Autobiography of Mark Twain (149 page)

288.39–42 There was General Fairchild . . . grew to be well acquainted with him and his family] Lucius Fairchild (1831–96) lost his left arm at Gettysburg on 1 July 1863. A few months later he was mustered out of the Union army with the rank of brigadier general. He subsequently served three terms as governor of Wisconsin (1866–72) and then entered the diplomatic service. One of his postings, from 1878 to 1880, was as the U.S. consul general in Paris. The Clemenses became friendly with him and his wife while living there, sometime between late February and early July 1879, during the European excursion that became the basis of
A Tramp Abroad (N&J2
, 48, 287,315–16).

289.4 General Noyes . . . lost a leg in the war] Edward Follansbee Noyes (1832–90) interrupted his law career in 1861 to join the Union army, rising to the rank of brigadier general. His left leg was amputated as a result of a wound he suffered in battle on 4 July 1864. After the war he served as a judge, as governor of Ohio (1871–73), and then as U.S. minister to France (1878–81).

292.3–4 Senator Tillman . . . frank and intimate criticism of the President] Democratic Senator Benjamin Ryan Tillman (1847–1918) delivered his furious attack on Theodore Roosevelt in a packed Senate chamber on 17 January 1906 (“Tillman Fiercely Attacks Roosevelt,” New York
Times
, 18 Jan 1906, 1).

292.10 matter of the expulsion of Mrs. Morris from the White House] For details of the Morris expulsion and Roosevelt’s indifference to it, see the Autobiographical Dictations of 10 and 15 January 1906. According to the New York
Times
report of Tillman’s speech, which Clemens probably saw, women in the Senate galleries “wept as Tillman told of the treatment accorded to Mrs. Morris. At times Tillman himself shed tears and in a broken voice appealed for the cause of honor and truth. Not a sound of applause was heard. The Senate and the spectators were simply breathless as one intense furious blast after another came from the Senator” (“Tillman Fiercely Attacks Roosevelt,” 18 Jan 1906, 1).

292.18 I was already arranging a scheme in another matter of public concern] The “scheme” has not been identified.

292.29 His second cousin killed an editor] On 15 January 1903, Benjamin Tillman’s nephew (not his second cousin), James H. Tillman (1869–1911), the lame duck lieutenant governor of South Carolina, shot Narciso Gener Gonzales (b. 1858), editor of the Columbia
State
, on Main Street in Columbia. Gonzales died four days later. He had been a bitter political opponent of James Tillman’s and in 1902, during Tillman’s unsuccessful campaign for governor, used the
State
to denounce him repeatedly, and truthfully, as a debauched liar and drunkard. Although Benjamin Tillman was not on good terms with his nephew at the time and regarded him as a political opponent, he made a show of supporting him. On 15 October 1903 a jury acquitted James Tillman, who had justified his premeditated attack on Gonzales with a bogus claim of self-defense (New York
Times:
numerous articles, 16 Jan-30 Oct 1903; Monk 2003).

292.38–293.2 He reminds the Senate . . . a note of compliment and admiration to a prize-fighter in the Far West] Tillman noted that Roosevelt had written “a letter of sympathy to Fitzsimmons, the prize fighter . . . made public about the time Mrs. Morris was treated so brutally” (“Tillman Fiercely Attacks Roosevelt,” New York
Times
, 18 Jan 1906, 1). The letter to Robert Fitzsimmons was in the news in late December 1905, several days before the Morris incident. Reportedly it was “simply to extend the season’s greetings” and was not in sympathy for Fitzsimmons’s loss of his world light-heavyweight championship in San Francisco on 20 December (New York
Times:
“O’Brien Wins Fight in Thirteenth Round,” 21 Dec 1905, 7; “Roosevelt to Fitzsimmons,” 31 Dec 1905, 5).

293.12 We buried good old John Malone the actor, this morning] See the Autobiographical Dictation of 16 January 1906.

293.15–30 funeral of the Empress of Austria . . . ecstasy of delight through me] On 10 September 1898, while Clemens and his family were living in Austria, Elisabeth Amalie Eugenie (b. 1837), the empress of Austria, was assassinated in Geneva by Luigi Luccheni, “a demented Italian anarchist without nationalistic motives.” The state funeral, on 17 September 1898, “furnished one of the most extravagant displays of funereal pomp ever seen in the history of European royalty” (Dolmetsch 1992, 81). Clemens wrote about it in “The Memorable Assassination,” first published in 1917 (SLC 1917, 167–81).

294.6–7 in Virginia City . . . borders of California] See the Autobiographical Dictation of 9 January 1906, note at 251.32–38.

