September 25, 1890
Dance Halls & Low Saloons – the Chinese “Hop Joints” – An Interior View – Hitting the Pipe.
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A reporter of the TIMES, in company with two members of the police force, paid his respects last night to the “dives” of the city. The “joint” saloons on lower El Paso street were first visited. Here a motley mob was found engaged in beer drinking, “lushing,” cursing, swearing and making use of the King’s English in more forcible than elegant terms. These resorts are apparently the quarters of the lower classes of humanity and the headquarters of hard characters and professional bums. Some of the places visited were orderly and quiet, but in the main their appearance would suggest dives of brigands and hold-ups. The rooms were suffocating with the fumes of tobacco smoke, the production of the two-for-five cents order, and the very air seemed polluted with degradation and vice. Negros, Mexicans, Dutch and Americans were congregated in a body, either participating in the monte games or playing cards for the drinks. It was a sight for the eye of refinement, terrible enough to strike terror to the soul of the uninitiated in the ways of the world.
THE RED LIGHT
The next place visited was the “Red Light,” a saloon, dance hall and general dive. Here amid the clinking of beer glasses and vulgarity, drunken men reeling and yelling, danced with Mexican women to the strains of the devil’s music, staggering between dances to the bar for liquid refreshments and enthusiasm. Women, long since sunk from respectability, joined the terrible brawl. Hair streaming in masses of disorder, dresses rant by the yanking and howling of intoxicated men, and lending their shrill voices to complete the chaos of debauchery. Here and there were stretched out men overcome with liquor, while the wooden benches surrounding the apartment were occupied by burly sons of toil holding upon their laps these women of prostitution. Couched in one corner was the orchestra, composed of five pieces, to whose mournful and discordant strains the mob while away the late hours of night. In the rear is located the “refreshment” rooms where the regular twenty-five cents per dance is collected and the foaming beer is served by the ever faithful “Dutchie”
THE OPIUM JOINTS
We next visited the Chinese joins on South Oregon street. We met with some resistance in gaining admission, but after learning that we were escorted by officers of the law no trouble was experienced in making a general survey of the premises. The first house visited was that of Dr. Dan Wah, formerly occupied by the city jail. Every apartment was traversed, and while none of the opium smokers were caught, all the equipments were found in perfect order and ready for use. A raid was then made upon the Chinese row, opposite the Baggs stable, where we were more fortunate. Here several celestials were stretched out upon the hard couches, some fully under the influence of the drug, while others were smoking their first pipe. The pipes are of several types, and to describe them without the aid of illustrations would be impossible. Opium is a thick, gummy substance, not unlike black molasses. This is first placed upon a wire and heated over a spirit lamp. It is then placed over a small hole upon the flat bowl of the pipe and ignited by the flame of the lamp. The smoker reclines upon a couch and assisted by an attendant, smokes his fill and then drops of into a drowsy or wakeful dream full of pleasant fancies and experiences. The imagination is excited, the senses are paralyzed and the body is stupefied by the powerful drug.
As soon as our presence became know all the houses were closed, lights were extinguished and the implements of opium smoking were secreted. In response to our demand for admittance, however, the various apartments were opened for inspection and a thorough investigation of the premises was made. No white people were discovered in the dens, but an English speaking Chinaman confessed that quite a number of American opium fiends frequented the place and “hit the pipe” regularly. In most cases the dens are located in the cellars, accessible only through a trap door. Some of the apartments are elegantly furnished, and every comfort is provided for smokers.
The sight is truly one to interest anybody, but it is not everyone that can gain admission to the secret order of “pipe hitters” and unless in possession of the signs, raps and other fraternal signs, it is next to impossible to enter these dens of inequity.
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