|
 |
|
|---|
NEW ORLEANS - THE 1926 NEWSPAPER SERIES
THE Following is taken directly from the Consumer Reports Magazine:
The Consumers Union Report on Licit and Illicit DrugsThere is really nothing more that we can add to that stated above. Below (to the best of our abilities) are the above stated articles.
by Edward M. Brecher and the Editors of Consumer Reports Magazine, 1972
“In 1926 the New Orleans Item and Morning Tribune, two newspapers under common ownership, published highly sensational exposés of the "menace" of marijuana. They reported that it was coming into New Orleans from Havana, Tampico, and Vera Cruz in large quantities . . . In New Orleans, the reporters in 1926 laid particular stress on the smoking of marijuana by children. "It was definitely ascertained that school children of 44 schools (only a few of these were high schools) were smoking 'mootas.' Verifications came in by the hundreds from harassed parents, teachers, neighborhood pastors, priests, welfare workers and club women.... The Waif's Home, at this time, was reputedly full of children, both white and colored, who had been brought in under the influence of the drug. Marijuana cigarettes could be bought almost as readily as sandwiches. Their cost was two for a quarter. The children solved the problem of cost by pooling pennies among the members of a group and then passing the cigarettes from one to another, all the puffs being carefully counted."
WARNING: Normally we warn the reader of transcriber errors that naturally happen when re-typing older documents. However, in this case, as the originals were barely readable, expect a lot of them. Also note that there are a lot of [ ] or blank-out entries; Indicating that it was all but impossible to read the originals.
NEW ORLEANS TRIBUNE – Oct. 18, 1926 [It is believed to be from page 1]
Reporters of morning Tribune Relate Observations After Three Weeks’ Association With Peddlers and Users
(EDITOR’s NOTE: Marijuana is one, of the chief industries of the New Orleans underworld. Scores seem to make their living by selling cigarettes drugged with it to thousands who smoke them. Crimes have been attributed by police to its influence on youthful gangsters. Its use is spreading among children. They have little or no difficulty in getting it---if they have the price.By Tribune Staff Reporters.
Two Morning Tribune reporters report their observations on the traffic in a series of stories. These will appear daily in The Morning Tribune.)
Three weeks of close association with peddlers and users of marijuana in New Orleans showed us conditions that the average citizen would say could not possible exist.
We saw children, some of them not more than 12 years old, under the influence of the drug; we overheard two marijuana-smokers planning a crime; we saw large cars loaded with the sons and daughters of wealthy and prominent New Orleans families parked in dark streets in the Vieux Carre and through the windows of the cars. We saw these young men and woman smoking marijuana, some of them were already stupefied by the drug; we bought the cigarettes everywhere, in saloons, restaurants, pool-rooms on street corners, in parks, cabarets and dance halls.
Evidence Gathered
In our investigation we gathered evidence to answer certain questions. Is marijuana easy t buy? Who sells it? Who controls the traffic? How does it get into the city? Do children use it? Is the habit spreading among children? Is the habit more general in one class than another? Following is a summary of the results of our investigation giving the answers to these questions.
Brought In City
Marijuana cigarettes can be bought in New Orleans with almost the same ease that that one can buy a sandwich.
The number of addicts is impossible to estimate.
The number who make their living in the marijuana traffic is also indefinite. It includes many operators of pool rooms, cabarets, restaurants and saloons, the loungers about these places; petty criminals and agents; men who live on fallen women; and the sailors and waiters on passenger boats who smuggle the drug into the port.
Seafaring men make large profits from marijuana smuggling.
Children Buy Freely.
Children can and do buy marijuana freely.
At least 200 children of school age smoke marijuana.
The use of cigarettes is not restricted to any particular class. They are smoked by the scarlet woman downtown and the society belle uptown.
The use of the cigarettes is very common among working men. Investigators found peddlers selling around large industrial plants.
The use is also very common in the negro settlements.
New Orleans is a distributing point for marijuana. Hundreds of kilograms are smuggled into the port monthly. Part of this huge amount is sent on to other cities in the South.
The marijuana traffic is controlled by a small group of men who have their headquarters in one small block [ ] the Vieux Carre.
