Forum Title: LIZZIE BORDEN SOCIETY
Topic Area: Fall River and Its Environs
Topic Name: Opium Dens in Fall River

1. "Opium Dens in Fall River"
Posted by edisto on Jun-9th-02 at 10:51 AM

Last night I was browsing through the second volume of "Victorian Vistas" and noted an article from December of 1889 pertaining to an "Alarming Discovery Made by a Reporter."  Apparently several of the Chinese laundries in Fall River were fronts for opium dens!  An undercover reporter visited two laundries, located on Bedford and Pleasant Streets, pretending to seek opium.  At both establishments, he was directed to squalid back rooms where customers were partaking of the drug.  One was a well-dressed young woman, who had fallen into a stupor after smoking opium.  Of course, we all know that one of the Bordens' neighbors (at 101 Second Street) was the Gew Lee Chinese Laundry!  This might make a great plot for a Lizzie book.  Unknown to anyone else, Lizzie had become an opium fiend!  She needed money to support her habit!  She was in an opium-induced trance when she committed the murders!
This book is full of fascinating stories.  One is about a young woman who was roaming downstreet Fall River in broad daylight - completely nude.  Another concerns a group of construction workers who concocted an elaborate practical joke.  They stuffed a pair of coveralls with wastepaper and set the effigy up on a factory roof, manipulating it to look as if it were alive and about to fall off the roof.  Then it did fall, and some in the crowd below nearly swooned.  The police and an ambulance were called.  There's also an account of a manslaughter trial in which the opposing counsels were - Knowlton and Jennings!


2. "Re: Opium Dens in Fall River"
Posted by Susan on Jun-9th-02 at 3:19 PM
In response to Message #1.

Wow, that sounds like a great read, Edisto!  Victorian Vistas is a magazine, I take it?  This sounds like it might be right up Kat's alley, Lizzie Borden, the opium fiend! 


3. "Re: Opium Dens in Fall River"
Posted by william on Jun-9th-02 at 5:01 PM
In response to Message #1.

There is a diagram showing the location of Lee's Laundry on Second Street in Rebello (p.563). It is diagonally opposite Dr. Kelly's house. There is also a photograph of the laundry on page 149 in the Knowlton Papers.
I agree with Edisto's endorsement. This is a great set of books (3 vols.) about Fall River, chock full of interesting and informative photographs.
The only criticism I have is the photographs are not individually identified. You must flip to the table of illustrations in the front of the books to find the title for each picture.  Nevertheless they should be a welcome addition to any Bordenian's library.


4. "Re: Opium Dens in Fall River"
Posted by Kat on Jun-9th-02 at 8:06 PM
In response to Message #2.

While I understand the effects of cocaine and amphetamines, I'm not too aware of those of opium.
There is hallucination, right?
But could a person kill under the effects?  (A person, that is, who is not of the "criminal class" and not attuned to murder?)
Or would they just fall asleep, or experience lethargy?

That IS a cool find, Edisto!
Were those places illegal?


5. "Re: Opium Dens in Fall River"
Posted by edisto on Jun-9th-02 at 8:46 PM
In response to Message #4.

My husband (who I hope isn't an expert!) says it was perfectly legal to offer opium to customers (or to smoke it) in those days.  It probably depended on local ordinance, however.  It turns out the Chinese laundries were also fronts for gambling enterprises, which apparently WERE illegal.  In response to the question about the format of "Victorian Vistas," it's a hefty (and expensive)three-volume set of books.  I agree with William that it would be nice if the pix had individual captions.  Due to the fact that they don't, I overlooked until today what's possibly the best find in the volume I have.  It's a picture(actually two pictures)that I hadn't paid any attention to until I read Silvia's captions, which are all in the front of the book.  The picture in question evidently belongs to the FRHS, and I'm wondering if anyone has made an effort to authenticate it.  I don't want to get all excited until I find out more about it, but it is intriguing.


6. "Re: Opium Dens in Fall River"
Posted by Kat on Jun-9th-02 at 11:31 PM
In response to Message #5.

They don't happen to be of William Davis and Billy Borden, do they?

So to add to our new "lurid" fantasy Lizzie, she could be out smoking opium and Gambling!
She NEEDED the dough to pay off her bookie and her source!
(Can interchange Bridget with Lizzie in this scenerio...)


7. "Re: Opium Dens in Fall River"
Posted by Edisto on Jun-10th-02 at 11:37 AM
In response to Message #6.

No, alas, no Billys of any stripe, I fear.  These are pictures of young women, all dressed up to the nines.  They seem to be enjoying an al fresco tea party in one picture and lounging about a gazebo in another.  They're wonderfully clear pictures of the fashions of the late nineteenth century, although I don't think anyone is wearing Bedford cord


8. "Re: "Victorian Vistas""
Posted by Kat on Jun-10th-02 at 4:13 PM
In response to Message #7.

