Savannah morning news. [volume] (Savannah) 1868-1887, 1884-04-12
THE joke ON MARK TWAIN.
How George w. Cable and the Rev. Nj
Beecher Fooled the Humorist.

How George W. Cable and the Rev. Mr..
Beecher Fooled the Humorist.
Mr.. George W. Cable sat in his room in
the Everett House yesterday, saws the
New York World of the 10th instant.
when reporter called and asked him
about the result Of the practical Joke
played upon Mark Twain on April /. Of
which Mr.. Gable was the author. Mr..
Gable said that he had kept out of Marks
way since that time, and really could not
tell how Mark took it and he was not
anxious to know if he would have to meet
Mark face to face.
during the winter / was living i'll at
Mr.. Twain's house" +" said Mr.. Gable. "and
as l improved he and | used to attend
to our correspondence together. Occa-
siOnally l would open a letter containing
an application for my autograph and he
would open another asking for his. One
uay when he had an unusually large mail
L remarked that these autograph aDDli-
cants were insufferable bOres. | left his
house on February Is and started over 10
Philadelphia. While lecturing there
the idea of playing my friend Clements
q joke occurred to me- Now. | am
not practical joker; in fact
have always considered myself iucabable
of perpetrating a joke with any kind Of
point to it. Therefore when this sup-
gestiOn occurred to me / fiattered myself
that had struck something rich. Henry
Ward Beecher was in PHILADELPHIA lee
turing in the Academy and / was reading
in Association Hall. We were both stop
ping at the Lafayette. In all the fullness
OF simple and guileless heart impaired
my plot to Mr.. BeecheT and he was charm
ed with 1t. had previously mentioned il
toJohnsOn, of the Century, and when met
him again he reminded me of my proposed
joke and insisted upon my working it up.
Even then / did not fully make up my
mind to do it, and ! went off West on a
tour. About the 26th of March my mana
ger, Major Pond, reminded me again of
the proposed joke, and stated that
Beecher and johnson were ripe for
it. l Immediately sat down and wrote
out circular. These l had printed and
sent all over the country. The circular
asked Mark for his autograph. / also for
warded some to j. Il. 0sgOOd, asking him
to pass them along. But he was away at
the time and did not receive them until il
was too late. Mr.. Beecher was tickIed
with the idea. He loves a joke better than
a girl loves ice cream. l am sorry Os-
good missed that bundle, as we were out
ON DIR. Holmes and a lot Of Boston fel-
lows. There were only $50 circulars
Clements friends and the result was that
about the first Of the month he was con-
fronted with appalling piles Of mail from
every quarter containing applications for
his autograph from authors, publishers,
bankers, merchants, actors and actresses,
editors and society ladies.
Occasionally Clements, when otherwise
engaged, puts aside his mall for day or
so, and to prevent our joke being spoiled
by such circumstance, | wrote to Rev.
Joseph Twitchell to go over to Clements
house and make him take his medicine.
l went off on the road, going as far West
as Madison, Wis. and as far East as
New Bedford. l came here from the East
but took special pains to come by another
route than that touching at Hartford. l
am, however, inclined to think that he
was a mad man about the first of the
month. but don't see what he has par
ticularly to growl about. If he don't
want bis collection IlI take itv