The AA Triangle: Unity Service Recovery Mapped to Mind Body Spirit – Earl H.

If you want to be perfect, God gave me the serenity to accept the things I cannot change, the courage to change the things that I can, and the wisdom to know the difference. Friends, God give us two eyes, two ears, and one mouth, so we can see and hear twice before we speak once. And during all of my years in AA before and after, I want to speak to you what my two eyes have seen and what my ears have heard. During those years whatever I tell you and whatever you learn from this speech, I know it's going to do you a lot of good. My lead is going to be something of miracles quote before AA and after AA. But you follow my lead and you'll see that God has got something to do right from the very beginning after I followed with my lead. God is through the whole lead. Last night, Clarence Snyder mentioned about how tough it was from the beginning of AA. It was tough, it was tough in those days. I remember we would have maybe 25, 30 or 40 members in AA who passed the collection box. Very seldom you'd find a quarter in there. There would be pennies, nickels and dimes. That's how tough it was from the beginning. It looked tough like Clarence Snyder said. this. Clarence Snyder opened the Borton Group on a bathroom, the world's first AA group, the Bortons. He had it tough, like he said last night, that they followed him and wanted to break the group up, but he stuck to it. He fought it. What did he have when they opened the Borden Group? He asked Mr. Borton to go ahead and give them a little place to hold the AA meeting. Mr. Dr. Borton was given a recreation room to hold the first AA meeting. The first AA meeting that was held, the world's first AA meeting. A pioneer group and we are all pioneers today. I mentioned when I led Clarence Snyder's 43rd anniversary in Cleveland that he opened up in Cleveland and Heights, the first group. And I mentioned then that I was standing on the mountain in Colorado Springs, and I wondered how them pioneers ever made it through the West to open the trail through the west. They died. They closed the depth, carved the depth. They had the detour from the Colorado Mountains to New Mexico to the flat ground, but they they made it. And that's the way it is in alcoholic synonyms. There are millions and millions of alcoholics that have died from alcoholism. And we have learned from their experience that this is the only solution that Clarence Snyder started from Akron, Ohio when they tried to break them up. Whatever you do to go ahead after you lay your heads on pillows fellows, tonight, next month, next year, two or three or four years from now, concentrate on what I'm going to tell you. And you will see that God has got everything to do with it. He's got everything to do with it. I'll begin with my first dream. In 1912, my grandfather bought a pop-belly stove and he gave me five cents in the bucket to go to the saloon and get a five-cent bucket of beer to celebrate the pop- belly stove. And I remember him telling my my grandmother to be sure to go ahead and rub the inside of the pail so it'll kill the foam and you get more beer for a nickel. I brought that pail of beer home. He filled three glasses, one for each other, and that was the first drink I had in 1912. In those days, people raised large families, and there was either a christening or a birthday party, and I'd always manage to get my beer at the christening her birthday. If there wasn't, the saloon keeper's son was a friend of mine, and we'd go down to his father's basement and drink POC Pilsner beer. Now, I'm going to changed the scene from that saloon basement for five minutes. I was playing peg night between the curb and the sidewalk, and I seen a drunken man coming towards me, and those day children were afraid of drunken men, so I ran on the yard, put the hook down the gate waiting for the drunkenman to go by, but instead, Mr. Kurtz, the most respected and the most wealthiest man in the community, approached this drunkenmen. As long as Mr. Kurtz was there, I wasn't afraid. But I was inquisitive to see what Mr. Kurtz would tell him, the drankenman, and these are the words I heard. With his hand on Stanley's shoulder. He said, Stanley, you are a good man, Stanley. You got a nice wife, nice children, nice home, and a good job. But Stanley, you drink too much. Look at me, Stanley! I drink every day. I take a drink in the morning, drink at noon, and drink at night. Stanley, did you ever see me drunk? Never, Mr. Kirk. Never. That was the first time I ever heard anybody say about drinking too much! The next time I see Mr. Kirks talking to a drunken man, I was inquisitive again, and I heard these words. Harry, you are a good man. But you drink too much, Harry. You got a nice wife, nice children, a good job with a nice home. You drink too many things. Too much Harry. Look at me, Harry, I drink every day. I take a drink in the morning, drink at noon and a drink at night. Did you ever see me drunk? Never, Mr. Kirk. Now, Mr., Kirk's name is coming back to 1919 and then 1949. Remember what I said that he was the most wealthiest man in the community and the most respected man in this community and see what those years in 1949 will do. Now, I was a young boy going to the parochial school in Lorain, Ohio, in one of the biggest churches that they built in Lorrain, Ohio. The biggest parish in the county. And the priest would go ahead and have me do different errands for him. He'd send me down to the basement to go ahead and fill the containers with holy wine. Now, God asked Adam and Eve in the orchard and instructed them not to go ahead and take any fruit. But they did. And that changed the history of the world. But the priest isn't saying that I shouldn't drink any wine. They didn't tell me I should do it. But I always drank some of the holy wine when I was held in a container. And believe me, I drank so much of that holy wine sometimes I was really thinking I was holy. Now they built that big church, the biggest church in Lorain County, and they had a vote. they wanted to go ahead and have a boy guide the Jesus in a manger on the grand opening of the church December the 25th. Well, God was born on December the 25st. It's a good thing we have a man Clarence Ryder born one day later that God has guided him December the 26th. They wanted to have a boys guide the Christ Jesus in the manger and by a coincidence I was voted a guide to Jesus in his manger. The church was filled with capacity and standing rooms all locked inside And I'm guiding Jesus in manger. And what did I say? Remember these words through my whole name. Don't worry, Jesus. I'm guarding you. I'm protecting you that no harm will come to you. Those are the words. In 1917, I had the soldier's uniform on and a rifle for waiting for President Wilson on Superior Avenue in Cleveland. That December the 25th, I was guiding Jesus in manger on Christmas Day. And I said, don't worry Jesus. I have a rifle in the uniform now to guide you and protect you that no harm will come to you. Remember those words. I got a job in 1919 in the post office as a letter carrier. And you know how letter carriers deliver mail from house to house? And from a distance, I see a drunken man coming down the sidewalk, staggering from one side to the other, and I said, Oh, no, no! It can't be him! him. That can't be Mr. Kirk. But the nearer he got to me, the more convinced I was it was Mr. Kurtz. It was only a half a block from where he lived I helped him get home with my mail carrier's uniform and I said all these years from 1912 to 1919 we were telling people all the drunks that he picked up drinking in the morning and drink at noon and drinkat night and nobody ever seen him drunk. Well by golly he is drunk now. And And every time I seen Mr. Kersak did that, he was drunk. In 1929, he lost everything that he had. Now, he's an alcoholic. He doesn't take a drink in the morning and a drink at noon and a drink at night. He's got to have something to drink all day and all night. And he's both. So he manufactured his own booze in the federal agent's home. And he knew how wealthy he was, so they didn't press any sizes. He was only making the booze for himself. Six months later, he died. Now there's an example of a man drinking potably. A drink in the morning, a drink at noon, and a drink at night. Now, in 1919, I got a job in that post office and in 1920, I was I got married. And my wife said I was drinking a little too much and I says, I'll try to cut it down. I'm going to the bootlegger and I'm only going to pay three quarters and I can't get drunk on three quarters. I'm not even going to drive the car arm on the water. As I walked down East Avenue, I heard somebody call my name and looked around. It was a fireman with a firemen's uniform, and he says, Ed, where are you going? I said, I'm going over to get a couple of drinks. Come on in here. They sell it in here, so I went in. I bought him a drink and bought myself a drink that day. I'll buy another drink, but I only had three quarters. I only got one left. That's all right. The bootleg will cash your checks. Your checks are good. I didn't bring my checkbook. He's got some blank checks here. That was on the 18th day of June. I cashed the check for $25. Two o'clock in the morning, I wanted to go home. The bootlegger says, don't go. He says, plenty of rooms up there. Sleep up here. So the farm and I slept there. My wife took breakfast and lunch at two in time and supper at supper time. And I cash more checks. More checks on the third and the fourth and the fifth and sixth day didn't even go out of the house until the the 8th day of July. I only intended to buy three drinks. When I went home on the 8th Day of July, my wife said, I thought you said you was going to go to the bootlegger and spend three quarters while you were going from the 18th day, the day of June until the 8TH day of Juli. I found another place to live. You know too many bootleggers in Lorraine. We're going to move to a small town. Fine. We moved to another county in a small town. Now it