294.21–22 serving as city editor . . . for a matter of two years] See the Autobiographical Dictation of 9 January 1906.

294.28 Plunkett . . . R. M. Daggett was on the staff] J. R. (Joe) Plunkett was a native of New York who had migrated to California in 1852 and to Nevada Territory in 1860, settling in Virginia City, where he was a miner and an editorial writer for the
Territorial Enterprise
. Rollin M. Daggett (1831–1901), also from New York, had been a journalist in San Francisco, founding the weekly
Golden Era
(1852) and the daily
Evening Mirror
(1860). Moving to Virginia City in 1862, he became a partner in a mining stock brokerage and also a part-time reporter for the
Enterprise
. In 1864 he joined the paper’s editorial staff and in 1874 succeeded Goodman as editor-in-chief. Later he served as a Republican congressman from Nevada (1879–81) and U.S. minister resident to Hawaii (1882–85) (Marsh, Clemens, and Bowman 1972, 467 n. 27; Wright 1893; 17 Sept 1864 to Wright,
L1
, 310–11 n. 3).

294.29–33 Goodman was the only one . . . Tom Fitch . . . modified him with a bullet] Thomas Fitch (1838–1923), born and raised in New York City, had been a Milwaukee newspaper editor and a California newspaper editor, lawyer, and assemblyman before relocating to Virginia City in 1863. That year he became the editor of the Virginia City
Union
. The details of his dispute with Goodman are not known. On 1 August 1863 Virginia City police foiled their first attempt at a duel, an incident Clemens reported for the
Enterprise
of 2 August and for the San Francisco
Morning Call
of 2 August and 6 August. On 28 September 1863 the two editors succeeded in dueling, in California, so as to avoid prosecution under Nevada territorial law (see the note at 298.12–13). Fitch was wounded in the right leg below the knee, but survived to employ his famed powers of oratory as Washoe County, Nevada, district attorney (1865–66) and as a Republican congressman from Nevada (1869–71). Clemens may have written the 29 September 1863
Enterprise
report of the duel (see
ET&S1
, 262–66;
L1:
26 May 1864 to OC, 300 n. 3; 11 Nov 1864 to OC, 319 n. 4).

294.38–295.2 He had been a major under Walker . . . campaign in Central America] In 1855 William Walker (1824–60), a physician, lawyer, and journalist, led a small volunteer
military force on an expedition to assist a revolutionary faction in Nicaragua. In 1856 the government he established was recognized by the United States, and Walker had himself inaugurated as president. In 1857, however, after less than a year in office, he was defeated by an alliance of Central American countries and forced to leave Nicaragua. He made an abortive attempt to return that same year, and another in 1860 that ended with his death by firing squad in Honduras.

295.5–15 I knew the Gillis family . . . Steve, George, and Jim, very young chaps] Stephen E. Gillis (1838–1918) was one of Clemens’s closest Nevada friends. A typesetter by training, he was the foreman of the
Territorial Enterprise
when Clemens joined the paper in 1862. Gillis remained principally in Virginia City, working as a news editor on the
Enterprise
and then on the Virginia City
Chronicle
, until 1894. He then moved to Jackass Hill, California, where he lived with his brothers James (1830–1907) and William (1840–1929), both of them miners and friends of Clemens’s. Clemens was visiting Jim and Billy Gillis on Jackass Hill and in Angels Camp when, in February 1865, he first heard a version of the “Jumping Frog” tale that he made, and that made him, famous (see AD, 11 Jan 1906, note at 261.21–24). Late in 1864 and again in 1865 he lived with Steve and Billy Gillis and their father, Angus (1800–1870), in San Francisco. The brother who died campaigning with William Walker was Philip H. Gillis (1834–56). According to the family genealogy assembled by Billy Gillis in 1924, there was no brother named George (
L1:
21 May 1864 to Laird, 291–92 n. 3; 25 Sept 1864 to JLC and PAM, 313–14 n. 3; 28 Sept 1864 to OC and MEC, 316 n. 3; link note following 11 Nov 1864 to OC, 320–22; 26 Jan 1870 to Gillis,
L4
, 35–39;
N&J1
, 63–90; William R. Gillis to H. A. Williams, 31 May 1924, photocopy in CU-MARK courtesy of Peter A. Evans; for more on Jim Gillis, see AD, 26 May 1907).

295.20 Bob Howland] Clemens met Robert Muir Howland (1838–90), a native of New York State, in Carson City, Nevada Territory, in 1861. Howland was a mine superintendent and a mine and foundry owner in Aurora who also served as the town marshal. In 1864 he was appointed warden of the territorial prison at Carson City, and in 1883 became a U.S. deputy marshal for California. In chapter 21 of
Roughing It
he appears briefly, but dramatically, as Bob H——, who, during a windstorm, springs “up out of a sound sleep,” knocks over his fellow boarders’ live spider collection, and shouts, “Turn out, boys—the tarantulas is loose!” Clemens and Howland remained friendly, corresponding regularly, until Howland’s death (
RI 1993
, 145; 29 Oct 1861 to Phillips,
L1
, 142 n. 2).

