements of the situnnistus looking eyes deeply set

aged nineteen, of Cam--that is, oplum or herein.

All very business-like, ant bridge, Massachusetts, is much to the point. suing for divorce.

The chief ground is that her husband took her three pet goldfish to use for bait on a fishing expedition.-- Reuter

VACY

What we intended was for our

guide to sacrifice his usual mid-day opium smalte in favour of an experi- "Make it red," be intimated on our instructions. It was readily forth

ment in heroin.

coming.

FIVE FOR 10 CENTS We bought heroin at the price of very cheap cigarettes-live

pellets

dle.

"No more," our guide refused, a wry expression on his face from re- collection of a previous experience when his bones hnd ached horribly

A graphic photograph which needs no explanation.

One of the stalls mentioned in the accompanying article. exposed for sale.

Notice the heroin bowls freely

The denizens of

מס

sensations

that divan

RADIO BROADCAST

SUNDAY'S PROGRAMME The Works of Johann

Sebastian Bach

9.10-10. Military Parade Ser- vice from St. John's Cathedral.

10 am. Close Down. 11a.m.-12.15 p.m. Morning Ser- vice from St. John's Cathedral.

12.15 p.m.

An Orchestral Con- errt.

Valse Triste (Sibelius); (a) Sere- nade, Op. 63 (Volkman); (b) Flight of the Bumble Bee (Rimsky-Koran- kov); Andante Monsa (From Sonata in B minor) (Scarint)).Over

.Vladimir Horowitz, (Finnoforte):

fansel and Gretel" (fiumperdinck); I'm a Roamer (Mendelssohn)....Ro- bert Radford (lass); Bavarian Dance. Op. 27 No. 1. (Elgar).

12.45 p.m.

Recital by Benta. mino Gigli (Tenor).

O del mio dolce ardar (Gluck), "Paride ed Elena": See here, thy Blowrel-"Carmen" (Bizel); Down d'Amore (Donizetti). her cheek pearly tear-"L'Elisir

1 pam. Time and Weather.

1.03 p.m.

The Band of H. M. Grenndler Guards, Tarcredi Overture (Rossi); Selec

Ruy Blas Overture (Mendelssohn);

(German): The

Ben-Tom Jones"

old Frog Pond (Alford; Parade of the Elephants (Chenette); The Mil in The Black Forest (Eilenberg).

1.30 p.m. Reuter Press, Weather,

and Announcements. Titne

1.40 p.m. Excerpts from Light Opera,

Vocal Gems-The Three Mus- keteers: Overturn-Les Cloches de Cerneville (Planquette); Vocal Gems

Jolly Roger.

G

2 p.m. Violin Salos by Ychuli Menuhin,

Concerto In

major-Adapto (Mozart); Sarabande arid Tambourin Leclair-Sarnante); Dance of Goblins, Op. 25 (Bazzini).

2.13 Strauss.

p.

Four Waltzes by Johann

9

That's the SPIRIT

for all

FRIENDLY OCCASIONS

Whether it be a social or business occasion, mellow. friendly old Beehive adds tone and sparkle to the conversation, helps a man think clearer and makes even the pessimist admit that "it's not such a bad world after all."

Keep a bottle, handy-ask for it

at the club.

BEEHIVE BRANDY

Sole Agerits:-GILMAN & CO., LTD.

Gloucester Arcade.

Tol. 30986.

DEPENDABLE USED CARS

Model

Description

Mileage.

Price

1931

AUSTIN "12" TOURER

27,645

HK$ 350

1931

NASH EIGHT SEDAN

28,300

1,000

1932

VAUXHALL CADET SALOON

20,290

750

1932

BABY FORD "8" SEDAN

17,200

850

1933

STANDARD "16" SALOON

14,000

1,400

1934

CHEVROLET MASTER SEDAN

24.200

1,600

1936 CHEVROLET MASTER SEDAN

500

2,850

the

FAR EAST MOTORS

CHEVROLET

A Thousand and one nights; Artist's Life; Tales from the Orient.

2.15 p.m.

Close DowTI. 4-7 p.m.

Chinese Programme. 7-10.30 p.m. European Programme. Sebastian Bach.

p.m. The Works of Johann

Concerto No. 4 in C Busch Chamber (Violin) Adolf Busch: (1st

between exhilarating" and "feel- Flute) Marcel Mosse; (2nd! Flute) ing bucked up a fecting helgh-Louis Moyse tened in proportion to the amount 1st Movement-Allegro; 2nd Move- of heroin contained in the plls. ment Andante; 3rd It is a feeling quite apart from the Presto.

Movement- stupor of oplum, which oftener "The Little", Fugue in G Minor deadens the senses than sumulates played on the organ at All Hallows, them.