wasn't too long. I knew who the bootlegging was in Loraine and any other county. in 1922 I found out that I was an alcoholic my hands would shake but I found a solution for it oh boy did I find a good solution for that by taking something to drink it would stop the shake so I had the shakes go darn off then I had to go ahead and drink more and I was in the second stages of alcoholism and in 23 I was in the third stages of alcoholics and in 1924 I was in the fourth stages of alcohol I'd walk through the wood and chew on bark and leaves and look, thinking I'd find a chemical that'll stop the craving after home. Nothing helped. And if any of you never went through the third or fourth phases of alcoholism, thank God that you never will. Because if you think Halloween has funny faces, you should go through the third and fourth phases of alcoholics and see the funniest faces you've ever seen in your life, even with your eyes closed. My in-laws offered me a solid gold wash if I stopped drinking for 30 days. I couldn't stop for 30 minutes. When the Warner Brothers studios asked me to come to Hollywood and write the script for The Lost Weekend, and Ray Moland won the Oscar. I had one hell of a time showing the carpenters how to go ahead and build the dummy walls so they could shove snakes and rats and little mice down there in the hay to lift walls. That was the third and fourth stages of alcoholism. What am I going to do to top this training of alcohol? So I wanted to go head and get a shotgun and shoot myself. But the bell was too long and I couldn't, so something told me to go hand in the hang myself. shot. So I went in the garage and got a rope, and I threw it over the rim. Threw the rope over the limb, and when I was ready to put the loop around my neck, I licked the guard that somebody was taking a picture of that to see hundreds and hundreds of birds flying all over me, my face and head and body and all over. I didn't even have time to put the loop along my neck. I pulled the rope back off of the limb and threw it alongside of the guard as we walked down the path and seen all them birds on the limb. What the the hell was them birds flying all over me? Remember what I said. I'm guiding Jesus in a manger. Now he's guiding and possessing me. There was no Catholic church in Florence, Ohio, so I drove my Model T Ford to Wakeman. He said, Father, tell him that, Father. I've got a terrible alcoholic problem. Will you please help me? He put his hand on my shoulder and he said, Son, go home and pray. God will answer your prayers. Father, I already done done that. He put his hand back on my shoulder again, and he said, son, go home and pray harder and pray longer. God will answer your prayers. That was the first time I had any confidence that something was going to happen with my alcoholic problem. I went home and prayed 19, 24, 25, 26, 27, 28, 29, with blisters on my knees. God, how much longer do you want me to pray to help me with that alcoholic problem? But I remember what the priest said, and prayed harder and longer and I prayed five days longer and the vision of God appeared in the front of me and the voice of God said slowly take your family and move to Ravenna, Ohio there you will meet a well-dressed man four and a half billion people on this earth wouldn't know who that well-deaf man would be not even he not even me only God knew what he would be I told my wife about it and she says that must be an answer to your alcoholic problem Where is LaVanna? Being acquainted with cities and state while working in the post office, I said it's near Ackland in Forty Town. The following Sunday we moved to Forty Towers, drove to LaVienna, Ohio, looked over the town, stayed overnight, rented a place on Wall Street, come back to Florence, Ohio. Arranged a moving van. A day before moving, like all of us thought it would say, I won't go any bootleggers in LaVANNA, I better take a supply with me. So I went to a barber and got three gallons of blackberry wine, went to a bootlegger and got two gallons of whiskey. The next day the van told me I put that in a Model C Ford sedan and followed the van to Ravenna, Ohio. We set up housekeeping on a Tuesday. I told my wife on a Wednesday I'm going to go ahead and follow God's instructions and meet the well-dressed man. I stood on corners in Ravenna have moved in different spots all day long. Nothing happened. When I got home, my wife said, did you have any luck finding the well-dressed man? I said, as low as that is, it's the way that God said that. He says, move to a van and there you will meet a well-deaf man, not find him. Thursday was the second day. I stopped at different spots and moved in different places. In the afternoon, I went into a hat store and bought a dirty hat the same as Jimmy Walker, the mayor of New York City wore. I thought I'd be presentable when when I meet the well-dressed man. Friday was the third day. Nothing happened. Saturday to 4th, Sunday to 5th, Monday to 6th, Tuesday to 7th, Wednesday to 8th, Thursday to 9th, Friday to 10th, and Friday to 11th. Nothing happened! God, what are you doing to me? I followed your instructions for 11 days! I didn't even take time to go ahead and look for a bootlegger only to meet the well dressed man. My three gallons of blackberry wine are gone, I'm down to the bottom of the second gallon on the whiskey and I haven't met the well-dressed man. What are you doing to me, God? I was distrusted on that 11 days. The next day was Sunday. I thought I had a little more whiskey in the second gallon. I knew the wine was all gone, and that was it. God, what are you torturing me for? I followed your instructions. I was so sick and shaky, my eyes were bloodshot, and I said, God forgive me. I'm too sick and too shaky to go ahead and look for the meat. Beat the a well-dressed man today, but please, Lord, help me find a bootlegger or I'm going to die. I was afraid to drive my model T-board, so I walked. As I walked, I prayed, God, help him find a Bootlegger, or I want to die. My head was ready to fall off of my shoulders as I tripped over it. Finally, I stopped and I looked up in the sky and I said, thank you, Lord. Thank you, you are good to me after all. I seen a drunken man that Sunday morning come and talk to me at 930. I stopped this drunken man, and I showed him my shaky hands. I said, mister, I'm not a revenue agent. I'm an alcoholic. Will you please help me find the bootlegger? That man was drunk. And he was so kind, he took me to the army. He said, sure, I'll take you to a bootlegder. We walked back about a block from the direction he came. And I said he can't be the well-dressed man. He's just an ordinary dressed man. He took me through a back end of a two-story brick building, introduced me to Sam, the bootleggers. Sam, this is a friend of mine. He wants something to drink. The pint and the pitcher of wine, I said yes. We sat down at one of those 30 by 30 tables one side against the wall. And the pitcher or wine and a pint of whiskey come. I says fill the glasses. I'm too shaky. So he filled himself a glass, one ounce glass of whiskey and a half a glass of wine. I says pour my whiskey in this wine glass. He poured about over a half a glass a whiskey and I downed there. But I didn't forget what I prayed for. I said thank you Lord. Thank you for showing me this man man to bring me doodle, nigger. I would have died. He drank a shot of liquor and washed it with wine. He says, I was on my way home when I met you and ate this. Thanks for the drink. I hope to see you again. He walked out. I finished the rest of the pint, ordered another pint to have a couple of drinks out of that. My shakes calmed down. They were calmed now. That seat is empty now. This man just walked away from that seat. I'm sitting right across from him. And the door opened up in a nightless well. This This man walked in and said to Sam, get me a pint and a pitcher of wine. That well-dressed man came over to my table and said, can you use some company? Mr. Scott, I used some company. Please sit down and have a drink. I poured him out a drink in his one-ounce glass, but he was as shaky as I was. I said, you need a stiff drink. So I poured them out about three-quarters of a glass of whiskey in his wine glass, and he downed that, and it was like only five minutes ago what he said. Did I need that this morning? Did I mean that this moment? I said, isn't there somebody on this God's earth who can help people like you and I with an alcoholic problem? He reached over his hand. By the way, my name is Smith. I figured when in the days of 1929, who gave a right name in a bootleggin' joint or checked in a motel or hotel? You always check in under an alias name. And I figured he'd give me an alia's name. I said to Smith, glad to meet you. My name is Johnson. I said, isn't there somebody on this God's earth who can help people like you and I? Johnson may have tried everything for hundreds and hundreds of years and they haven't found the solution for it yet. Schmitty, I'm going to find a solution if it's going to kill me because if I don't, this booze is going to tell me anyway. I hope you do find a Solution, Johnson. His hands were calming down. He was calming down from the tricks that he had. And I said Schmity, I am going to tend you something and I want you to listen to every word I tell you. Johnson, I'm listening. And I told Schmitty just what I told you. How I walked through the woods and chewed on vines and leaves and was thinking I'd find a chemical to go ahead and stop the craving of alcohol. How I went to the priest and the priest told me to pray. I prayed for five years and five days in a vision of God that's here and the voice of God said take your family and move to a van or hire there. You'll meet a well-dressed man. Schmity, I looked for 11 days to meet that well-deaf man. man. This morning is the 12th day on a Sunday, and I said, God forgive me, I'm too tricked and too shaky to look for the well-dressed man. And here you come in, this hell's family. We want a picture of wine and a pint of whiskey. And you came over to my table and asked me if I could use some company. You are the well dressed man. And he looked at me and he said, Johnson, this is very, very, very interesting. Smitty, my wife will be so glad that I finally located the well dressed man when you come over to the house and meet the family. Not this Sunday, Johnson, but I promised to be over some other Sunday. Sam is getting my supply ready and I'll be over at the mother's Sunday. Sam get me a pint to take out. I can't wait till I get home and tell the wife that I finally located the well-dressed man. And I even took short cuts through the field getting down on Wall Street in Havana. When I got home and told the wife, well, it finally happened. I've located the Well-Dressed Man. Why didn't you ask him to come over? I did. But he promised to bring over some of the Sundays. Oh, I was so happy that I mostly did the well-dressed man who went over to the Branson's Piano Night by playing and singing. High waves are happy days when they lead the way to home. That night I was back to the bootlegger. Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday, Friday, Saturday, looking for Schmitty I didn't see him and I said to Sam, I said has Schmity been around this week? Oh, he don't come around during the week only on Sunday morning. So the next day was Sunday and Schmety was already there and he put his arms around me, Johnson, I thought about you all weekend and what you told me is something so interesting. Johnson, I never want to lose you. I never wanna lose you Smitty. I don't want to loose you either. You're my well dressed man as God told me about. So Smitty can you make it down to the house and meet the family today? No Sam has got my supply ready to go ahead and take and he says I can't go ahead and make it today but I'll promise to be over some other Sunday. Now that's two Sundays that I met Smitty I know by the name of Smith. He knows me for the name of Johnson. So he went with his supply, and I got my supply, and I went home. I was back down to the bootlegger that Sunday night, Monday and Tuesday night. Now, that's two Sundays and two nights later on at the bootlegging table set where I met Schmitty. Two Sundays and three nights previous. And I was so relaxed when I finally located a well-dressed man, and what God said was true, that I would locate a well dressed this man. So now we're going to change the scene from this bootlegger table just like he changed the scene before. To change the theme, I'm going to tell you what happened two and a half months previous to that, and then we're coming back to the bootlegging table. Two and a hal month previous to death, I came home very drunk. And I got up that morning, shaky as I always was, and I always tried to manage to have a pint of an eye open in the morning, but I looked through the clothesline and saw all the folks and there was no pint. I laid on the bed and I said, I know that I had a pint in there. I tried it again. Tried all the posts, nothing there. There it is again. I lay down on the bed, God, you've got to help. You've got to help me get something to drink. I'm going to die in this bed if you don't help me, God. I called the wife and I says, Lord, you see, the way I came home drunk last night and I say, while I'm coming home, I fell down and I hurt my back I said, you got me the rubbing alcohol to rub my back. No, I haven't. She wasn't an alcoholic and didn't understand an alcoholic. But I'll go and get some. She went and got a bottle of rubbing alcohol. I turned around and she rubbed my back and you never believe how anxious I was for her to go ahead and stop rubbing my back while I had to tell her, well, that feels better, that's enough. Put the bottle of rubbing alcohol on the nightstand and I said when you go out get me a pitcher of water and a glass. She got a pitcher water and glass and I says when you come out close the bedroom door please. She closed the bedroom doors as soon as that bedroom door was closed I grabbed that pitcher of water, and I filled a half a glass of water in the rest of the rubbing alcohol. And I downed that as fast as I could and swallowed hard so I wouldn't heave it up. And I laid on the bed for five minutes, and I could feel my hands pounding down. Then I got up again and filled another half a cup of water in the rectum with rubbing alcohol, and I said, God, you've got to help me get this down here. I said I'm too shaky, I said. You have to help us, God. I drank the second glass of rubbing alcohol and I started putting on my trousers and socks and shoes and shirts and I walked out in the kitchen and my wife looked at me and she goes, are you up already? She said, you will never believe in your life how much that loving alcohol helps you. You will never believe in your love. She sent in what she rubbed on my back and I'm talking about the two glasses that I drank internally with crossbones on their toilet used externally only. I went to the booth like this and I got a pint of whiskey and a fourth bottle of home brew He sat in there calming my shape down, and that's when I said to him, God, please help me to never go through this torture as long as I live, that I have to drink rubbing alcohol to stop the kick. I'm asking you, God, just please help us never to go through the torture again. Now we're coming back to the bootlegger where I met Smitty two Sundays and two nights three days previous. you. I'm sitting down there and I said, friend, get me a gallon of whiskey and a pint to take out. He got a gallon of whiskey in the pint. I went home and got a shovel and I dug a hole 10 by 14. And I put that gallon in the hole and a board over top of it. And I stood there and looked up in the sky. God, I need your help. Please God, help me. Never to touch that gallon of whiskey in that hole unless I'm too tricky and too shaky to make it to the bootlegger. Please help me, God. back two Sundays and two days later I was down at the bootlegger on a Wednesday, Thursday, Friday Saturday, Sunday, the third Sunday Schmitty will be there I'll be glad to go ahead and see my well-dead Schmanny Schmilly was already outside and he put his arms around me just like Clarence always does we thought we were so glad to meet each other and he says Johnson he says I'm so glad he says I was talking to some of my friends about what you've done and what you said He says, it's very, very interesting. Let's go in and get something to drink. Oh, Johnson, I waited here about a half hour, something happened with Sam. He's not here yet. He's tired of it. He broke down. And we talked another 10 minutes and Smitty showed me his hands. He says Johnson, if you don't come pretty soon I'm going to throw a jerry. Smitty, for God's sake, told everything. I helped him get in my Model C Ford and he says, where are you going? I says, I've got a gallon of whiskey at the house. You sure you've got it down? I just put it there Tuesday night. Well, I hope it's there. Don't worry, it'll be there. I went over there and took the board off, I took a gallon out, took the cork off, and I held it. It was too shaky. I held his horn, took a big drink, and stopped for a breath and took another and a third and a fourth drink. He wanted more. Johnson, you're a lice-face. You're a life-face." And I put the corks on to put back in the hole. Johnson, aren't you going to take a drink? I can't drink. So I put a gallon in the hold on the board over top of it and he says, Oh, why can't you take a break? Then when I put that gallon in a hole Tuesday night, I looked up in the sky and I asked God to guide me and protect me, not to touch a drop of that whiskey in that hole down there unless I'm too sick and too shaky to make it through the bootlegger. And Smitty, I'm not too sick or too shaky. I can make it to the bootleggers. And Smity says, I don't blame you for keeping your promise. While you're here, Smity, come on in and meet the wife. I put them inside. I said, Smitty this is my wife's home. Rose, this is Smity the well-read plan I told you about. Now why did these things come out that way? My wife, she didn't say my husband. She didn't tell Mr. Andy. And he said, my husband had you how he prayed for five years and five days in the vision of God that appeared in the voice of God. He said, take your family and move to Ravenna, Ohio. There you will meet a well-dressed man. Then he said to you, how he looked for 11 days for the well-drifted man. And on the 12th day at the bootlicker, you came over to his table and asked him if he could do some company. And he says that you are the well‑drift man. Did he show you the blisters on his knees for praying for five days? Five days, yes, he did. And it's all very, very, sehring interesting. We talked another ten minutes, and Schmitty didn't say Mr. Johnston. My wife didn't even know I introduced myself under alias name as Johnston Then he said let's go over to Mabee Sandler's there. We went down to the bootlegger's and Sam was there and he apologized. As time drove down we couldn't open up on time so we each ordered a pitcher of wine in the pint and sat in the same seat at the same table, drinking. We just calmed down. Our stakes were calmed down. We didn't have the stakes. And the door opened up! And the big, husky man, about 300 pounds, walked in and said to Sam, Get me a pint to take out. I'm going to hurry. That big, hussy man came over to the back of the committee, put his hand on Smitty's shoulder and patted him. He says, Doc, how are you? Smitty looked around to see if it was, and he says, Hey, we're pretty good. How have you been? We've been hauling a lot of sand from the picture of Banner we've been pretty busy. The bootlegger brought his finalist and put his coat on it and put a hand back on Smity's shoulder and he patted it and he said, Doc take care of yourself. I'll see you again. they walked out. I said, Schmitty, that man just walked out called you God. He didn't be trying to. What's that? Your nickname? I'm Dr. Bob Chester Matthews. There you are folks. The vision of God up here. Move to a man or you will meet a well-dressed man. Four and a half