Connecticut western news., 1876-11-24
'3@ CANAAN, CONN, FRIDAY, NOVEMBER 24 1876
4. CANDIDATES STORY.
Mark Twain Tells how he Ran for Omc, b and tho Result. '......H

.- 4. CANDIDATES STORY.
 Mark Twain Tells how he Ran for Omcs and tho Result. ......H . l. Now that the election is over we can reread with. interest Mark Twain E sketch of his first aspiration, for office and the result. Mark says | r. A few months ago I was nominated flor governor of the great State of New York, to run against Stewart l.. Wood ford and John T. Hoffman, on an inde- pendent ticket. I somehow felt that I had one prominent advantage over these gentlemen, and that was, good charac- ter. It was easy to see by, the,newspa- pers, that if ever they had known what it was to bear Q good name, that time had gone by. It was plain that in these latter years they had became familiar with all manner of shameful crimes. But st the very moment that I was exalting my advantage and toying in it in secret, there was muddy undercurrent of dis comfort "riling the deeps of my hap piness-and that was the having to hear my name bandied about in familiar con nection with those of such people. I grew more and more disturbed. Finally I wrote my grandmother about it. Her answer cane quick and sharp. She said 'e. '..''- --. |" You have never done one single thing in all your life to be ashamed of not one. Look at the newspapers-look at them and comprehend what sort of characters Woodford and Hoffman are, and then see if you are willing to lower yourself to their level and enter public canvass with them" -E' ~
 It was my very thought I did not sleep single moment that night. But after all, could not recede. was fully committed and must go on with the fight. As was looking istlessly over the papers at breakfast, came across this paragraph, and may truly say I never was so confounded before: Perhaps, now that MT. Mark Twain is before the people as candidate for governor, he will conde- scend to explain how he came to be con- victed of perjury by thirty -four wit nesses, in Wakawak, Cochin China, in 1863, the intent of which perjury was to rob poor native widow and her help less family of meager plantain patch, their only stay and support in their be- reavement and their desolation. MT. Twain owes it to himself, as we'll as to the great people whose suffrages he asks, to clear this matter ur. Will he do it g" ..'..@ s'.' ".' ..'+
 I thought I should burst with amaze ment Such a cruel, heartless charge l never had seen Cochin China never had heard of Wakawak! I didn't know plantain patch from kangaroo did not know what to do. I was crazed and helpless. I let the day slip away with out doing anything at all. The next morning the same paper had this-noth- ing more. "S1aN1F1oANT.-Mr. Twain, it will be observed, is suggestively silent about the Cochin China perjury"
 ena.-During the rest of the cam paign this paper never referred to me in any other way than as "the infamous perjurer Twain. --
 Next came the, Gazette with this:
 "WANTED TO KNow.-Will the new candidate for governor deign to explain to certa,n of his fellow citizens (who are suffering to vote for him D the little cir cumstance of his cabin mates in Mon tana losing small valuables from time ]. to time, until at last, these things hay ing been invariably found on MT. Twain's person or in his "trunk" " Newspapers he rolled his traps in) , they felt compelled to give him friendly ad- monition for his own good, and so tarred and feathered him and rode him on rail, and then advised him to leave permanent vacuum in the place he usually occupied in the camp. Will he do this 2"
 Could anything be more deliberately in Montana in my life.
 TAfkor &bSo %hio Sor,roo1 spoke of me as "Twain, the Montana
 The next newspaper article that att tracted my attention was the following:
 "A SWEET CANDIDATE Mark Twain, who was to make such blighting speech at the mass meeting of the Independ- ents, didn't come to time A telegram from his physician stated that he had been knocked down by runaway team and his leg broken intwo places-suffer- CT lying ill grvat agony, and so forth, and so forth, Hnd 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 was seen to reel into MT. Twain's hotel last night in a beastly state of intoxication. It is the impera- tive duty of the Independents to prove that this besotted brute was not Mark Twain Himself. We have them at last 1 This is case that admits of no shirk- ing. The voice of the people demands in thunder tones: Who was that man 9'"
 It was incredible, absolutely incredi- ble, for moment, that it was really my name that was coupled with this dis graceful suspicion. Three long years had passed over my head since I had tasted ale, beer, wine, or liquor of any kind.
 Tt shows what effect the times were having on me when say that saw n.y. self confidently dubbed "Mr. Delirium Tremens Twain" " in the next issue of that journal without a pang-notwith- standing I knew that with monotonous fidelity the paper would go on calling me so to the very end.
 By this 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 pre mi sers which was beg ing. . Pol PRY.''' r And this:
 "There is things which you have done which is unbeknowens to anybody but me. You better trot out few dols. | to yours truly or you'll hear thro'l the papers from HANDY ANDY"
 This is about the idea. I could con- tinue them till the reader was surfeited, if desirable.
 Shortly the principal Republican journals " convicted" ma of wholesale bribery, and the leading Democratic paper "nailed" an aggravated case of blackmailing to me.
 In this way acquired two additional