Borking by the Tower, by Albert And, with that explanation 10 Schweitzer. account, in part, for the popularity

referred. vaguely, to a sensation

Chromalle Fantasia and Fugye of heroin these days, we must rest! Played on the planoforte by Edwin- content.

Fischer; Siciliano (Largo) played by

Later on, our footsteps would be Adolf Busch (Violin) and rudolf guided to where these addiets sunk Serkin (Piano): Ariosa....Philadel even deeper, where

phia Chamber String Simfonietta. consumption. | hand in hand with the poison and Strings, played by the Chicago Suite No. 2 in B minor--For Flutes wrought its last impression on the Symphony Orchestra, conducted by

Frederick Stock,

victims.

STREET-SLEEPERS?

A Police Department paragraph in due course would then annourice that the body of So-and-so (they are) nestly unknown and unidentified) had been picked up in Street, and, with probably ten other corpses, cqually

unidentified,

picked up elsewhere, removed to the Public Mortuar

8 p.m. Local: Time, Weather Re- port and Announcements.

8.03 p.m. A Recital by. Miliza Korjus (Soprano).

Nocturne, Op. 37, Nu. 1-Ah, let me Night! O Dreams! (Chopin): "Lakme" weep: Nocturne, Op. 9. No. 2-0 Oriental Prayer; Bell Song (De- libes). .8.20 p.m.

A Pianoforte Recital

Street-sleepers, you ask? These by Arthur Rubinstein, hangs the story.

Gutzlaff Street, Intersecting Wel-

Hugton Street before ending up ot

(Continued on Page 5.)

Queen's Road Central at a point self with oplum dross-that is, as nearty apposite the Market, is an in the state of having been smoked interesting old alley-way.

Cobblers occupy the lower section, and that is as far (15 they have advanced, despite an obvious need for

expansion. Farther

up, above Wellington Street, a

a different class of people are in sole occupation of the site. walk

over and over again probably for the third or fourth time.

No work, no food except that which Times were hard, he complained. could be begged from the restaurant next door.

WRETCHEDNESS

Here, the space partly sheltered The same tale of wretchedness by a projecting balcony, le equally and want could have been repented divided amongst a select company of by each and everyone of the other street-sleepers: cach two Individuals, eleven degenerates yet not word who have paired up for the purpose, might be expected occupying bed space separated from their neighbours with an order- liness of arrangement bespeaking permanency.

SMOKING. IN STREET! On that afternoon, with pubite activity swirling around them ke amacistrom, they remained Inert, the prescribed number to each bed space, utterly Indifferent to every thing around them except that which was Immediately engaging their

attention.

I looked to see what they were doing.

They were all amoking opium!

to be uttered regarding the mysterious means by which every day they were able to And the wherewithal for the satis- faction of a craving stronger than an empty stomach. ·

CIGARETTE SWEEPINts Before leaving the spot, 'I noted interesting. process connected with the conversion of tobacco re- covered from discorded cigarette- ends into new cigarettes. A flourish- ing and old-established industry this, to judge from the number of these doubtful goods exposed for sale on every bed space.

One old fellow, intent on cigarette-

I counted not less than 12 of them smoking, was pelted, pinyfully, by so preo

preoccupied.

one of his kind with some bit of

Here we caught our long sought-rubbish. This latter must have his for quarry a ragged, unkempt and joke, despite the depressive aur ill-conditioned personage, obviously moundings.

In the last stages of tuberculosis,

Near-by, also, a man had set up a too weak to help himself but depend-stall on which are offered for nie ance with which to satisfy last, observed in the divans visited. An ing on his bedfellow for the assist-five or six heroin-smoking porcelain bowls of the type we had already lingering hankering for narcotics.

Yes, he had found heroin cheaper me, saws, and boxes con- for his means, but was not smoking taining emery powder, showed it there, as that might invite police means by which he had been able to intervention and arrest. For the Sarry on a trade mede possible by time being he was contenting him- this demand for heroin,

26 Nathan Road, Kowloon.

Telephone 59101..

"WATCH THE

FORDS GO BY"

THE POPULAR CHOICE IS USUALLY THE RIGHT ONE AND FIGURES SHOW THE FORD TO BE THE WORLD'S MOST POPULAR CAR. DRIVE ONE AND FIND OUT FOR YOURSELF.

WALLACE

HARPER & CO.,

(Authorised Ford Dealers).

Nathan Road,, Kowloon.

LTD.

Hennessy Road, Wanchai.

HELENA MAY.

WINTER PROGRAMME

FIRST CONCERT

Friday, November 13th.

at 9.30 p.m.

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