64 



Five Thousand Dollars a Minute. 



AFTER a crusade of about six 

 months, the police of Los An- 

 geles, Calif., have destroyed the re- 

 sults of their successful raids on opium 

 dens in an immense $25,000 bonfire, 

 the flames of which were fed by con- 

 fiscated marihuana, contraband opium 

 and "hop" pipes. This strange fire 

 was ignited by inspectors for the State 

 Board of Pharmacy at the Plaza in Los 

 Angeles, Calif. 



The motion picture companies all 

 sent men to the 

 spot. A battery 

 of cameras was 

 set up. One of 

 the accompany- 

 ing pictures 

 shows three 

 cameras busily 

 taking "close 

 ups" just before 

 the match was 

 applied. Several 

 more cameras 

 are in the back- 

 ground. 



One ton of 

 marihuana o r 

 "Indian hemp" 

 was put on the 

 fire. Marihuana 

 is a weed with 

 narcotic proper- 

 ties, is closely 

 akin to hash- 

 eesh, and is 

 smoked when 

 dry. It is in par- 

 ticular favor 



with Mexicans. A ton of it at retail 

 prices would bring $16,000. A great 

 number of tael cans of opium appraised 

 at about $7,000 furnished additional fuel. 

 Among the confiscated goods were fifty 

 opium pipes. 



One was taken from an old China- 

 man who had smoked since he was a 

 boy. He was convicted in court and paid 

 his fine without a murmur. But when 

 the officers told him his pipe would be 

 confiscated, tears came to his eyes. He 

 offered first $50 for its return, and then 

 by jumps of $50 each brought the 

 price up to $400. 



Popular Science Monthly 



Hundreds were at the scene of the fire, 

 some drawn by curiosity, others to take 

 a farewell look at the precious burning 

 dream-stufif. 



The officers placed big wooden 

 boxes in a square and then set pipes. 



Half a dozen cameras lined 

 up to film the big little fire 



cans, bottles, trays and small boxes of 

 the "dope" on them. 



Wires were strung around the 

 square and the pipes were hung in a 

 row. On the boxes also, were scat- 

 tered paper slips with Chinese char- 

 acters on them. These were confis- 

 cated lottery tickets. 



The officers poured on coal oil and 

 applied the torch. In five minutes it was 

 a pile of tin cans and ashes. 



