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Monday, June 18, 2018
Page #15
Texas History Minute Alcohol and drug addiction have been problems that have long plagued American society. It wrecks families Dr. Ken and can drag Bridges honest men and women of integrity into lives of theft, lies, and illness in the pursuit of the next high. Recovery can be long and difficult, but not impossible. As the alcohol debate reached its height in the late 1800s, one woman proposed a more direct approach, one that made her a legend. Carrie Nation, the small woman armed with a hatchet and occasional Texas resident, became a nightmare for bar patrons across the country.
their choice. They choose to give control to their addiction, assuring themselves and everyone around them that they can control it or they are different.
“Hatchet Hall,” a boarding house where she offered Bible studies and continued her crusade against alcohol. She continued to travel, but her health began to decline. In January 1911, she gave her last public address. “I have done all I could,” she declared and collapsed into a coma, dying at a hospital in Kansas five months later.
The people around them will notice changes, a few at a time, and then getting steadily worse. They do not even have to be fullblown addicts for the problems to start. Loved ones may never see The problems of alcoholism them drink or take a drug, and may never even fully be certain of what they are on, but they see the effects. They see the person they love drift away, their personalities and interests warped by their addiction.
Friends and even other family, not understanding at all what is going on and reassured by the false promises of the addict, will often defend the addict. At first, they will often believe the accuser is the She was born Carrie Amelia real problem and not the addict. Moore in Central Kentucky in 1846. Her father was a successful And so lifted by their enablers, the planter. However, her mother had addicts will drift further into their addiction. a mental illness. There were no treatments available then, and she An addict can only recover when was eventually institutionalized. they decide they want to do so. The family, often embarrassed, moved often, eventually coming to Tragically, that is often after serious damage is done. All that Missouri. These moves their horrified loved ones can do in increasingly eroded the family’s the meantime is cut ties to save finances. When the Civil War themselves, or if the situation is erupted, the family moved to Grayson County and its perceived bad enough, press charges for their safety far from the fighting but had thefts or assaults or possession. to return to Missouri by 1862 Carrie Nation’s answer to this was because of finances. to remove the temptation entirely. In 1867, she married a physician, By 1900, she began to destroy the source by hurling rocks inside Dr. Charles Gloyd. Her family, however, objected to him because saloons. She was arrested, and the arrests only encouraged her Gloyd was clearly an alcoholic. further. She began using hatchets But it was a stormy relationship, as his drinking steadily destroyed to tear apart bars and destroy the marriage. Within months, the bottles. In 1901, she opened a home in Kansas City for women two separated. The couple had a and children fleeing from the daughter shortly afterward, and violence of alcoholic husbands, Gloyd drank himself to death in which served as one of the 1869. country’s earliest battered women’s shelter. Now a widow and single mother because of alcohol, she went to Ultimately, she was arrested 35 college and earned a teaching times for her attacks on saloons. certificate by 1872. She taught school for several years. In 1874, The fines were usually modest, but she met David Nation, a preacher, she paid for them through donations. She had a large lawyer, and writer. The two following of women who saw the married and moved to Brazoria violent personality changes County, near Houston, in 1877. The couple soon opened a hotel in associated with alcohol abuse and who saw men drink away their nearby Richmond, and her careers, marriages, and even lives. husband briefly wrote for the Houston Post. In 1889, the family Groups of praying women often accompanied her on what she moved to Kansas, where the two called her “hatchetations.” They operated a hotel while David Nation also worked as a preacher. wanted the trail of destruction stopped as well. She enjoyed the attention and started a Carrie Nation’s rage against Prohibitionist newspaper, The alcohol only grew. She soon Hatchet, and made money giving opened a local chapter of the lectures and selling souvenir Women’s Christian Temperance Union and began protests outside hatchets. In the meantime, her daughter began having mental saloons. problems and was briefly committed to a hospital in Texas Alcoholism is not a matter of before Nation brought her to upbringing. It is not a matter of intelligence or how often they go Arkansas. to church. Addicts encounter their drug of choice, and like a switch, In 1906, Nation and her daughter start their descent. Addicts make a moved to Northwest Arkansas. choice, but they do not understand Here, she opened a school and
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continued. The problems that alcoholics and their families face a century later are still the same, but more avenues of help are available for those willing to take the first step. Dr. Bridges is a Texas native, writer, and history professor. He can be reached at drkenbridges@gmail.com.
National Child Safety Council and the GCSO team up for safety
National Child Safety Council and the GCSO are teaming up to provide safety information to the public. Businesses across Grayson County will be receiving letters asking for donations to our crime prevetion program over the next week or so. These funds provide some of the materials that you see here as well as allow us to attend
community events and share crime prevention information with the public. Thank you for all of the support that the community shows to our agency and our programs. If you have any questions about this program or our crime prevention program, pleas contact Capt. Sarah Bigham at bighams@co.grayson.tx.us or 903813-4530.