billion people on this earth and here is Dr. Bobby. Now, I said to Schmitte when we introduced ourselves three Sundays ago, I thought you'd give me an alias name so I'll give you a name is Johnson. My name is not Johnson, my name is Ed Andrews. So we introduce ourselves the proper way. Now we talk, we talk and talk. What could we do to help an alcoholic? Now you're a doctor, then you're an advocate. Then you do something to help them. This is his only pill. He didn't do any good. They tried for hundreds and hundreds of years to go ahead and help an alcoholics. They haven't found what they need before. And we talked about it. We we talked about. I wrote a seven-page letter, and I gave it to Schmitty to sign, to read the sign. Now, why did I do that? You'll see as I go along with my name, why did I drink those things? But there was something telling me to do it. When Schmitte was reading the letter, he said, he didn't call me Johnson anymore, he had three names, Ed, Eddie, or Andy. He says, Eddie—he says, if somebody reads this letter now, they'll They'll put us both in a straitjacket. And I said, why? He says, well, the way you got it written, he says, there'll be men walking on a moon. And I says, no, that's the way it was. The men did walk on the moon. And the second item is where I mentioned that there'll be millions and millions and billions of men and women that have found a solution for alcoholism by the year of 2032. This is nowhere near 2032, and there's already 6 and 1 half million in AA. age. And the third article was that in 2014 there'll be millions and millions of men and women that'll die from bombs. 2014 is coming. We're already afraid of them bombs today, and 2014 isn't here yet. Now we talked seven Sundays that he would come down to the house many a times and one Sunday he came over and he said Eddie, read this letter somebody screwed with me at the city hospital in Africa that I had an alcoholic property So I read the letter. It was from Dr. Michael Miller in Cleveland. He was studying alcoholics, went to alcoholics. And he wanted Dr. Bob to come and ask for Cleveland. And he says, Ed, I don't want to go. You take the letter and see what it's all about. And I said, Cleveland? So busy with traffic! They didn't have highways and byways at that time like they have now. I said I wouldn't drive a car up there. I'll take the interurban. The interurband ran from Patrick to Urbana to Urbane to Cleveland. Cleveland. So that Monday I took the interurban, and I didn't know Cleveland too well, so I asked the conductor, where do I get off for this address? He said, you get off at 9th and 5th Street. I got off at 1015 in the morning that Monday morning. I don't see Dr. Michael Miller until 430 in the afternoon. I've got plenty of time, so walk one block south. There's There's a four-story Salvation Army building across the street from the Erie Street Cemetery. The Erie State Cemetery, the sign read Eagle Avenue. I didn't know that Eagle Avenue was against the Salvation army building. Two men there, three men there were bottle drinking. I walked down Eagle Avenue about every other doorway. There's several men were bottle drinkin'. When I got to Woodland Avenue, I said to a man sitting down, what's all those men down there drinkin'? Don't the police bother them? He says, ah, they're all alcoholics. They don't bother nobody, and the police don't bother them. I said, since there's a bootlegger around here. Yeah, there's a bootlegder right there. Come on now, buy your drink. And then I said give us two drinks. Ten cents in a day. Ten cents? You like teeth. They had a galvanized wash tub in the difference. Go ahead and get that out. I don't think it was risky. It was alive and it was water. So I laid down another dime and got two more drinks. How much is a bottle? He said 15 cents a half a pint, 25 cents a pint. Give me two pints. So I gave this new pen of mine a pint, and I had the other pint in my pocket. And I asked him, where's the lake from there? This is 1930, September of 1930. He says, walk past the public square back to the courthouse in the catnip. I walked down the hill, and then I see hundreds and hundreds of men working down there in such strong wood concrete like Anselm and Anfield. The man standing there, I said, what are they building down there? He says they're building a municipal stadium for the Cleveland Indians to play ball in. and that was nothing but water in through there in the dump, and they was hauling this concrete to go ahead and fill that in for the municipal stadium. I had plenty of time, and it was so interesting to watch them work, and finally about 1.30 in the afternoon my bottle was empty, and I was getting hungry, and I got a note, and I wrote this. God help us alcoholics to find a solution for our alcoholic problem. Edward I. Randy, 223 Wall Street, Louisiana, Ohio. Ohio. September 1930. When they was unloading the load of that constant from the foundation of the municipal stadium, I tossed a bottle in there. And I said, hell, we'll never find that bottle in a thousand years. Friends, you will be surprised what that bottle has done since that time. That bottle can walk or talk. And that bottle is doing more 12-step work than anybody in any day. That model has saved in that sonic content of the foundation in the municipal stadium. That bottle has saved thousands and thousands of men and women from taking a drink, and that bottle can't walk or talk. And that's what that bottle done in 1930. I didn't mention the bottle until ten years later, and actually when I read the first reading in that, that's when I mentioned the bottle in the foundation of the municipal stadia. And then people like Clarence Snyder was getting, people they made opening up groups, Warren Chisholm opened a group, and the stadium was opened It opened up on July the 3rd, 1931. The Cleveland Indians were playing their little different doings at the stadium. They had little people that would go ahead and play the ball games and other doings, and they'd bring whiskey bottles along there with them. At that time, men and women would join in. They'd hear my story and go ahead and tell them about the bottle in the foundation of a municipal stadium. They're in there going to see some doings of baseball game at the stadia and their friends would bring some bottles along, drink in there. It wasn't AA, but it passes to the one men and women that's in AA. And in the case of Oscar Bottle that I mentioned in the foundations of the municipal stadium, no thanks, I don't want anything to do. That bottle is doing false step work and it's found within 10,000 tons of concrete in a municipal stadium. At 4.30, I seen Dr. Michael Miller. He introduced me to a man or a man, I figured. But the next day, I found out where in China knows he's going to end up. The man was Mark Pannis. Pannus from one of the wealthiest families in the state of Ohio, but they're not millionaires, they're billionaires. Dr. Michael Miller introduced me to him and told us what he wanted to do, and I said, well, Dr. Bob, can you come over here so I took this place? He wants to know what this is all about, and he told us that he's going to go ahead and find a way and a place to go head and help alcoholics. Well, at that time, it was a Hoover jump down there to the lake. from the post office, now it's the work airport. They filled all that in. And we were going ahead and experimenting with alcoholics. The city gave us a place in Warnsdale Workhouse and we was experimenting with them. We'd need more alcoholics, we'd call the police station, we would go down to Hoover Dump and go ahead and get a load of alcoholics and we were saving them guys there. The city first he said, yeah, he called me in the office and he says, Andy, he says what the hell are you doing to the city of Cleveland? I said, I'm not doing nothing, why? What do you want to do? That's what the city is for. Look at all the oysters. They're buying oysters in five-gallon cans, hundreds and hundreds of pounds of oil. What the hell are you doing with all that? I said, we're keen to see the alcoholics. Their lining is all burned down from booze, and we've got to feed them oyster shoo in order to go ahead and get them filled up again. So he let me go ahead and do it. Now, in the meantime, I was given all this information to Dr. Bob. Every Sunday, I'd go ahead and see Dr. Rob. And then Dr. Robert told me that he finally located us. what we call the Oxford Group in Akron, Ohio. We were part of that Oxford Group and by that time we had, when we met Bill Wilson, Bill Wilson, Clarence Snyder, it was going to be Oxford Group. Oxford Group of Sinners they called it. That's where we learned where the sinners went. We've got a lot of experience from the sinners. We had our program completed. And Mark Hannity also owned the newspapers down there. It was the practically biggest part of the downtown district of Cleveland. It was wealthy people. So Mark Hannibal, his authority, got the newspaper reporters to go ahead and write a story that they finally found the solution for alcoholism. It was published in the Plundian or in the news or the press. And finally, the medical board stepped in. We want what you got. Dr. Michael Willis is not the dealer. You make a racket out of it and doctors will dismiss. This is for alcoholics. We wouldn't give it to them. So finally, the government stepped in and said, as long as you boys are interested in alcoholism, they offered Dr. Michael Miller from Flick Shire to elect him to become an alcoholic for his dope dreams and all that. And he offered Mark Hanna and I the assignment to go to the Republic of Argentina and study alcoholism over there. Mark Hanno says, I already got our assignment as a vice president of the manufacturing trade in a banking institution in Buffalo, New York. So I went to South America. while I was in South America studying alcoholism, Dr. Bob was writing to me and I told Dr. Bobby that I was coming back, flying back to South America on the 23rd day of October 1939 and Dr.Bob said Andy will you go ahead and come back