HOW TO SPOT A ‘SHORT SNORTER'

 

AT FIRST GLANCE, THE DOLLARS look like any others, tinted with age with some bearing the familiar visage of George Washington and others adorned with faces that aren't easily as identifiable. But upon closer inspection, these bills are covered with signatures and are taped to one another, like an odd and expensive celebratory banner. This is a short snorter, part secret society badge and part autograph book.

The short snorter in the Air Mobility Command Museum collection belonged to Tom Farrow, a B-17 crew member of the 384th Bomb Squadron who escaped the burning wreckage of his bomber before being taken as a prisoner of war in Germany during World War II. After being rescued, he retired to Delaware and donated his short snorter to the museum, along with his diary and dog tags. It would have been rolled up for easy transport, only unrolled when a new bill or signature was added from a colleague or famous figure.

The short snorter itself is 19 bills long, says Joseph H. Sellars, the museum's collections manager and exhibit specialist. The first four [bills] have signatures. The 10-shilling note has a list of his bombing missions and dates.

The tradition of the short snorter is believed to have started with Alaskan bush pilots in the 1920s, who would leave autographed bills in the small towns they flew into. What is certain is that it was popularized by stunt pilot Jack Ashcraft of the Flying Gates Circus after a show in Syracuse, New York, in 1925.

Ashcraft was sent to find champagne for a party but got distracted by a female companion so the next day, when he was reprimanded for his disappearance, he sidetracked his boss by asking him for two dollars. Ashcraft scrawled Short Snorter No. 1 one of the bills, initiating the man into a club of sorts (and earning a buck for his troubles). A snorter was a shot of liquor; a short snorter was a small amount that wouldn't put the pilots like Ashcraft over the legal limit; and a short snorter bill was evidence that you had a place among the still small number of people who had taken to the skies.

 

The scheme became especially popular with other pilots, who recruit members into their fold by simply taking their dollar bills and signing one as an initiation. Eventually a whole set of rules were developed. But there was one guideline that was more important than all the rest: If you signed a short snorter and the person who owned it didn't show it when asked, they had to buy you a drink or give you a dollar.

The tradition picked up steam in the military mess halls of World War II as more people made these long-haul flights to Europe, Short snorters became a sort of good luck charm as fellow passengers signed the bills. When you filled one bill, usually a small sum, you taped onto another, including foreign currency picked up in your travels. It became a ledger of where you flew and who you flew with.

To read the complete article, see:
How to Spot a ‘Short Snorter' (https://www.atlasobscura.com/articles/what-is-a-short-snorter)

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