The Tiffin tribune. (Tiffin, Ohio) 1868-1887, 1871-01-05
VOLUME 23-NUMBER u

not Marx Twain himself. We have
them at last This is a case that ad-
mits of no shirking--The voice Of the
4 people demands in thunder-tOnes.
''WhO was that mani"
1t was incredible, absolutely inered-
ibIe, for a moment, that it NSs really
my name that was coupled WITH this
disgTaceful suspicion. Three long
years had passed over my head since
l had tasted ale, beer, wine, or liquor
of any kind.
I lit shows what effect the times were
I having on me when 1 say that l saw
myself confidently dubbed "Air- De
lirium Tremens Twain in the next
issue of that journal without q pang
notwithstanding knew with mo-
I nOtOnOus fidelity the paper would 60
| calling me 50 to the end Of the end.
/ Bythis time anonymous letters were
getting to be an important part OF my
mail matter. This form was common:
How about that old woman you
kiked of your premises, which was
begging.
Pol PRY.
And this:
| There is things which YOU have done
which isunbeknOwens to anybody but
me. You had better trot out a few
dolls, to yours truly Oryouu hear thrO'
the papers from
HANDY ANDY.
This is about the idea. I could con-
| tinue them until the reader was sur
! feited, if desirable.
Shortly after the principal Republi-
can journal convicted" me of whole
sale bribery, and the leading Demo-
cratic paper mailed an aggravating
case of blackmailing to me.
In this way l acquired two addi-
tiOual names; Twain, the Loath-
some Embraeer."
By this time there had grown to be
such q clamOr for an answer to all
the dreadful charges that were laid to
me, that the editors and leaders of my
party said it would be political ruin
to me to remain silent any longer. As
if to make their appeal the more i'm
perative, the following appeared in one
of the papers the very next day.
BEHOLD THE MAN The Indepen-
dent candidate still maintains silence,
because he dare not speak. Every
accusation against him has been am
ply proved and they have been en-
dOrsed and Reimbursed by his own el-
Oquent silence, till at this day he
stands forever convicted. Look upon
the Infamous Perjurer! the Montana
Thief the Body Snatcherl Contem-
plate your incarnate Delirium Ire
mensi your Filthy COrruptionistl your
LOathsOme Embracerl Gaze upon him
ponder him well-and then say If
you can give your honest vote to q
creature who has earned this dismal
arrav # titles by his hideOus crimes,
and dares not open his mouth in de-
nial of any of them!
There was no possible way of get
ting out of it, and so in deep humilia-
ton, set about preparing to tan
swer" a mass of baseless charges and
mean and wicked falschOOds. But I
never finished the task, for the very
next morning a paper came OIt with
a new horror, fresh malignity, and
seriously charged me with burning a
lunatic asylum with all its inmates be-
cause it Obstrueted the view from my
house. This threw me into a sort of
panic. Then came the charge of pOis-
Oning my uncle to get his property,
with an imperitive demand that the
grave should be opened. This drove
me to the verge of distraction. On top
of this / was accused of employing
tOOthless and incompetent old rela-
tives to prepare the food for the found
ling hospital when / was warden.
was wavering-wavering. And at
last, as a due and fitting climax to the
persecution that party ram
cor had inflicted upon me, nine little
tOddling children of all shades and
eClOrs and degrees of raggedness were
taught to rush on the platform at
public meeting and clasp me around
the legs and call me Pa!
gave up. I hauled down my col
ors and surrendered. 1 was not equal
to the requirements of a GubernatOr-
ial campaign in the state Of New
York, and so sent in my withdraw
al from the candidacy, and in bitter
ness of spirit signed it.
'Truly yours,
"ORce a decent man, but now
MARK TWAIN, I. p, NJ. T., B. s, ID.
T., F. c., and i. E."