The Montgomery advertiser., 1904-01-07
SNUFF BOXES
THOSE IN SENATE STILL KEPT F1LLEO--USERS FEW.
Capt. Dassett's Gold Box and the Part It kiayed in Hayes-Tilden Contest--Senator turner About
 the Last of .,nuR Takers.

l wbile the art and practice of snuff I taking are obsolete in tho United States | Senate, tho tradition Is still cherished and
 the official snuffboxes are maintained and
 kept carefully filled with fresh material | for producing sneezes. says Washing ton dispatch to The New York Sun.
 These boxes are two in number. little lacquer afairs about inches long, 2 l-s inches wide and an inch deep. and are | fastened by screws to the top of the pro- l Jectlng ledge, one on each side of the vice-p presidents chair.
 The snuff Is purchased by the sergeant at-arms of the Senate in four or eight pound pars, at cost of 75 cents q pound. and 1t takes an average of about five pounds year to replenish the boxes twice a week during the sessions. The work Of renlllng the boxes was for years one of the duties ceremouiously perform
 ed by the late Captain Bassett. the vener-
 able assistant door-lxeeper of the Senate,
 an inveterate user of the powdered weed; but since his death. i've years ago, the task has fallen to the lot of tiie pages,
 who, naturally, do not bestow upon 1t
 the loving care of his aged predecessor. Captain Bassett had when he died com pleted nearly sixty years of continuous service in the Senate and was almost the sole relic of the days when the use of snuff was general in that body. For many years before his death his dignified almost ceremonious, manner of indulging in the habit excited the wonder and awe of the modern page.
 He was very proud of good snuff box presented to him by the Senators upon ] the fortietll anniversary of his entry into their service, and he kept 1t filled urisn a choice brand of the powder. z1e car
 ried it in a tall pocket of, fhe frock coat in which he always appeared, and the
 force of his habit of reaching for 1t once caused a laugh at his expense.
 It was during the troublous time att tending tho Hayes-Tilden contest and
 it was thought best that Captain Hassett
 as the custodian of one of the boxes con taining the disputed electorial votes,
 should be armed. He was accordingly provided with a revolver, which he car
 ricd in the pocket of the other coattail. As the procession was about to start on the march from the Senate to the
 House. Captain Bassett was asked if he
 had his revolver with him.
 "Yes." he replied, here 1t is," and div ing into the wrong pocket, produced not the revolver, but his cherished gold snuff
 box.
 There had been threats of attacking the
 procession on the way to the House. and the members of the party were in rather
 sober frame of mind, but tho tension
 was relaxed for the moment by the laughter which was caused by the mis- take.
 Perhaps the most noted of those in the Senate who were addicted to snuff with | in tho memories of the oder employees was the late Allen c. Thurman of Ohio. Mir. Thurman was 8 frequent visitor to the official snuffbox on the Democratic side. After helping himself to a liberal pinch. he would return to his desk and bring forth his huge red bandanna, which after ward became a well known political eIn-
 blem in his campaign for the Vice-Presi-
 dency. Then after sneezing several times he would blow a tremendous blast. Vice. President Wilson, who died in his room at the capitol, was another noted patron of the Senate snuffboxs and so
 was Senator Edmunds of Vermont. In
 later days Senator Carter of Montana
 and Senator Turner of Washington. were the sole representatives of the old regime of habitat snuff users.
 Mir. Turner, who went out of office at
 the end of the Fifty-seventh Congress,
 was extremely particular that the snuff
 In the Senate boxes should be perfectly
 fresh, and If perchance the page forgot to
 flI them within the four-day limit he was quietly reminded of his fault, and
 fresh supply was at once brought.
 Since Mir. Turner's exit the Senate has
 been without devotee Of sniff. Except
 when some Senator is suffering from Q
 cold in the head or the pages wish to
 initiate a recent accession to their number
 by forcibly administering snuff to him
 there are no demands on the lacouer
 boxes provided by that induIgent body.