call me, it's very important call me at this number, I called him on the 23th of October and he says come over to Acker, meet me at the 40th Hotel, I want you to meet a friend of mine and that's on the 24th day of October over 1939 when he introduced me to Bill Worcester. And he says, Andy, he says you've got a lot of experience with alcoholics. But Dr. Michael Miller in South America said to us, we need a man like you to help us with this AA program. We need a men like you. I said, Dr. Bob, you need a ma'am like me to help you with the AA program? You're asking me for help. Dr. bob, do you remember ten years ago, 1929, Twenty-nine, what I told you at the bootlegging shag, bootlegged joint. If a vision of God appears in the voice of God, that takes your family roof to the van and you'll need a well-dressed man and you as the well-deaf man, now you're asking me to help you? Dr. Bob, I'll do anything for you. I'll give you anything. But we need more people in here. How can we do it? With the experience I have with Dr. Michael Miller and the police force down here, I'll ask them here right there and open the office in the Central Police Station or 21st and 10th and they'll have the goodness. We'll serve alcoholics over to my office. they referred alcoholics. I put in thousands and thousands of alcoholics, Dr. Bob said, you've done so well, how about going into the West and open some of the groups I went to California Colorado, New Mexico and Arizona I started a program in California Judge Charles Healy of the Superior Court was the one that was responsible and cooperated with me. Last year when I had an appointment with the 19 judges to Los Angeles, I thank them for the cooperation of Alcoholics Anonymous and what they've done. And they gave me a report since I originally had the idea in California. They said that I ought to have that through the whole United States. I'm only one man. I can't do all of that. I am doing all I can. But they give me a reports since that time they put in 79,000 women and men in their case. Now there's other states that I originated ideas for Alcoholics on there. But I'm going to tell you one of Phoenix Fair's owners. Phoenix Fair owner. I got in Phoenix Fair own on in the afternoon at 2.30. Where am I going to go to open up a group down there? Going to go see a judge a priest, salvation I need for where. But I see now there's the guy again. He's the one that's doing it. Not me. I told him to do it. I only wanted I think the rest of them, I only want to amber it in a cup of coffee. When I went in that restaurant, there was 36 36 feet, empty against the counter. 36 feet. I took about the middle shelf. While I was eating a hamburger and drinking a coffee, he looked all in his face and said, Empty? A drunk came over and sat right alongside of me on my left side. A drunk. And the waitress come over with a menu and he says, No, just give me the same thing he's got. She went over and got an hamburger and a cup of coffee and started a conversation. And he says boy, I'm afraid to go home. I said what's the matter? Your wife going to reach hell because you drink? Oh no. car. So when I got out of the car, my name is Mr. Randy. I came from Cleveland, Ohio to go ahead and open up an AA group for people that got an alcoholic problem. I just met your son about 20 minutes ago. Well, that's clear as that. And I told him what AA was and what it can do to help an alcoholic. He invited me and I stayed overnight. So the father said that he would do everything to go ahead and help me out. And that's where we opened up the first group and I founded the first band in Phoenix, Arizona. There is the network. Now when I led the first meeting in Akron in 1940, Dr. Bob and I went over to the Tesla's donut shop that Clarence Snyder was in many and many a time on Market Street. And I told the waitress, give me two dozen coconut donuts to take out. So from there we went on. She says, I'll put the tray right into the bag and you can take it that way. It's a plastic tray. It is a plastic clay. We went over the doctor Bob's house we each had Dr. Bob and Bill Wilson and I had two donors of peace and profit, and Dr. Bob then said, Mr. Three of us get down on our knees and pray to God to help us with this AA program. We got down on our knee, and we prayed. Did God help us lift the AA program? Look at here, and all over the world, people in AA. He sure did help us. Dr. Bob says, Ed, you like coconut donuts? I'll put the rest of the donuts in the tray right in the bag, and you can take it home. We took it home a few days later, and we ate the donuts. I got the plastic tray, 1940. What am I going to do with it? It's not worth 20 cents. I'm going to keep it. I kept it. I have that plastic tray in my museum today. Tinned with gold and whole building centers on the wall hanging not too far away from Francis Snyder pictures on the museum wall. With the inscription on there, Dr. Bob and Bill Wilson had Andy ate a portion of donuts was out of this trade at Dr. Bob's house in 1940. Now, there's in the museum. I was offered at that time, I wouldn't go ahead and give 20 cents for the trade. Four months ago, I was offered $2,500 for it, and I wouldn' sell. I wouldn''t sell that because they wanted for souvenirs from Dr. Bobs. And I told Sue Winders down there, Sue Windors, Clarence Snyder knows. And I'll never forget the time that Dr. Bob said, let the three of us get down on our knees and pray to God to help us with the AA program. And from that day on, it's in my mind, I want to go ahead and buy that house and keep that as a souvenir for Dr. Bob and Bill Wilson, and I pray and ask him God for help. Now those are the things of AA Howard. What would AA be today? All of you have read of the Mayflower. Landed at Plymouth Lock. But the official reading of that is, it landed, it came hard first and then it continued to Plymoth Lock. And that's the way it was with AA. It started in Athens. There's the man Clarence Snyder that took it out of Athens. He was a good navigator. Brought it out of Athens into Cleveland Heights and got the board to open that group there. And that where AA started. In other cities because of Clarenced Snyder. There's the man that's responsible for what A is today. He is the man at one time, he was insulted. He was kicked around and everything. But what did he do? He fought. He fought, and that's what we have today. The miracles of AA when I had the office in the Central Police Station, two police officers brought a man over, and I says, give me the report. I'll take him in front of the judge later on. These are some of the miracles of A. I looked at the tire, and I said, you don't have no address. down there. What's your address? I don't have anything. Where do you stay? I sleep in the park or in the doorways, wherever I can. And I said, well, you've got an alcoholic problem. You've been arrested before for drinking. He says, and they told me the story that he came from a millionaire family in Buffalo, New York. Every time he'd get drunk, the newspapers would have a big write-up ruining the reputation of the family, and the family got tired. He says, why the hell don't you go ahead out of this state and go ahead and drink all you you want to move your shoulder for a year, come on back home. So that's what I've done. I had money from the beginning living in motels and hotels and drinking good whiskey. And he said my money ran out, so now I'm panhandling stiffs, sleeping in parks and in doorways. Do you want us to stop drinking? I'd do anything to stop this. So I took him to Vermdenner's, Charles. Snyder, Clarence Snyder knows who Verdenner was on 823 Detroit Avenue. Took him to Verndenner. He didn't have any money, but I had authority. and influence put this man in for five days. When he was discharged I had a job for him at the Cleveland Diesel and I had room for him to give him some money and took him to an AA meeting. Now understand this is a miracle. Introducing the fellas at the AA meetings and I said here's a man that needs AA he wants to stop racing take him to a different group that man went through a meeting for one year and three days without missing a day's meeting. After one year and three weeks after one year he came up to me and he said Mr. Andy I told you the story that my folks said if I'm sober for a year, I could come back home. How am I going to prove to them that I was sober for years? Don't worry, I'll fix that. So I went in a drugstore and got a roll of grave paper and sent it to about 12 meeting places with thousands of names on there. And I wrote a letter and sent that to his mother in Buffalo, New York. And I said, all these names on this toll will verify that your son was sober. So one year and three days, and he's coming back home to Buffalo. He went back home now. Now, he was in Buffalo four years and six years and four days. Six years and three days in Cleveland. At seven years and seven days, he would sober up not having a drink. One morning, he got up and he told his brothers and his mother and father was dead. He said, you know, something happened to me. Something happened to you that I'm going to start drinking again. God Almighty, help me. I don't never want to start drinkin' again. A well-educated family, a millionaire family, his brother says, why don't you call the airlines, make reservations, and go to that hospital. Mr. Andy had your house personalized. Maybe that'll change your mind. That's a good idea. He came to 8023 and he thought, right in the doorbell, a nurse come out and she says, can I help you? I want to check in for five days. Have you been drinking? I haven't had a drink for seven years and seven days. But Mr. Randy had me hospitalized down here seven years and seven weeks ago, and I'm afraid that I'm going to go ahead and start drinking, and my folks suggested I come over here and check in for five days. Maybe that'll change my mind. So they invited him, and he was a guest there. He didn't need no medication. They didn't have to put him to bed at nine o'clock with the rest of the patients. They didn'T have to go ahead and take his lighter and cigarettes away or matches. He was a gesture. They'd let him at night talk to Mr. and Mrs. Bender and decided that he would go to bed. Went to bed at 1230 in the morning and heard a commotion and put his trousers on in the bathroom got his lighter and cigarettes walked in the hallway down there and he seen two police officers and a nurse and a doctor kneeling down examining the man on the stretcher. When Wallace was standing there with the cigarette in his mouth, he heard the doctor pronounce the man on the stretched dead. So the doctor said to two police officers, let's go in the kitchen and get a cup of coffee while the nurse makes out a report. While he was in the kitchens, Wallace standing looking at the man on the straighter and then yelled out to the nurse, he says, Nurse, that man isn't dead. I just seen him move his eyes. Now folks, if that man was under meditation, you know what would happen. The nurse would take him by the eye and say, you're seeing things. You've got to go to your room. And in the first place, he wouldn't be allowed in the lobby. So they called for the doctor and the police, and the two police picked him up, put him on a bed, and the doctor gave him some medication. 