Show capt Basso bassous tVs secret I W lesterj daniel resigned his seat in the united states senate on jul july y his deskis desk is still in the senate chamber but which one where it sits and who is the lucky senator that haa has it aro are secrets to all the world except capt bassett whom sir webster brought hero here when a mere mero boy and put him in poll position as a page pago eighteen years before he resigned capt bassett has held a place in the senate from that day until the present being acting assistant sergeant at arms now new but buto to the story of the desk aa As above stated the possessor of it or its number is as profound a secret to the senator who sita sits in it aa it ig is to an egyptian mummy captain bassetta Bas reason for keeping all knowledge of tho the numbers of mr websters mr clays mr cal houns seats a secret is that knowing and understanding the desire of oatlie the average american citizen both male and female for relics relic ii lio lie fears to give the secret away lest the doak desk would bo be chipped away by piecemeal by the curious curiola who throng the capital every day there has been no change in these desks from tho the day they were brought into the capitol until now other than the annual coat of varnish captain bassett lias has a memorandum record of their numbers and places which he lie keeps under lock and key and will when lio comes to shuffle off this mortal coil furnish to tho the proper person all the information relative to these desks desk sin in order that their history may be carefully P preserved re and handed ban ed down to future generations as mementos of webster aud and his associates in the senate a te there r arc are three other desks in tho the senate chamber which curiosity hunters would like to bo be able to see and rind know that they were the right ones these are the desks of jen jefferson erson davis of mississippi stephen A douglas of illinois and charles sumner of massachusetts mr daviss desk occupied the earno same position in the chamber does it is not known to any one except capt bassett whether or not it is the same came one mr douglas was in the same place as that occupied by mr pendleton and mr sumner was in the tile place now occupied by mr dawes in 1862 when the new york were antho in the city about twenty of them went into tho the senate chamber early in the morning to destroy the chair and desk that ind been occupied by Jefre jefferson davis just as th alicy ey were in the act capt bassett basssett put in his appearance and asked them what they were about they quickly told him that they were going to destroy the seat and daak because they were the ones used by jeff davis capt bassett suggested to them tb that a t their m mission alss ion in washington was to protect public property and not to destroy it they saw the point and capt bassett proceeded so to change the numbers of the desks as to be able to say to all may in quiro quire that the desks that were used by the senators were not now antho in the same places ai as they had been changed around for the express purpose of preventing them from being mutilated by bv relic and curiosity hunters |