Known As “Muggles”
Marijuana cigarettes are known curiously in New Orleans as “muggles,” “marl” and “moota.” Marijuana is a relative of hasheesh or Indian hemp, a a dangerous Oriental drug prohibited under the Harrison Narcotics act. This act, however makes no mention of marijuana. Therefore the only fear the marijuana peddler has is of the maximum six-month jail sentence and fine provided by state and city law. For this and other reasons police say it is almost impossible to check the traffic.
Marijuana resembles a weed. It is usually shipped in its natural form. Although the seeds are sometimes removed by the grower and sometimes by the wholesale peddler. This form is known as “manicured” marijuana and brings a higher price on the market. The wholesale peddler usually retails it in Kilos. (Approximately two pounds) He grinds the leaves and rolls them into small cigarettes. These cigarettes are usually sold two for 25 cents. The influence of the drug is one of a strange detachment. It also has a strong hypnotic effect, the mind [**ding] it difficult to remove itself from one channel of thought, no matter how trival.
Smuggled In
We found that most of the marijuana smoked in New Orleans comes from Vera Crus. Tampico and Havana. It is smuggled in by seamen in small coastwise freighters, many of them going out to sea merely for the profits they are able make in this enterprize. A large amount is also brought in by waiters on passenger vessels running to these ports. We followed a score of sailors to one little block in the quarter. We also traced many small peddlers to this block. In this block are apparently are wholesalers, who act as middlemen between the peddlers and the smugglers.
Marijuana is a great industry in New Orleans, and it is growing greater every day. We encountered little difficulty anywhere in buying it. In some places, where we were not [own], and the peddler was careful [we] were refused. But when we returned later and pretended to be in-[icated or inebricated] or under the influence of marijuana the cigarettes were sold to [us].
In tomorrows’ Morning Tribune we [we] tell of our adventures among the [idere] and users of marijuana.
2nd article –same date: - - - - - - - - - -
Affidavits Will Be Filed In Criminal District Court
Affidavits charging them with [having] in their possession and offering for cigarettes will [be] filed in criminal district court Monday against at least 30 persons, according to Superintendent of Police [Thom..llealy], who Saturday night ordered city-wide raid on places suspected trafficking in marijuana, in an effort to clean the city.
Filing of affidavits will follow a conference between Superintendent Healy and the district attorney Monday morning when a final check [ ] of the result of the raid will be made, Superintendent Healy announced. Five persons were found by [peti] in actual possession of marijuana which amounted to several packages [ ] cigarettes, and evidence was uncovered in several soft drink establishments and restaurants to lead police to believe that these places were known to marijuana smokers as centers of supply.
Those found in possession of marijuana were Joseph Paracino, proprietor of a soft drink saloon at 1901 Poydras street, from whom police confiscated a large quantity of marijuana; Frank [..uno] and Helen Mckenzie, both residing at 620 North Rampart street; Vincent Carpo, 2339 Tchoupitoulas street; street; and Richard Stevens 1239 Decatur street, who was arrested by police from a soft drink establishment at 1028 Dumaine street.
Until late last night, several squads of detectives, under the direction of Chief of Detectives Edward Smith and Captain of Detectives George Reyer, visited soft drink establishments and restaurants, concentrating on nigh-life haunts in the Third precinct and in sections of the Fourth precinct.
The Radio Café, Toulouse and Decatur streets, was the only cabaret to be raided after midnight Saturday, but police reported finding no marijuana.
3th article –same date: - - - - - - - - - -
That Matthew Seminary who is accused of strolling into a street car early Friday morning and shooting down his former sweet-heart Lillian Hardin, 19, and her new love Ralph Sturdy, was under the influence of marijuana is the option of Detective William Bell.
Bell declares that he met Seminary on the street a few hours before the tragedy. He seemed wobbly Bell questioned him and he said he had been smoking marijuana.
“I told him to go home,” Bell says.
Seminary was almost a constant user of marijuana, his friends say.
