Fayette County herald. [volume] (Washington [Washington Court House], Fayette County, O. [Ohio]) 1860-1???, 1869-04-15

A Wicked Fraud Perpetrated
on Mark Twain at Newark.

H I
on Mark Twain at Newark.
sdl nRlgGd woT.577rtsy s8e ilsmc
The Newark Press contains the
following exposition Of what MARI
Twain terms a Wicked Fraud 2
Iperpetrated on him during his Fe,
cent lectpring visit to that city, ,,r
d It Is seldom pleasant to, tell on
ones self but sometimes it is a sort
Of relief to a man TO make a sad
coiifessionE e Iiwish 20 unbhrden
my mindlnow, and yet / almostbe;
y lieye that, ] am moved to do II
more because / long to bring CEN
sure upon another man than BE-
cause I'desire to pour balm upon
mys6wounded heart. atts( / don't
know what balm is, but / believe 1t
4 is the correct expression, to use in
| this connection-neYer having seen
any balm. You may remember
that / lectuFed in Newark lately for
the young gehtlemenaof the Gyo.
inian Society !? / did, at any rate, u
during the afternoon of that day, /
was talking with one of the young
fgentlemen just referred to, and he
said that he had an uncle, who from
some cause or other, seemed to
have grown permanently bereft Of
all emotion. And with tears in his
eyes this yOung man said yrb q.
.@aQh, if 4 could only. see him
! I VAS touched. i'Is could never
withstand distress. I9said, '<la 5'
Bring him to my lecture. I'll
start him for you.'' s'''Ht ,A'i- r.
Il st0h,Iif I6oRld but doitl If you
could but DO Il it all our family
would bless you for eyermore77for
he was very dear to us. Oh, my
behefactor can you make him
Flaughii cano you bring soothing
tears to those parched orbs? tou
1jd was 0 prqfoundlyGmoveds b l
said: +..as -rT
u "My son, bring the old party
Faround, l have got some jokes in
4 that lecture that will make him
laugh if there is any laugh inlihim
land, if theFomiss fire 4 havergot-
some others lhat'H1 make him cry
I Ior kill him, one egorrotherf17 bia1o9I
Then the young man blessed me-
and wept ON 1anyI neck, and blew his
nose on my coat tail, andweht afa
ter his uncle, He placed him infull
view, in the second row of bench
es that night, and ] began on him.
III tried him with mild jokes; then
went for severe ones5 I dosed him
with bad jokes, and Fiddled him
with good ones, Ifred old stale
Jokes into him and peppered him
fore and aft with red hot ones q /
warmed up to my work and as
saulted him on the right and left,
in front and Behind; fumed and
sweated and charged and routed till
/ was hoarse and sick, and frantic |
and furious-but / never moved
him once-I never started a smile
or a tear 7 Never a ghost of a smile |
and never a suspicion of moisture |
I was astonished. ] closed the lee
ture at last with one despairing
shrek with one wild burst of hui
NOR and hurled a joke Of fsnpernat- 5
ural .atrocitY full at him. It never
phased him! Then I sat,down beiI
wildered and exhausted. Thepres- |
ident of the society came up and /
bathed my head with cold water
and said :agsnisud 5mos ni 9s18H3 \
el"What made you carry on so
toward the laqt2",av bio s7e9g zis !
- said !; 81 was trying to make |
tEat COMPOUNDED old fool laugh, in /
the second row = =. ~, I, /
no Ahd he saitl::i a"Well you was |
wasting your time because he is
deaf and dumb, and blind as a
badcerpt moll a1oi W5E 81 Ia7
Now was that any way q for the
old mans, nephew to impose on a,
stranger and an orphan like me ?-zI
I simply ask as a man and brother. /
if that was any way for him to do