The daily dispatch. [volume] (Richmond [Va.]) 1850-1884, 1876-11-07
RUNNING ron GOVERNOR.
asnrk Twain Experiences a.
- r,nsrn or Dcfamation.

+ & Ea Is = a+ . i X
&4sssi stsa -A---.------------
mark Twain Experiences a ~
paaxn or Defamation.
A few months ago was nom l. Was,. aS ~
s,ore,nnr OF the great State OF NeW 1ork, W
MN AGAINST Stewart l.. Woodioru anu oon9
~ Hoitman, on an independents ticAet. !
somehow felt that had one pfominent au-
Z sso,,ta,e over shese gentlemen, ana that was
,."nS Character. II was easy to see by the
snewsnapers that II they had ever known
Whist Ii was to bear a good name, that time
Ind gone by. &c was plain that in these lat
ter wears they had become familiar with all
masner OF shameful crimes. But at the
very moment that I was exalting my advan-
tage and ioying in it In secret, there was q
muddy undercurrent Of discomfort I'll
ing y The depths OF my happiness-and that
was the having to hear my name banded
about in familiar connection with those OF
such people. grew more and more aus
turbed. Finally wrote my grandmotheT
about Il. Her answer came quick ana sharp.
She said: .s .,...g,
uYou have never done one single thing
in alI your life to be ashamed ot-not one.
Look at the newspapers-iook at them and
,comnrehend what sort Of characters Wood
ford and Hoffman are, and then see II you
are willing to lower yourself to their level
and enter public canvass with them"
It was my very thought. did not sleep
a single moment that night. But, after all,
I could not recede. was fully committed,
and must 60 on with the fight. AS l was
looking hstlessly over the papers at break
fast came across this paragraph, and l may
truly saw / never was so confounded be-
fore:
s.PERJURY.- now that Mr. Mark
Twain Is before the people as candidate
for Governor, he will condescend to explain
how he came to be convicted OF perjury by
thirty-sour witnesses, in Wakawak, Cochin
China, in 1s6S-the intent OF which perjury
was to rob q poor native widow and her
HELPLESS family Of meagre paintain patch,
their only stay and support in their bereave-
ment and their desolation. Mr.. Twain owes
it to himself, as we'll as to the great people
whose suffrage he asks, to clear the matter
up. Will he do it?"
thought J. should burst with amazement!
Such cruel, heartless CHARGE never had
seen Cochin China! I never had heard Of
Wakawak! didn't know q plaintain patch
from a Kangaroo did not know what to
do. l was crazed and helpless. I let the
day slip away without doing anything at all.
The next morning the same paper had
this-nothing more:
"S1GNIF1cANT.-Mr. Twain, it will be OBJ
served, IS suggestively silent about the
Cochin China perjury"
IMem.-During the rest OF the campaign
this paper never referred to me in any other
way than rs "the Infamous perjurer
Twain."]
Next came the Gazette with this:
"WANTEp TO kNow.-Will the new can
,didate for Governor deign to explain to GER
! tain OF his fellow-citiZens (who are suffering
to vote for him) the little circumstance OF
his cabin-mates in Montana losing small
valuabIes from time to time, until at last
these things have been invariably found on
Mr.. Twain's person or in his trunk ,
newspapers he rolled his traps I'M, they
: iclt compelled to give him friendly admo-
!, milton for his own good, and so tarred ana
feathered him and rode him on rail, ana
then advised him to leave permanent
vacuum in the place he usually occupied in
the camp? Will he do this? ?"
Could anything be more deliberately ma
icious than thatf For never was in Mon
tana in my life.
latter this, this journal customarily spoke
OF me as "Twain the Montana THEFT
I got to picking up papers apprehen-
siyely-much as one would lift desired
blanket which he had some idea might have
rattlesnake under it. One day this met
my eye: g,
davits OF Michael O'Flanagan, Esq, OF the
Five Points, and Mr.. Kit Burns and John
Allen OF Water street, it is established that
Mr.. Mark Twain's vile sentiment that the
lamented grandfather of our noble Standard
bearer, John T.. Hoffman, was hanged for
highway:robbery is a brutal and gratuitous
lie, without single shadow OF foundation
in fact. 1t is disheartening to yirtuous men
to see such shameful means resorted to to
achieve political success as the attacking OF
the dead in their graves and defiling their
honored names with SANDER. When we
think Of the anguish this miserable false
hood must cause the innocent relatives and
friends of the deceased, we are almost
driven to incite an outraged and insulted
public to summary and unlawful vengeance
upon the traducer. But no, let us leave
him to the agony of q lacerated conscience
Though il passion should get the better of
the public, and in its blind fury they should
do the traducer bodily injury, it is but too
obvious that no jury could convict and no
court punish the perpetrators OF the deed."
The ingenious closing sentence had the
effect of moving me out OF bed with dis
patch that night, and out at the back door
also, while the "outraged and insulted pub
lic'' surged in the front way, breaking fur
niture and windows In their righteous IN
dignation as they came. and taking off such
property rs they could carry when they
went. And,yet can lay my hand upon the
book and say that / never slandered Cover
nor Hotfman's grandfather. More; never
even heard OF him or mentioned him up to
that day and date.
n will state, in passing, that the journal
above quoted from always referred to me
afterwards as "Twaip, the Body Snatcher."]
The next newspaper article that attracted
nv attention was the following:
GA SWEET CANDIDATE.-Mark Twain,
who was to make such a blighting speech at
a mass-meeting of the Independents last
night, didn't come to time! A telegram
from his physician stated that he had been
knocked down by runaway team and his
leg broken in two places; sufferer lying in
great agony, and so forth, and so forth, and
a lot more bosh Of the same sort. And the
Independents tried hard to swallow the
wretched subterfuge and pretend that they
did not know what was the real reason Of
the absence OF the abandoned creature
whom they denominate their standard
bearer. A certain man acoS seen to reel into
Mr.. Itoain'S hotel last might IN 6eaStly
state of intorication. 1t is the imperative
Z duty Of the Independents to prove that this
IN