NEW ORLEANS TRIBUNE – Oct. 19, 1926 [It is believed page 1]
TRIBUNE SURVEY SHOWS”
Drug Is Not Grown in Louisiana, But Imported Illicitly From Central American Ports
MANY SAILORS GO TO SEA ONLY TO BUY “MOOTA”
Profits Large, Difficulties Few, Assert Men In Traffic, Giving Tips To Investigators
Where does marijuana come from? How does it get into the city? Is it raised in Louisiana or along the Gulf coast whence it may easily be brought to New Orleans?
These were the questions we were determined to have answered [in] the outset of our investigation. Our evidence now shows that most of the marijuana used here comes from Havana, Tampico and Vera Cruz, although some comes from Texas, via the smugglers route across the border near El Paso. Almost all of the drug is smuggled into New Orleans by sailors on fruit ships, oil tankers and freighters running to Central America and Mexican ports and by the negro waiters and the seamen on passenger vessels running to Havana and other Gulf ports. No marijuana is raised in Louisiana.
They Spy On The Docks
We spent days along the decks where the fruit ships bring in their [cargos]. We spent nights with sailors [..ning] in their frolics with their [..men] and imitation whisky in the ugly dives that cater especially to [..en].
Many of these sailors admitted to [us] that they smuggled “mooth.” This [..] when they were sober. But in[..] cups they would go into greater [..]. They would tell of buying the drug from Mexicans in waterfront [..] in Vera Cruz and Tampico at [..] or twelve dollar per kilo. In New Orleans they sell each kilo for 30 or [..] dollars.
Louis, an able bodied seaman of Latin-American ancestry on banana boats running to Central America, told as much. When he told his story was absolutely sober. He talked free-[ly] [ …biefly] because he thought we were [engaged] in the same business and he [wanted] to show how he excelled us [in ability] to get the “stuff” in.
Never Given “Real Frisk”
Getting it ashore is a simple [..tier]” Louis told us. “When I’m on [..] down there I go down to the [..s] and ditch the stuff. Of course [ ] may seem to be a lot of trouble, [..] if customs should give us a good [search] they would never find it down [there]. In port here I just walk off [with] the stuff in my pockets. Customs never give us a real frisk. Some [times] I have to make two or tree [tries] but I always get it ashore.”
Louis said his stuff had only been [..led] once. That was when he was careless as to hide it under some [ ] behind the steering engine. But [ ] custom men couldn’t find the [owner] and nothing was done abut it. [Louis] told us he went to sea only [to] smuggle marijuana. He seldom [..es] more than two trips on one [ ] “Staying on one boat will make [ ] known to the custom men,” he [..clained]. Louis goes on tankers, [freighters] and banana boats.
After Louis’ next trip to the tropics, [ ] followed him when he first left [the] ship. He went directly to that [little] block in the Vleux Carre where [ ] believe is the center of the traffic.
First Call Ashore
Louis is not the only sailor we followed there. There were ten others [ ] talked to who admitted that they [..ght] in a “little stuff” now and [ ]. All of them would go to that [little] block their first day in port.
Three waiters from one passenger [ ] went to this little block all [within] one hour of one another and [ ] a few hours after their ship [docked].
[Naturally] we discounted anything [ ] were told by drunken sailors. But [ ] they furnished us information [ ] could be checked we found that [ ] were always right. For example [ ] were told that on a certain day [ ] a vessel docked a sailor would [ ] four kilos ashore. We were there [ ] the vessel docked and we followed the sailor, who carried a small [ ], to that little block. Later we [ ] on a “party” with this sailor [ ] he spent money in the way sailors [ ] credited with spending it. As the [..ing] progressed our sailor friend [..ed] a toast to “moota,” [wonder..] moota, that always gives a guy [ ..od] time.”
During our investigation we heard [..al] rumors that marijuana was [ ] raised in Louisiana. Some placed [ ] of it near Baton Rouge. Some [ ] Bernard parish and others [ ] it was near Bay St. Louis,. But [ ] rumors were never given the [ ] of truth. The peddlers would go [ ] little block and the [smug..] from the ships would go there [ ] we noticed a stranger go in a [ ] room in the block carrying a [..]. We were with three sailars, [..] is that?” we asked, “He just [ ] in from El Paso,” one of them [..and] winked. The wink was [in…d] to convey more information [..] his words.