This is a rare book, I take it?
I think Stefani was outbid for one of these not too long ago.
Do you (or family member) have the ability and wherewithal to scan the picture that's most interesting?
Putting it up in front of a bunch'o'Bordenites might get a consensus of opinion...


9. "Re: "Victorian Vistas""
Posted by Susan on Jun-11th-02 at 11:49 AM
In response to Message #8.

Yes, please, Edisto.  If you can scan and post, I'd love to see what a treasure you have! 


10. "Re: "Victorian Vistas""
Posted by edisto on Jun-11th-02 at 2:35 PM
In response to Message #9.

Actually, I do have the ability to scan the pix.  I want to try a small experiment of my own before I do so, but I'll definitely share the clearer of the two views within the next few days.  I'm not sure the other one would be of any interest.  At the very least, the outfits on these young women deserve a look-see.


11. "Re: "Victorian Vistas""
Posted by Susan on Jun-11th-02 at 10:35 PM
In response to Message #10.

Thanks, Edisto! 


12. "Re: "Victorian Vistas""
Posted by edisto on Jun-13th-02 at 11:26 AM
In response to Message #11.

I don't think I'm going to be able to post the pictures after all.  The reason is that some material from this forum is turning up elsewhere, so I have to be very careful what I share here.  Please understand that I post on this forum because it's where I want my remarks to appear.  If I want them posted elsehwere, I'll do it myself.  Others may have different ideas, of course.


13. "Re: "Victorian Vistas""
Posted by rays on Jun-14th-02 at 2:15 PM
In response to Message #12.

Could you post a link to that site?


14. "Re: "Victorian Vistas""
Posted by Edisto on Jun-14th-02 at 8:52 PM
In response to Message #13.

Sorry!  There is no website (that I know of).  The pix are in a set of books.  I wish somebody (not me) would put them on a website, but there are a huge number of pictures (some of which aren't all that interesting, admittedly).  I found a few of them very interesting, however.


15. "Re: Opium Dens in Fall River"
Posted by Kat on Jul-25th-02 at 6:25 AM
In response to Message #5.

The Evening Standard, June 14, 1893, pg. 6:

"SAID HE KILLED THE BORDENS

Curious Story Told by a Barber of Newark, N. J.

Newark, N. J., June 14. --- William M. Devere, a barber, yesterday said to Police Captain McManus: 'One day last fall a man entered my shop.  He was about 5 feet 6 inches tall and weighed about 150 pounds. He wore a heavy black beard and mustache.  His hair was black.  He was about 45 years of age.  His clothes were neat.  He wore a black Derby hat and no coat.  He said he wanted me to shave off his hair, beard and mustache.  I did so.  He offered me a chew of opium, which I refused.  When I finished shaving the man he asked for writing paper.  He wrote three letters.  They did not seem to suit him, so he rewrote them.  He wrote a fine hand, and appeared to be trying to disguise his handwriting.  He acted strangely.  Before the man went away he looked at himself in the glass and said: "You wouldn't know me, would you?"  I told him "No, I would not.'"He left behind two spoiled sheets of paper on the floor.  One of them was addressed to Mayor Coughlin of Fall River.  It read: "I murdered Mrs. Borden.  I did it out of revenge.  It is no use trying to catch me, because I am so disguised you would not know me." '   Devere had not heard of the Borden murder, and he burned the sheet.  The police don't know what to make of it. "


16. "Re: Opium Dens in Fall River"
Posted by Susan on Jul-25th-02 at 2:38 PM
In response to Message #15.

Wow, it looks as if this stuff traveled fast and furious!  Newark, NJ?  And what of Mr. Borden?  Strange stuff! 


17. "Re: Opium Dens in Fall River"
Posted by rays on Jul-25th-02 at 5:14 PM
In response to Message #15.

Aren't the police constantly bothered by false confessions from people who need medical attention? That's one reason why they keep back some of the facts.

My answer to this bearded guy: what caliber revolver did you use on Mrs Borden, Mr Borden, and their maid?

"I used a .38."

Thanks, and the Dr will see you now.


18. "Re: Opium Dens in Fall River"
Posted by Edisto on Jul-25th-02 at 8:31 PM
In response to Message #15.

As gossipy as barbers are, it's a little hard to believe this one hadn't heard of the Borden case in the year since it had happened.


19. "Re: Opium Dens in Fall River"
Posted by Stefani on Jul-25th-02 at 11:53 PM
In response to Message #18.

I just finished watching FROM HELL with Johnny Depp about Jack the Ripper. It was full of wonderful atmosphere. In it Depp plays Frederick Abberline and they made him an opium addict. They called it "slave to the dragon"---he also used Absenth (sic) and laudnum (sic) which is a derivative of opium.

He would hallucinate, see the murders before they happened. From what I gathered from this film and Once Upon a Time in America (the only other movie I remember that had opium dens in it), you are pretty much out of it while smoking. There is no way somebody could wield an axe while on that stuff!



 

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