7.30 in the morning, that man was eating breakfast with some rest of the patients. That's a miracle. Waller went over to the phone, made reservations, go back to Buffalo, New York. He stayed one day. I know now I won't take another trip. That's wonderful. I'm going to tell you one about the mayor of Dayton, Ohio. It's another miracle. The mayor of Dayton, Ohio asked me to come to Dayton for two weeks to go ahead and talk to the judge's probation office, police, prosecutors, doctors and nurses and sheriffs to tell them what it can do to help an alcoholic. I spent two weeks there. I thought I'd done my duty. But Dayton, OH is coming back when I'm on a train going through the state of Illinois with a 145-mile hour and Dayton will come back then. When I got back to my office, there was a letter down there from Ray Harrison, the prosecutor of Des Moines, Iowa, asking me to go ahead and be a speaker at the Midwest Conference in Des Moine, Iowa with Bill Wilson. I called him up from Hotel Cleveland, and I told him that I would accept. A week later, Bill Wilson called me from New York. That's when we went back to New York, and he said, I heard you're going to be a Speaker at the Midwest Conference. And he said our nature at Hotel Cleveland will both fly over me. I agreed to that. Four days later, I got a call from the central office in Chicago asking me to go ahead as long as I'm going to Des Moines, Iowa if I wouldn't go ahead and start out a day sooner and lead a meeting in Chicago. I agreed to that. I called Bill Wilson back in New York and I said, I have plans to change. I'll meet you in Des Moine, Iowa. I led the meeting in Chitago. This was another miracle. Why do these things happen? God Almighty is guiding all these moves. He's making all them moves. I led the meeting and Chitag went to the airport to get my plane and I missed the plane. How could I miss that plane? But whenever Never that power greater than I sell a range of things. He's going to have it his way, not my way. I went to the ticket office tonight and I missed the plane. What would you suggest I do? And he looked at the car and he says, Get a cab, go to the LaSalle station. There's a Rock Island rocket that leaves there. It'll get you in Des Moines, Iowa on time. Went to the Rock Island Rocket Station. Ticket for Des Moine. What train? The next train leaving. Sorry, this is a reservation train. There isn't a vacant seat on there. What wouldyou suggest Ido? Come back in about an hour if there's any cancellations. I'll go ahead and save your seat. An hour later, I come back, and any cancellations, no cancellations. Well, I'm Mr. Andy from Cleveland. I'm going to be a speaker at the Alcoholics Anonymous in Des Moines, Iowa. What did you say? I'm gonna be a preacher at the Midwest Conference on the Alcoholic Anonymous. He put his hand on my shoulder like the priest did in Raisman, Ohio, and patted it and said, Say, you boys are doing a wonderful, wonderful job. Wait till I see Frank Leahy, and I'll see what I can do. I'll be back in ten minutes. Ten minutes later, he comes back, put his head back on my shoulders, to Mr. Andy, I talked to Frank Lane and told him the situation you're in. He said it was all right surviving the private coaches with the Notre Dame football players. I thought it was luck. I felt that was luck, but that wasn't luck. That's the way the power of traders and ourselves are raised here. He put me on a train and introduced me to Frank Lane and some of the football players, and the train is going out of Chicago through the state of Illinois at 125 miles an hour when a 245-pound football player came up and introduced himself and said, are you going on business? Why would a question like that come up if it wasn't for God to go ahead and make that possible? No, I'm not going on business. I'm going to be a speaker at the Midwest Conference on Alcoholics Anonymous. Oh, say, maybe you can help me. I looked at him and I said, hell, he didn't have a drink in all his life. And I said what could I do for you? He said, my uncle is putting me through college and I'm afraid he's going to die from drinking before I finish college. You'd think as he did them in AA and I'll do all I can. I got my address book, what's your uncle's name? Give me the name, what's the address? The address is in what city? Dayton, Ohio. There comes Dayton. I said, I just spent two weeks in Dayton and I met a lot of nice people down there and I said I'll call them up when I get to my hotel in Des Moines, Iowa and tell them what you said and we'll do all we can to get your uncle in AA. So I called they said give me your hotel name and your telephone number we'll call you back in a couple days two days later they called me and they said they went over to the football player's uncle's house and they rang the doorbell and nobody come out. They rang it the second time and they smelled gas at the door. They smelled gas and finally nobody come out the door so they went to the bay window after smelling the gas and seen a man laying on the floor. They broke the window, opened up the, closed the gas, gas gas, opened up the door, called the ambulance, rushed them to the hospital. Two days later they went over there to go ahead and see him and told him how they happened to be there because the nephew from Notre Dame asked him to come over to get him an AA because he was afraid that he was going to die from drinking. That man joined the AA A. Now, over four months ago, he led a meeting in Columbus, Ohio. He's old now, but he joined AA from that day on. That's what you call a murk. A murk! Many of you will try to go ahead and sponsor somebody at some time, and you'll know what they said. I'm not an alcoholic. I don't need it. It's only for somebody else. I're not an alcoholic, but that's the way it was with a man that I tried to censor. Abby Harrison's name. A wonderful man, but an alcoholic if there ever was. He was an alcoholic, but he was well-liked by everybody. No matter how drunk he would get, he'd never insult anybody. He'd always say good things about everybody. He said good things. And I tried for four years to go ahead and sponsor him, and I failed. And, I'm glad that I failed, because if I succeeded, I wouldn't be able to tell you this interesting story without Eddie Harrison. Finally, Eddie Harrison was one of these politicians he had a sort of a comical stutter on. Anybody running for judge, prosecutor, county commissioner or anything, see Harry Harrison. He's done a lot of things. He'll help you get elected. They offered him high positions in the city of Cleveland. Oh, on a job? He's an alcoholic! But he's got to have money for booze. He's gotto have money for booz. And they would give it to him because he was a good man even though he was an alcoholic. But you've heard of that old saying that all good things The rains come to an end sooner or later, and that's when this comes. One of the county commissioners says, we're here. Addie Harrison is such a good guy. Let's all pitch in. We'll buy him a camping outfit, cooking utensils, and go shoot near the county truck and take them about 20 miles out to the county line. They won't be down there to bother us as they pay for money. That's what he does. He set up this tent. Two days after he was there, it was a rain. After the rain, he went over to the creek and watched the water flow. And he seen a dog floating down the creek. He ran up the head and saved the dog. It was a police dog. Put him in a tent and dried him and fed him, and he had a lot of time to train that dog all summer long. The fall of the year come along, and he named the dog Rex. Don't forget the dog, Rex. The falloftheyear come along. The county commissioners and the politicians said, well, we can't leave that man out there. It's getting cold. We better send the county truck and take him down to his mother at Fulton Road and Walton Avenue, and that's what they done. In the spring of the air, back out to the county line. And that fall of the year was when we opened up wine stores with different barrels of wine, different varieties, and a spigot in a drip can under the spigots. There's four inches of snow on the ground. Addie Harris went over there with his dog Rex to get a gallon of wine. And business was slow. Just a new wine store. People didn't know about it. And he was talking politics with the proprietor of the wine store, talking for about an hour. And when he was getting ready to go, he hollered out to his dog laying down, Rex! And the dog just barely moved his leg. Rex! The dog was barely moved to play. He heard his master, but he couldn't get out. Addie Harrison ran over to go ahead and pick the dog up on the street, and the dog fell back down again in the proprietor's. Says, you know, come to think of it, while we were talking politics, we seen a dog roll with two of the drip cans, and he