NEW ORLEANS TRIBUNE – Oct. 20, 1926 [It is believed page 1]
Unscrupulous Peddlers Openly Sell Drug to Boys Of Tender Age Who Appear On Streets Under Its Influence
WELFARE WORKERS ARE POWERLESS TO COPE WITH SINISTER TRAFFIC
Practice So Prevalent That Police Have Become Hardened to Sight of 12 Year Olds “Muggled Up”
This is the third of a series of articles by members of the staff of The Morning Tribune describing the traffic in Marijuana in New Orleans. The fourth will appear tomorrow. -- (By Morning Tribune Staff Reporters)
We had only mingled with the marijuana peddlers and users a few days when we began to notice children, who seemingly bought and smoked the drug with the greatest freedom. We watched several of them go into poolrooms and come out smoking a muggle. We saw many on the streets quite obviously under the influence of the drug. As we went deeper and deeper into the traffic we were shocked by the large number of boys of school age we encountered who smoked moota constantly.
Curious to see if the peddlers were really so unscrupulous to sell to young boys we tried to arrange with several peddlers to have the cigarets purchased by children.
We told the peddler in the saloon [ ] Saratoga and Poydras streets that we wanted two dollars worth. He had only 12 cigarettes, worth $1.50.
“Will it be all right to send a boy for the rest?” we asked, when he told us he would have the additional cigarettes in one hour. We followed the peddler to that one little block in the heart of the Vieux Carre where, according to the evidence we have gathered, is the headquarters of the marijuana traffic.
Sold to Office Boy
At the specified time we sent a copy boy for The Item-Tribune to the saloon. The boy while 15, does not look to be more than 10 or 12. We stood across the street from the saloon and though the open doors we watched the peddler hand the boy four cigarettes in exchange for 50 cents. There were no questions.
The same thing was tried on two [other] peddlers.
“I don’t mind selling them to a [ ] I know,” said one. “But I don’t [know] you guys very well and I won’t [ ] the kid at all. So you had better come yourself.”
The third peddler agreed. But when [the] boy arrived for the cigarettes he [was] nowhere to be found. Apparently [ ] had suspected that all was not [ ] with the transaction.
In the quarter, among the loungers and hangers-on around poolrooms and saloons, the stories of the “cock-eyed [ ] who acted as a messenger for [ ] of the past noted characters of the underworld are still told. The boy started when he was eight years old. [..s] old master is gone but he is still [,,und]. He is 15 now and as tough as any of the thugs and crooks he [ ] known in the past. He smokers marijuana constantly, he is found of [ ] whisky straight and he also has [ ] “woman.”
Situation Is General
Of course his case is unusual and is only cited to show that the underworld is not in the least opposed [ ] teaching a “good kid” the ways [ ] the world.
To show that the situation actually [ ] generally and not in scattered [..ances], here is an excerpt from a [..] report of the Children’s Bureau [ ] the Society for the Prevention of cruelty to Children.
We are now working with a group [of] boys none over 12 years of age, who stay out every Saturday night and gamble until daylight. A number of them smoke doped Mexican cigarettes called muggles, and are really [..] dope fiends.”
A child welfare worker told us:
The marijuana situation among children is really appalling. I know [..] are at least 200 boys of school [..] who smoke marijuana---some of [..] continually whenever they can [..] the cigarettes and some only [..sionally], more to prove that they [..] really “tough.” The children [organizations] In the city are aroused but [ ] are almost powerless to stop the traffic because of the utter lack of a [..al] sense among the men who sell [ ] drug and their cunning and [stealth].
Children Under 14 Addicts
The worker asked us not to use [ ] name. He declared that should [ ] name appear in the role of an information giver it might harm his [work] among the underworld children [ ] they have been carefully drilled the unbreakable law “never squeal [ ] hate the squealer.”
We also talked to officials of the [alfs’’] Home. They told us that [ ] not unusual for boys under 14 years of age, both white and negro, [ ] be brought to the home while under the influence of marijuana. Police officers told us the same thing. It is [ ] common with some of them that [..y] have become hardened to the [ ] of a 12 year-old boy “muggled [ ] and think nothing of it.
