THE NOTORIOUS DRUNKEN POLLY WALTON (1880)
In 1879, alcoholism was practically a crime. And in many cases it was to be punished all the more severely in order that a change might be affected in its indulger. You either drank or you stopped drinking. There was precious little middle ground and relatively little pity for the alcoholic. THE CASE OF POLLY WALTON Polly Walton must have faced some difficult circumstances in her life, as she had at one time had everything – a life, a career, a husband, and two lovely daughters who had married well and were happy in their lives. For Polly, though, something had gone seriously wrong. After her husband died and her girls were married, her life had become a series of mornings awoken on the floors of jail cells, recovering from far too much alcohol and far too little memory of what had transpired the night before. Frequently in front of judges, she had gotten very good at promising them everything they wanted to hear. Polly, though, was referred to in the court system as “an old offender.” She was expected to be seen again and again, slowly moving in a downward spiral until one day she was no longer around – a faceless victim of crime which brought her to her last confinement – the city morgue. “Polly has spent at least nine-tenths of the past five years in prison as a penalty for her passion for strong drink,” so stated the Brooklyn Daily Eagle. HER DAYS IN COURT On […]