296.7–18 Goodman went off to San Francisco . . . things he had really accomplished] On 18 March 1864, writing from Virginia City, Clemens informed his sister that he was filling in as editor of the
Enterprise
because “Joe Goodman is gone to the Sandwich Islands” (18 Mar 1864 to PAM,
L1
, 275). In chapter 55 of
Roughing It
he gave an account of his stint as Goodman’s replacement that did not explicitly mention an editorial on Shakespeare:

Mr. Goodman went away for a week and left me the post of chief editor. It destroyed me. The first day, I wrote my “leader” in the forenoon. The second day, I had no subject and put it off till the afternoon. The third day I put it off till evening, and then copied an elaborate editorial out of the “American Cyclopedia,” that steadfast friend of the editor,
all over this land. The fourth day I “fooled around” till midnight, and then fell back on the Cyclopedia again. The fifth day I cudgeled my brain till midnight, and then kept the press waiting while I penned some bitter personalities on six different people. The sixth day I labored in anguish till far into the night and brought forth—nothing. The paper went to press without an editorial. The seventh day I resigned. On the eighth, Mr. Goodman returned and found six duels on his hands—my personalities had borne fruit. (
RI 1993
, 377–78)

Goodman actually returned to Virginia City on 8 April 1864, well before Shakespeare’s birthday. There is no evidence that there were any challenges awaiting him (18 Mar 1864 to PAM,
L1
, 280 n. 15).

296.21–297.9 That theme was Mr. Laird . . . Laird accepted] The dispute between James L. Laird and Clemens occurred in May 1864, not in March–April while Clemens was the substitute editor of the
Territorial Enterprise
. It had at its heart an exchange of inflammatory columns in the Virginia City
Union
and the
Enterprise
, the latter written by Clemens, about funds raised in Nevada Territory for the U.S. Sanitary Commission, which aided sick and wounded Union soldiers (for full details, including Clemens’s challenge to Laird and the response, see 20 May 1864 to MEC through 28 May 1864 to Cutler,
L1
, 287–301).

298.12–13 two years apiece in the penitentiary . . . brand-new law] This law was not “brand-new” in May of 1864. It was section 35 of “An Act concerning Crimes and Punishments,” which had been passed on 26 November 1861. It established a penalty of from two to ten years’ imprisonment for both the sending and delivering of a challenge (26 May 1864 to OC,
L1
, 300 n. 2).

298.13 Judge North] John W. North (1815–90) was an associate justice of the territorial supreme court from 1862 to 1864 (
L1:
29, 30, and 31 Jan 1862 to MEC, 145–46 n. 2; 13 Apr 1862 to OC, 189 n. 12).

298.22–36 That was a Mr. Cutler . . . immediately left for Carson] William K. Cutler, whose wife, Ellen, was president of the Carson City committee that had raised funds for the U.S. Sanitary Commission, had been offended by some of Clemens’s remarks in the
Territorial Enterprise
and had written to him in protest. Clemens responded defiantly on 28 May 1864, inviting Cutler to challenge him to a duel. It is not known whether Cutler obliged or, if he did, how much of the present account is accurate. What is known is that Clemens himself abruptly departed Nevada Territory on 29 May 1864 (see
L1:
23 May 1864 to Cutler, 296–97; 25 May 1864 to OC and MEC, 297–99; 26 May 1864 to OC, 299–301; 28 May 1864 to Cutler and the link note that follows, 301–3).

299.1–6 In 1878 . . . I think it was correct and trustworthy] On 21 November 1878, two French politicians, the Republican Léon Gambetta (1838–82) and the Bonapartist Marie François Oscar Bardy de Fourtou (1836–97), fought a duel in which shots were exchanged but no one was injured. In 1880 Clemens ridiculed the encounter in “The Great French Duel,” chapter 8 of
A Tramp Abroad
. One of his “inaccuracies” was his claim that his “long personal friendship with M. Gambetta” resulted in his acting as Gambetta’s second “under a French name,” which
accounted “for the fact that in all the newspaper reports M. Gambetta’s second was apparently a Frenchman” (New York
Times:
“The Latest Foreign News,” 22 Nov 1878, 1; “General Foreign News,” 23 Nov 1878, 1; “Belligerents of the Day,” 7 Dec 1878, 1; Child 1887, 521–24).