We talked to more than 60 children, [most] of them boys although a few [were] girls. None of them was over [ ] yet none asked the question [nat..] to expect from a child, “What [ ] muggles?” They knew exactly [ ] where they could be bought and [..] effect the smoker could expect. All the children we talked to were [ ] children of the poorer families [ ] many were of foreign parentage living in the destitute sections of the city. These children, their parents too tired from the labor of gaining a daily existence for them, had little supervision. They played in the streets, went where they pleased and without question. Some may argue that these children would naturally become educated in marijuana as in any other vice. But it was not their mere knowledge of the being of such a thing as muggles, but the fact that most of them admitted having smoked them and knowing where they could be bought.
Almost all the children showed the results of their street training. They were hard, tough, sophisticated. They were walso very suspicious. Some of them believed we were “highhats,” (reformers), “skypilots,” (ministers), or police. Those who did not suspect us of one usually suspected us of the other. But most of them were willing to admit that they had smoked marijuana and knew where it could be bought. Some of them said it in the way of a boast. A few, who we convinced that we were “all right” and were looking for a supply, told us where to buy it. In fact we were first led to the Dixie Saloon, on Dumaine near Rampart street by a 14-year-old boy.
NEW ORLEANS TRIBUNE – Oct. 21, 1926 [It is believed page 1]
Investigation Shows Great Demand Among Certain Classes
PEDDLERS BUSY THROUGHOUT CITY
Can Always Be Found Where Wares Are Wanted Most
This is the fourth of a series of articles by members of the staff of The Morning Tribune describing the traffic in Marijuana in New Orleans. The fifth will appear tomorrow.
Wherever there is a demand for marijuana there you will find the peddlers. They are entirely lacking in ethics or honor and no matter the hardships the drug will cause those who buy it, they are around ready and eager to sell.
We found peddlers on the docks selling to the negro stevedores. We found them on the banana docks catering to the Latin-Americans and negroes who unload the fruit boats. Fe found a peddler at the gates of the Jahncke Ship Building company at seven o’clock in the morning, selling to those in going in for a hard day’s work. We found a peddler at the Canal street entrance to the Algiers ferry. He was selling to the workmen coming across the river for their daily labor. We found the peddlers everywhere---wherever there was a demand.
Special Lure
Marijuana seems to have a special lure to the Latin and negro workman---a lure that is not felt by the less imaginative Nordics. The Latin and the negro seemingly smoke them to secure the hypnotic effect and the and the mental detachment the drug gives. Therefore the routine of their work is lessened and the day passes more quickly and more pleasantly.
We were at the entrance of the Jahncke company at six a. m. having learned in a poolroom that a certain negro peddler was always there in the early morning. It ws his post, we were told, and the underworld code prohibited anyone else “working it.”
Although we were not dressed as workmen, the negro, who was known as Sam, sold to us without question. We saw him at the gates and he answered the description that had been given us of him, “Give us tow,” we ordered and handed him a quarter. He gave us the cigarettes. We went through the gates and returned a few moments later. From a point of vantage across the street we watched the negro sell to workman after workman as they passed through the gates. Most of his customers, we noted, were other negroes or men who were other negroes or men who were obviously of Latin blood.
Lot of Them Smoke It
“Sure a lot of them smoke it,” he told us. “They got to be careful though, for if they get caught it’s the air for them. You can’t smoke anything on the job, too much danger of . . .. [museum note – rest of article is missing-
NEW ORLEANS TRIBUNE – Oct. 22, 1926 [It is believed page 1]
Peddlers Always Hanging About Saloons And Poolrooms
LITTLE FEAR SHOWN IN MAKING SALES
Doped Cigarets Are Brought On Courthouse Grounds
This is the fifth of a series of articles by members of the Staff of the Morning Tribune describing the traffic in Marijuana in New Orleans. The sixth will appear tomorrow. --- (By Morning Tribune Staff Reporters)
In a soft drink saloon at Dauphine and Toulouse streets we bought two cigarets from a Mr. Harry Webb. Mr. Webb, at first, did not wish to sell but after we had pleaded he consented.
