Edgefield Advertiser

A hard Case.--An incident occurred on Sunday last, in one of the respectable quiet streets of our city, which at any time would have been frightful, but in those temperance days is most passing strange.

A young man, whose father on dying a few years since, left him a fortune of $30,000, was seen to drive up to the residence of his family in a cab, so beastly intoxicated, so awful in appearance, as to strike every one with abhorrence. He was without coat or hat, and the rest of his scanty clothing was torn to pieces and covered with dirt, while from the frightful gashes of his head the blood streamed down over his face, a spectacle of horror!

Such a spectacle--such an object--to present itself on the Sabbath day at the house of a MOTHER! And this is a wine-drinker--one whom we doubt not has always been a strenuous advocate for an "occasional glass"--that occasional glass which is the source and origin of all the damning evils that bloated drunkenness accumulates upon his head. This young gentleman, not yet 23 years of age, thus attired in his tattered and bloody habiliments, pitched from the cab on the pavement, and then staggered up the steps that led to his mother's dwelling. But fortunately that poor mother was spared the appalling exhibition. The family had just gone to church, and the son was denied admission by the servants. This refusal enraged the drunkard, who in attempting to force the shutters, raised one by the hinge, which then fell upon him heavily, wounding and prostrating him upon the pavement, from whence he was taken into the house, and subsequently removed to the hospital. This really frightful scene was witnessed by a crowd of several hundred persons, drawn together by the raving of the drunken maniac. His history--brief, brilliant, beastly, should furnish a powerful lesson to the gentlemanly young topers who are so conceitedly following in the same path.--Saturday Museum.