From Wealth to Poverty

From Wealth to Poverty, by
Austin Potter

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Title: From Wealth to Poverty
Author: Austin Potter
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FROM WEALTH TO POVERTY;
OR,
THE TRICKS OF THE TRAFFIC.
A Story of the Drink Curse
BY THE REV. AUSTIN POTTER.
"I will ask him for my place again; he shall tell me I am a drunkard.
Had I as many mouths as Hydra, such an answer would stop them all.
To be now a sensible man, by-and-bye a fool, and presently a beast"
--Othello, Act II.
TO THE FRIENDS OF PROHIBITION THE WORLD OVER THIS
BOOK IS RESPECTFULLY DEDICATED
BY THE AUTHOR.

PREFACE
My reasons for writing this story were principally two. The first was
my undying hatred of the rum traffic, which, in the days of the long ago,
caused me and those dear to me to endure intense hardship and
suffering; and the second was my desire to expose the unprincipled
measures which were employed by the liquor party in order to render
the Dunkin Act non-effective, and thus bring it into disrepute.
What I have written has been taken from personal experience and
observation; and as I have resided in three counties where the Act was
in force, and have since visited several others, the data, which served as
a foundation for what follows, was not gleaned from any particular
locality.
The picture I herein present of the plottings of the liquor party, and the
cruel treachery to which they resorted in order to bring their conspiracy
to defeat the law to a successful issue, is not overdrawn; and, let me ask,
can there be any doubt but there are in existence at the present time
plots similar to the one laid bare in this book, which have for their
object the obstruction of the Scott Act in the counties where it has been
or may be carried, thus if possible to bring it into such contempt among
the unthoughtful, who will not examine back of the effect for the cause,
as to finally secure its repeal. Of one thing we may be certain, if an
unscrupulous use of money and the resorting to "ways that are dark"
will accomplish their purpose, these conspirators will not fail of
success.
It has been my aim in this book to help educate public sentiment, so
that if the same tactics are resorted to as were in the places where the
Dunkin Act was in force, my readers will not aid the violators of the
law by joining in the senseless cry, "the Scott Act is a failure," but that
they will, to the extent of their ability, assist those who are determined
that it, like every law which has been placed on our statute books for
the protection of the subject, must and shall be respected, and that the
violators of its enactments shall be brought to summary and condign

punishment: for except it is backed by public sentiment it, though much
superior to the Dunkin Act, will fail just as signally.
In regard to the principal characters who appear in these pages, they are
not mere creations of my imagination; for Richard and Ruth Ashton
were real personages, with whom I was well acquainted, as were all the
prominent individuals of this story.
The descriptions given of the murders and suicides, also of Morris
throwing the tumbler at his son, and of the scene when Allie Ashton
was insulted by Joe Porter