“You see,” he explained. “I got to be sort of careful. The cop on this beat has a hunch I’m peddlin’ but he can’t catch me and I’ll guarantee that he doesn’t. Sure, if you want anything more just come back and ask for me.”
We were unable to discover whether Mr. Webb was connected with the saloon or merely a lounger about it. This we found true of many places. It is much more simple to have the peddling done outside the bar. Then, if anything happens, there is no reflection on the place. For example there is the pool room at Chartres and Madison streets where Frank does business. His last name we don’t know, and it probably doesn’t matter. He no doubt has several of them.
Three Different Peddlers
The man in charge of this poolroom at times knows nothing of marijuana. At other times he calls Frank. We visited the place on several occasions and each time we bought the cigarets from Frank, but never from any one else.
We encountered an entirely different situation in the Plus Ultra pool room on Chartres street. There we bought marijuana three different times and each time from a different peddler. None of them apparently had any connection with the operators of the establishment. They seemed merely loungers.
At Canal and Clalborne streets we bought two cigarets from a negro who called himself Dick Nien, who was lounging in front of the candy factory there. We asked Dick if he sold much in the factory.
He shrugged his shoulders, but did not answer. “I’m always around,” he said, “Come back anytime you run short.”
In the saloon at Decatur and Governor Nicholls streets we found Louis. Louis introduced himself while we were hanging over the bar arguing with thebartender. The bartender didn’t want to have anything to do with us. We didn’t look right, we didn’t act right and he didn’t want to take a chance.
Manager Is Reticent
“Aw hell,” said Louie. “Can’t you [ ] they’re all right?” And he took [ ] to the street where he produced [two] cigarets and took our quarter.
We experienced some little diffidently in the pool room at Chartres and Dumaine street. The manager, while admitting that he knew of Marijuana, declared quite earnestly that the peddler who had once sold in the place was gone. He didn’t know where they could be purchased. In fact he had long since lost all interest in the matter.
But we stayed around, watering the [..ayers] at the tables and talking to [those] who sat around, all seemingly intent upon the games. Finally a youth, no more than 19, motioned us outside.
“You looking for motta?” he asked. “How many do you want?” was the next question.
He took them from his pocket, [.ook] [ ] stench from the bodies of the [respiring] dancers.
We called for moots and a few moments later a youth came to our table. He wore a cap and a coat and [ ] apparently just came from the street. He threw the cigarets on our table and took 50 cents for them---[..baret] prices.
Tomorrow we shall tell of the children in New Orleans who find it [very] easy to buy marijuana cigarets.
[ ] money and went back into the [pool] room.
NEW ORLEANS TRIBUNE – Oct. 23, 1926 [It is believed page 1]
Negro Innocently Reveals Many Places Where Drug Is Sold
PEDDLERS WAIT ON STREET CORNERS
Dealer Disciplines Sailor For Smuggling In “Bad Stuff”
Let us call the negro we met at [Cout..] and Villere street, Jim. Rather than by his real name. He was innocent of giving us information to be used later against the peddlers of marijuana. He thought we were users looking for a supply. But the peddlers might not understand this and Jim might suffer the penalty of the underworld for a “squealer.”
Jim knows much about marijuana. He is one of the best rollers in the city and is in demand among the wholesale peddlers. But in spite of his talent he has profited but little. Rolling the little cigarets gives one the desire to smoke them and smoking them isn’t an aid in “getting along in the world.” As Jim himself says.
We noticed Jim a block away lounging on the corner. We thought he would probably know something. But he knew nothing when we first approached him “Nah, suh. Cap’n,” he declared. “Ah don’t even know what moota is.” One of us lighted a moota [butt] and Jim eyed it hungrily. We [moved] on knowing that he would follow, He did.
Popular With Negroes
Around the corner he stopped us. [Ah] don’t know who you is.” He [con..eased] very frankly. But you look all right and I’m dyin for a muggie. [ ] tell you where you can buy [ ] if you give me one. We agreed and Jim took us to St. [An..] and Villere street and pointed to a saloon [ ] the uptown lake corner.