was licking that wine, and he got drunk! Addie Harrison carrying a 45-pound dog down the line through four inches of snow from West 25th Street to Fulton Road. He laid the dog down, put a blanket over him We got up in the morning and the dog was running around Andy Harrison was happy about it That night Andy Harrison went to the wine store With his dog Rex to get another gallon of wine And just as he turned into that wine store That dog rubbed him by the leg And that dog pulled him and pulled him And pulled him all the way to the curb Of West 25th Street And he held him there He wouldn't let go Andy Harrison holding the gallon They looked up in a sky and he says, and God, we're supposed to be humans? That dog has got more brains than what we've got. He was in that wine store last night. He got sick and drunk and he doesn't want to go back in there and he does not want his master to go back in here. So Andy said, let's go over and see Eddie and go ahead and join AA. He dropped the empty gallon in the container West 25th and Walton Avenue and come over the house about 7.30 at night. I says, come on in there with his dog Rex. What can I do for you? I want to join AA. It's about time. I tried to get here for four years. So I filled out the card. I said, well, it's too late to take you to a meeting today and I got to fly to Pittsburgh to lead a meeting tomorrow. So, I'll go ahead and give you this card. You take it to 179 Romaine Avenue at the Bannister Hall and give it to the chairman and and tell him I said she's down there. I said, who's going to be your sponsor? He said, my dog works as my sponsor. He's an alcoholic too, so the next day they went down to the banister hall. They went down to the vanister hall, and he goes, I said from the beginning you had a sort of a comical stutter. In them days we had door tenders that each meeting waited for a person to smell some booze, or even strung someone and put them in a minibus. And the door tender says to Addie Harrison, and he says, I'm sorry, this is only for alcoholics. And I said to Eddie Harrison, I had a sort of a comical shudder. I'm saying, you see, this is for alcoholic solely. And the doctor says, yes, sir. And Eddie Harrison says, let me tell you something. I'm an alcoholic and my dog is an alcoholic and he's my sponsor. Come on, let's go in. They went in and got around all the groups down there that Abby Harrison's dog or an alcoholic's and the dog wreck is his sponsor. And they never had no trouble getting me into eight meeting places after that. Now, Bill Wilson, when I mentioned about going to Des Moines, Iowa at the Midwest Conference, Bill Wilson came over to my hotel and he asked me to make a promise to him. This is Andrew. You lead a lot of meetings all around through the United States when you promise me this, that wherever you lead a meeting, will you please tell the people that if you can't say something good about somebody, don't say nothing at all. And that's very true. If you can say something good, don't say anything at all. I was working 15, 16, 17 hours a day. I promise God, I'll work hard in AA if you keep me sober. My friends had got a lot of nice plans. They said he's going to kill himself working 17, 15, 17 dollars a day on my own time. We'd better send him out and get him a rent. So they made arrangements on the outskirts of the ranch, on the outskirts of Detroit, Michigan. He put me out there for a couple of weeks left. Tom Tolvin, Grunbender, Clarence Knightley knows all of this. He took me out of there. We got out of that ranch. Five minutes later, the phone rang. Andy is for you. Who the hell knew I'm way down here on the outskirt of Detroit. Detroit, Michigan on the ranch. It was Mrs. Steve Bond from Toledo, Ohio called Mr. Andy. Her husband, she says, is in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania finger on a junk for five weeks. And he doesn't want nothing to do with nobody, only you. You're the only one he trusts. Will you please, Mr. Andy, fly to Pittsburgh and bring him in the Verndenders at 8023 Detroit? Don't worry, Mrs. Bond, I'll do that. So I told Verndender, Tom Tobin, and them, I said, well, take me down to the Willow Run Airport. And I said I got to stop I'll take my luggage back to Cleveland. I'll pay for my small briefcase, and I know how Steve Barron is drinking for five weeks, so I've got to get a fifth to go ahead and take along with me. I got on the plane and landed in Pittsburgh at 445 in the morning. Went over to the room, and this is what Bob told me that Steve Baron was. And he had three of these now. He wasn't just four of them. He was a millionaire. He had oil fields in Oklahoma and Texas and he owned practice at the old filling station in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. He had three other employees working down there, but they didn't understand alcoholics. So, when I got there, Steve Vaughn was asking for a drink. And before he got him a cup of water, it was a cup of water. I said, what the hell do you want to do? Kill that man when he wants a drink? He doesn't want water. He wants whiskey. I filled the water out and filled about three-quarters of the cup with whiskey and put his head against the wall and poured it down and told him in. I says, get his clothes ready. Get them cleaned up and shaved up. I've got to get that 705 plane going back to Cleveland. they got him ready on the way to the airport planes wasn't flying as often as they do now airports wasn't as modern then as they are now so he got down to the airport there was some long seats down there Steve Bond says Andy please please give me another drink I said see that man walking back the portage heisen us up down here he must be a detective waiting I go and talk to him I took my briefcase with the bottle and went over to see the man I said that man sitting in a seat down there I just flew in from the Willow Run Airport in Detroit to go ahead and take him to Cleveland to an AA hospital. And I said, he's an alcoholic, and he's asking me for a drink, and I figured if you look like a detective, I'd better go ahead in front of you first. He showed me his badge. He was a detective. But you go ahead. I know what you boys have to go through. You give him a drink. It's all right. I gave Steve Barron the drink. And they announced that the plane, 705 plane, is ready to load. I put Steve Barron on the window side of the plane and went over the stewardess. Of course, alcohol wasn't allowed on the planes then like it is now He even served Victor on plant. Put him on the window side, went over to the stewardess, and I says, that man sitting in the seat over there, I says I'm taking him into an alcoholic hospital and I've got to give him a drink every now and then or he'll throw a burial. That's all right as long as you're not drinking. I says. I'm not drinking it. So I got back to the seat and Steve-Owns says, Andy, please give me another drink. I give him another drink He put his head back and he went to sleep. He was relaxed now. He's relaxed. Ten minutes later, the stewardsess come up to me and switched it in my ear, and he said, Mr. Andrew, we have to make an emergency landing in Youngstown, Ohio. Well, I wasn't too appreciative of the landing. I just prayed to God that we made it. We landed in Youngtown and the doors opened up. They didn't have modern things like they have today. The doors opened up with the plane and 24 Indians got in the plane. Steve Arnott was in a five-week bunk and he got his head back and he flicked and 24 Indians got on the plane from India with these turbans and big beers, you know, and finally the plane got back in high and I filled the sky that morning and we fly in about another 20 minutes and Steve Bond woke. And he looked around and he says, Andy, where the hell are you taking me? I said, I'm taking you into Cleveland to Vern Benders. Andy, they don't have people around here like that. I said Steve, I'm taken. We just picked him up and he couldn't convince an alcoholic drinking for five weeks that of where I'm taking him. I said here, have another drink. I don't want anymore. Well, from Pittsburgh, I called Vern Bender and Tom Tobin to meet me at the airport. They met me atthe airport, and I said, here's the bottle, Steve, go ahead. Now, this is a story just like Mr. Kirk's, that's all. You people have got clear minds. You've got clear mind. You're good judges. Remember the story about Mr. Cook, how he died? He only took a drink in the morning, drank at noon, drank at night, but he ran off the hall. Oh, Steve Bond. We put him in Brundenkis. Four days later, the doctor from the hospital called me. He says, Ed, will you come over? We'll have a talk with Steve Bond, because he's been hospitalized so many times. See if we can get that man straightened out. So we put him into a special room, private room, and the doctor said, Steve, you've been hospitalized so many time. If you ever think of taking the spiritual part part of the program. And Steve Vaughn, I'll never forget, had that maroon bathrobe on and he pulled out a hundred dollar bill out of the bathrobe and tripped it in front of Doc's face and he says, Doc, I make more damn money in one day than you make in a whole year. This is my spiritual part of The Program. This is what I pray for. I say, Steve, you're praying for the wrong things. You pray to God first. Pray to God first and then the money will come. He was discharged six months later. He died like Mr. Kirk. There's your your answer? If a person continues thinking. Thirty-nine and a half years ago, how many people, every one of you have seen Lawrence Wells on TV? Thirty- nine years and a half ago I sponsored Lawrence Wells in Hollywood. Look at him on the stage today. He's 82 years old. Look around where he looks. How young he is. That's what AA does. AA AA does that. Now, Jack Bailey, the master of film, won it for you for a day. 38 years ago, I sponsored him in Hollywood when I went over there. Lady, lady. 38 years old. He done wonders for me. St. Clairsey. At the Wilshire Boulevard Club in Hollywood, I consored Bill Clairseys. He