SAYS HE EATS POKE ROOT.
Remarkable Habit of Man for Whom
Police are Caring.
Patrolman Hall found a man sitting on the sidewalk at Twenty-eighth street and Wabash avenue late Wednesday night. He was very weak and incoherent and the policeman sent him to headquarters for "safe keeping."
When the "safe keepers" were released early yesterday morning this man, who gave the name of Calvin A. Miller, 40 years old, was still unable to take care of himself. Dr. W. L. Gist examined him,, and Miller said he had been chewing poke root.
"I gathered the herb myself," said Miller feebly, "and became so fond of it that it became a necessity. It has undermined my constitution so that I can not work any more."
Miller had been acting as janitor of the flats near where he was found, but the eating of poke root had so incapacitated him that he could not work. Although only 40 years old, he looks and acts like an aged, broken down man. Dr. Gist sent him to the general hospital for treatment.
"I have seen and heard of many persons who use drugs," said the doctor, "but this is the first case of a person being addicted to poke root that I ever heard of."
The pokeberry plant is a common herb, of the genus phytolacca. It is non-poisonous, possessing emetic and diuretic properties. The tincture made from the root is is extensively used in the treatment of disease. Poke root may be found in profusion in all parts of Jackson county.