“Two,” was the order and a quarter was dropped on the bar. Without a word the clerk took the coin, reached under and threw out two marijuana cigarets. Outside we told Jim the muggles were unsatisfactory and we wanted more than two. Jim was all apologies. He took us to North [Robertson] and Dasaine streets and [ ] a saloon and poolroom on the downtown lake corner. There we bought four more marijuana cigarets from an Italian who was called Tony. Jim walked with us down the railroad tracks toward Basin street. He talked of the popularity of marijuana among negroes, although we already [knew] of that. We had walked throgh the negro districts and seen men and women sitting on doorsteps smoking the ciragets, we had seen children [..] that on the streets. We had bought them from peddlers who even had their stands on street corners.
Ships Waiter Smuggles
But when Jim began to tell of his experiences as a roller we were all attention. Jim told of one of his former employers who had a place on Dumaine near Royal street before the police caught him read handed and sent to jail for a few months. This employer was exceedingly liberal Jim said, and always supplied his peddlers with plenty of motta. Then Jim said of the employer’s release from [..l] and his early morning visit to the negro district, where he found Jim and took him to his new place [ ] Frenchmen street where Jim rolled [ ] cigarets before dawn. We later [found] a man who answered Jim’s description and bought marijuana from him.
Jim also told us of a negro waiter [ ] a passenger vessel running to Havana. The waiter had been smuggling marijuana for several years. Several trips ago he brought in some bum stuff” and sold it to his regular wholesaler. The wholesaler was angry and decided to refuse to purchase the negro’s marijuana for five voyages as punishment. Jim said he had just seen the negro who had a kilo he was trying to sell for $5. The regular price is $35 or $40.
We finally left Jim and went to [..berville] and Rampart streets, where, Jim had told us all that was necessary was to lounge on the corner and wail for the peddler. We waited and finally a well dressed individual took [up] his place near us. We decided he was the seller.
“Do you know where we can buy moota?” we asked.
“Naw,” he answered briefly, eyeing [ ] up and down.
“But we only have a but left.” We protested and displayed the butt. “How many do you want?” And [..ere] on the street corner we were handed two marijuana cigarets in exchange for 25 cents. He told us he was Fred and that anytime we wanted anything else he could always be [found] on the corner during the [evening].
We decided to follow up Jim’s tip [ ] generous peddler who had served his jail term and then opened up a new place on Frenchmen street. [Near] Royal. On the corner we located [ ] stout peddler but nothing that looked like a place. “What is it? The peddler asked innocently. We were too [impatient] to secure the cigarets to answer him. We stood on the side-walk. [He] walked away but returend. . . . -- rest of story is missing.
NEW ORLEANS TRIBUNE – Oct. 27, 1926 [It is believed page 1]
Competition Keen Among Peddlers of Drug In New Orleans
ONE DISPLAYS HUGE BANK ROLL
Investigator Runs Into Bant of morphine Addicts
This is the tenth of a series of articles by members of the staff of the Morning Tribune describing the traffic in marijuana in New Orleans. The eleventh will appear Friday. -- (By Morning Tribune Staff Reporter)
In Lee Circle, with the rush of evening traffic sweeping by we bought two moota cigarets from a man, whose name we could not ascertain. We were directed to him by a young boy to whom we had propounded the formula question “Where can we get some moota?”
The boy, who had just descended the library steps with a copy of Horatio Alger’s “Phil the Fiddler” [under] one arm, took us to the little [..ark] of the circle and pointed out [the] man to us.
“He’s there every evening after school,” he told us.
A little farther uptown, on the [..rher] of Melpomepe and Baronne, a negro directed us to a wizened old white man who sold us two cigarets at the entrance of the oyster saloon [ ] the downtown river corner. The [..deration] was an usual, twenty five cents.
Just ask for Jack,” we were told [I’m] always around.”
At Magazine and Jackson we made another purchase, this time from a young fellow not over 10 years of age who gave his name as Freddie. The [ ] cigarets we purchased from him [ ] cost twenty five cents.
Displays a Bank Roll
[Freddie] was quite anxious for our [future] business, promising to “treat [us] right.”
Must be a lot of competition [ ] [ ] our […………]. Every peddler [ ] ever bought from has told us the same thing. What’s the matter? Are things slow?”
Freddie, with a look of toleration, [ ] in his trousers pocket and dragged forth a large roll of green [ ]. “Does that look slow?” he [..tized].
