Discussions

January 1st A death at the Queen’s Hotel. (1885)  
 
January 1st 1885 in the Barroom of the Queen’s Hotel at the corner of Tenth and Rosser a Scotsman named Mr. John Hugham had spent most of the afternoon at the Bar. By evening he was sitting on a chair Drunk. Witnesses observed him fall from his chair to the floor in a Stupor.  
Thinking he was only passed out on the floor, some of the young New Years revellers being in a frolicsome mood, played tricks on him. They stuffed cigars in his mouth, pushed matches up his nose, and poured water down his throat.  
These jokes were considered very funny until it was realised that the drunken man was lying awfully still and had an odd grey pallor to his face.  
This brought a hush to the room causing the Proprietor, Mr. Dickinson to rush over to take the man’s pulse, where upon he declared “He’s Dead.”  
The Brandon Sun headlines of the next day read “Killed by Whisky” and was subtitled, “It finds victim in city Barroom.”  
An Autopsy found “Mr. John Hugham had died of Congestive Apoplexy due to excessive indulgence in alcoholic stimulants.” It was also noted that the Patron was deceased before the Pranks were performed upon him.  
After this death a campaign was launched to close the Saloons of Brandon headed by the W.C.T.U. who held regular meetings to devise methods of ending Drunkenness forever. To assist in this goal, the men formed a similar group that they named, “The Sons of Temperance” and held similar meetings.  
To try and give an alternative form of recreation the W.C.T.U. opened a reading Room.  
Scam artists who made a living selling cures for Alcoholism started their own movement.  
A Company from Cincinnati advertised that their product called “Golden Pacific” was guaranteed to cure the “Liquor Habit”. When a wife had purchased a bottle of their elixir, for of course a “Nominal Sum” all she had to do is to secretly slip a couple of drops of the potion in their Husbands Coffee or Tea.  
The advertisement promised to, “Effect a speedy and permanent cure, whether the patient is a ‘moderate drinker’ or an’ alcoholic wretch’.  
The Ad. goes on to say, “Thousands of Drunkards have been made “Temperate Men” after taking Golden Specific in their coffee with out their knowledge, and today believe they quit drinking of their own free will”.  
There is no record of how many wives slyly doctored their Husbands beverages because they performed the deed in secret, and the community did not condone this practice either so it was not spoken about in public.  
 
Note: The Woman's Christian Temperance Union (W.C.T.U.) was organized in 1874 by women who were concerned about the problems alcohol was causing their families and society. The members chose total abstinence from all alcohol as their life style, and protection of the home as their watchword.  
Source: A book by MacDonald Coleman. (1957)