was in AA five and a half years. Oh, I got it licked now. I can drink sociably. There it is. You can't drink sociable. You're an alcoholic. You've got to keep away from that first drink. And that keeps them elected. But then he was sober for seven and a half years. Well, I think I've got it lit now. I ought to be able to get close again. Seven and a halftime. I could get close to him and start it again. What happened? He died. That's the way it is with us. We have to keep away from that first ring. You take what I mentioned about Mark Hannity and the vice president of manufacturing traders in his first company in Buffalo, New York. I was just talking to a man down here a couple hours ago about the problems that he had. I said, it's a hump that you have to go over. Mark Hamill would call me from the bank down there, and he says, Ed, I just got an urge to go ahead and take a drink. Let's talk. We'd talk for a half hour sometimes, 45 minutes sometimes, maybe an hour. He'd call me at 2, 3, 4 o'clock in the morning. We'd call. Then he'd finally say, well, I guess the urge is gone. I don't feel like taking a drink, so if you at any time feel like taking a break, call one of your friends and tell them that I feel like taking the drink when you come over and talk to me or talk on the phone And it's a little hump that you have to go over, that little hump. When you go over that hump, you're going to go ahead and be all right. That's the way it is in AA. Clarence Snyder, I've heard so much down there in Cleveland. We miss Clarenc Snyder for what he's done in Cleveland down there. He's done so much for thousands and thousands of people. And you people here in Florida should be very happy to have a man like Clarenced Snyder down here because we miss him up there. He's done so much for all of us, for all of us scoundrels. And if it wasn't for Clarence Snyder, where would AAB be today? He's the man that's forced to go there today. I was called by the Chief of Police, Chief Montevideo Cleveland, the chief of the police department. This is the beginning of AAB, just like Clarenc Snyder went And you have to go ahead and fight the wrongs to make the rights. The chief of police called me, and he says, Ed, I'm sending a police car over to pick you up. I want to see you down here in the police station, in my office. The cruiser came over and picked me up. He said, what the hell's the matter with the chief? He burned up about something. I don't know. So I went over. What's wrong with him? Ed, you read that mail. I'm tired of reading it. You read the damn mail. He says, I'll go on out of here, and you go ahead and read the mail. I read the mail. That was the beginning of AA, just like a portrait and a criticism that Clarence Snyder had to go through. I read that mail. Here's the letter I opened up. A wife's license for the people police. That her husband used to go ahead and spend his money drinking. He'd spend his payday drinking. Now he's going to AA and he's spending his paydays gambling. He's not drinking, but he's sending his paydays gambling in AA clubs. up. All those letters left, and their husbands were standing on their tables again. So after a couple hours, the chief of police comes. What do you think about it? I says, Chief, I'll tell you why. You're the chief or the city of Cleveland now. How many hundreds and hundreds of policemen that's looking that you got on the police department, that's just new in the police Department, they don't have the experience like somebody that's only five five or ten or fifteen or more years. These new rookies have got to learn. They've got to learn something as a policeman. And who do you think we are in AA? This is new to us. We've got to learn too. We have to learn and I said, I only ask that you don't spoil the reputation of AA. I'll stop this gambling. I'll go on to you. There's no gambling going on in Cleveland now in them AA movies. There is no gambling. When I was in Des Moines, Iowa leading the meeting with Bill Wilson Now, don't get this confused. Ray Harrison and Addie Harrison are two different parties. Ray Harrison is a prosecutor of Des Moines, Iowa. When the curtain went up, Dr. Bill Wilkin and I were sitting on the stage, and Ray Harrison looked at the three Baltimore's. This gives you an idea what AA is. And he says, I never would have believed there was that many people in AA. This would be a good time to go ahead and ask if there's anybody got anything against the prosecutor of Des Moines, Iowa. Raise your hand. On the second balcony, a hand went up and another ran over there with a microphone. And the man says, Mr. Harrison, I don't have anything against you, but I'd like to go head and have an understanding. I've been in A&E five years, and every time I go ahead walk down the street, somebody will go ahead and say, look at that man there. He's the best-dressed man in the city of Cleveland. He was the biggest drunk in Des Moine, Iowa, and look at him today. gave a nice, look at a nice appearance that he's got. He's the best-dressed man in the world. And he was arrested 73 times for drinking, and look at him today. Five years in AA. Look at the appearance he's had today. And that's all I heard, Ray, was 73 times I was arrested for drinking. So for curiosity's sake, I thought I'd go ahead and find out how many times I really was arrested. It's not 73, it's 79. So Ray Harrison asked if there's anybody else got anything to say enough? Handling up on the third balcony in the other room over there, the microphone of the man says, Mr. Harrison, I don't have anything against you, but I'd like to have you know that I'm the proudest man in the state of Iowa because I slept in the same jail cell you did. So the prosecutor explained himself. He was a prosecutor and every time he'd get drunk the police knew he was a prostitute and they'd take him home. 48 times they took him home, but these two police officers were decided that they're going to take in the jail instead of home. So he got up in the morning, he's behind bars, his courtroom is upstairs, he has to be there at 930, so he called a turnkey and he says get me a piece of chalk and he wrote on that gray wall, Ray Harrison the prosecutor of Des Moines Iowa selectiveness shall do not elate. What happened? That writing was on that wall. A year later Ray Harrison, the prosecutor ran for a judge and he was elected as a judge even with that writing on that jail cell. Finally, Ray Harrison asked Bill Wilson and I, because he had a dear friend of his, a well-educated man, and we can't get no place with him to join AA. Well, you two go over. Bill Wilson says, Ed, this is your case. So Ray Harrison took me over to this man's house. I talked to that man for three hours. For three hours, with tears coming down my eyes. If you do what I tell you to do, I'll guarantee that you'll be the happiest man in the world. You'll be on top of the world in no time. Well, I talk to a lot of judges and I talk to priests and ministries, but I've never heard anybody talk like you. I'll join AA. You do what Ray Harrison tells you to do because Ray Harrison joined AA. Do what he tells you do, and I'll guarantee that she'll be up top of the world and no time." A year later, Ray Harrison called me. He says, Mr. Andy, I don't know what the hell kind of a magic you've got, but that man you talked to, his wife, Dr. DeVos, he's not going to lose his home. He's got his job back, and he's got us friends back. What do you think? We run him for governor of Iowa. Run him for a governor. I picked up Jim Cassidy, Clarence Snyder, or Jim Cassady. Jim Cassody was one of the top prosecutors in Cleveland, Ohio, and Pahoga County, and he was an alcoholic. alcoholic. He was an alcoholic. He lost his law practice. Jim Cassidy was on skid row, hand-handling from the printer's shop when the chief asked me to go ahead and put him in AA. I got Jim Cassody in AA head. Harold Shaw, postman for him because Harold Shaw was the secretary of the people police and I says, I went down to Columbus and got him his law package back. A year later I went over to his office and I said, Jim, come on, when you come, come dressed up up in the best you got. He says, now what the hell is on your mind? I'm going to run you for a gut. He says Andy, I thought you was a smart man. You're nuts. He says you're nuts! If the newspapers find out that I was on schedule and lost my law practice I won't even have this office. I said Jim I agree with you but I don't operate that way. I went to the press and trained and told them what I was going to do and I asked them what they were going to make me nothing of what he's done before. It's what he was doing from now on and here it is in writing. to put it all in writing. I ran him past and he put a judge and he won six terms as a judge until he retired. So they ran, this man Ray Harrison ran in for governor. He won two terms. New people read about him. Two terms as a governor of Iowa and then he ran for United States senator and he wanted the United States Senator. Senator Hughes, Governor Hughes of Iowa. That's alcoholics and honors. That's AA. People respect Clarence Snyder, sir. People respect the person in their faith. We've got minds. We can go ahead and do more with our minds than somebody else without AA. Because AA is faithful to something. We believe in God. God is helping us. God gave us this here. He gave us all of this. This is what we should do, is to go ahead and hold on to it, hold on to it with all our might, and pray to God to go head and help us with this AA program. There are millions and millions and millions of people so to drink it today that will become alcoholics in the future. And it's just like Clarence Snyder. The Burton Group, the pioneer group, the pioneers, and we are the pioneers for those millions and millions of social drinkers today that will become alcoholic. And we are pioneers that help them like we do. And I want to remember for the rest of my living life that I would rather have the spirit of God here than the spirit of alcohol here, and I'm going to thank you all for listening.