We admitted that it appeared to be a long way from slow. And then we tried something that we had tried several times before, namely, to get one peddler to tell us where we could find another.
“I couldn’t tell you brother.” I [ ] there’s plenty of them around. [But] I don’t know where.”
This confirmed us in our belief that [there] was much more peddling being [..ed] on than we had any idea of [competition] was keen. To protect himself no one peddler would furnish [ ] name or address of another [fearing] that the customer might be better [ ] with the other's wares.
Sold Near School
AT seven o’clock in the evening following directions obtained from a [messenger] boy, we found Fred [Jackson] in front of the Sophie Wright [High] School on Napoleon avenue near [ ] Charles.
Unlike most of the street peddlers [Fred] did not carry the drug on his [person], but had his supply for the [..ing] concealed somewhere near [the] school steps on Napoleon avenue. [..] more cigarets were added to our [purchases] and we parted with thirty [..ts] in exchange for them.
Next day at Dumaine and Bourbon, [..f] block distant from the old [ ] Coeur School we made a [purchase] from a young foreigner who [appeared] to be of Mexican blood. Just [ ] to our finding him we had [in.. ] at a little neighborhood grocery [ ]on Dumaine to which place an [addict] had directed us saying that he [ ] formerly bought moota in this [ ] from “The Cock-eyed Kid.” The [ ] had received a care some time [ ] however, and had ceased to be [engaged] in the traffic.
Bought in Pool Room
At Chartres and Dumaine, at Royal and St. Phillip. And at Burgundy and [ ] Peter we later made “two for a quarter” purchases. At the latter [corner] the sale was made by a negro. [Henry] Ross, in a colored pool room.
We also noticed several morphine [addicts] hanging around this corner. [ ]though “looking” to make a buy [ ] [their] own brand of “junk”---junk [ ] the vernacular of the underworld [ ] a generic title applied to all [forms] of narcotics.
[In] an effort to start a conversation with one of these morphine fiends [ ] hauled forth a sack of durham [………..] some papers. We had found [this] to be a valuable aid in getting [ ] to those of the underworld. [These] addicts, usually financially [broke] except for the price of a “shot” [are] always “mooching” a smoke. All [ ] has to do is be “bummed” is to [exhibit] a package of cigarets. If the cigarets are what are known [say] tailor mades,” that is, factory [made], the beggar helps himself and [ ] without giving you a chance [ ] talk to him. If however you [..effer] a sack of tobacco and the [ ], it takes him a minute or two [ ] roll hi8s smoke, light it, and return [the] “makings.” In that time, brief as [it] is you can usually get him to [talking].
Waiting for “Earl”
We bedaahe are
We had each rolled a cigaret and [were] ready to restore the tobacco to [ ] pockets when a shifty-eyed, pasty-[..] individual approached us with the expected request for a smoke.
As he rolled the cigaret with trembling fingers he yawned continuously, and perspiration stood out on his brow.
“Pretty sick?” we inquired, recognizing the symptoms as those of a man sick “with the habit.”
He regarded us cautiously for a moment. Seemingly satisfied that we were “real folks” he nodded affirmation.
We talked with him for several minutes. During the course of our talk we asked him if he ever had smoked muggles.
“Naw,” he responded. “I ain’t never chippied with that stuff. It’ll drive yuh nuts!”
Finally he excused himself and joined a newcomer, a “gutter-type”, ragged and dirty. As we left we heard the new arrival ask if “Earl” had been around yet. We surmised that this was the name of the peddler for whom they were waiting. [due to poor quality of photo copy, this may or may not be the end of the article.
WOW and Harry Anslinger didn't even get into power until the year 1930. Without question, New orleans is the HOME of THE REEFER MADNESS CAMPAIGN. Thus all Harry had to do was to pick it up keep it going.
 BACK |
BACK TO LOUISIANA REEFER MADNESS |
|---|
WANT TO KNOW MORE:
=====================
Due to space / download time considerations, only selected materials are displayed. If you would like to obtain more information, feel free to contact the museum. All our material is available (at cost) on CD-Rom format.
CONTACT PAGE