The scene in the bar when they arrest Wade, Grayson Butterfield takes a small can and shakes it near his ear then snorts something from it.
I'm guessing, since this was the 19th century and you could pretty much buy cocaine or heroin at the grocery store, I would assume it was cocaine.
Has anyone read the book to know for sure?
Probably just sniffing tobacco. I doubt Elmore Leonard would have known either, he was a writer, not a historian.
shareAgreed...but it's common knowledge that strong narcotics were available over the counter. Many movies or books, written by non-historians, have characters addicted to opium or laudanum. 3:10 To Yuma isn't a true story, either.
But thanks for the answer, it's something I've always wondered...I didn't know sniffing tobacco was a thing. Cheers!
Sniffing tobacco goes back to the earliest days of tobacco history, it is just an easy, if unsavory, way to ingest nicotine.
My grandmother, who was born in 1894, liked to make jokes about her own father smoking cigarettes with "funny yellow papers", i.e. smoking pot. During prohibition she had a full scale bar and lounge in her basement for a non-professional speak easy.
None of this is new: Coca Cola originally included cocaine in the recipe; Kool cigarettes had mint and marijuana as added attractions.
Bye the way: My grandmother was thrown out of bed by the earthquake in San Francisco in 1906, she thought it was a prank by a friend at a house party. Her dad invented chocolate chips — that is a long story.
Right, I understand that narcotics were used much differently than they are today (Coca Cola etc)...which was why I was wondering if he was simply sniffing some kind of narcotic.
I think I just got thrown off by your mentioning the author not being an historian.
Very cool anecdotes, by the way :)
Your great-grandfather didn't invent chocolate chips.
shareNot only that, but almost the entirety of the comment had to do with the question.
After the first paragraph, (once they mention the grandmother) it seems to just completely unravel into random rambles unrelated to anything.
I know they'll never see this comment, but I thought I'd say it anyway.
Yeah probably sniffing tobacco. You can still buy the stuff. I used to do it when I was a teenager
"The saddest thing in life is wasted talent." ~ A Bronx Tale (1993)