Wichita eagle. [volume] (Wichita, Kan.) 1886-1890, 1889-02-06


dollars in money and the contents OF
reg istered packages. amount unknown.
MARK TWAIN.
How the Hum0fist Worked and Was
Worked In Nevada CITY.
tChicago Mail.]
Robert Fulford, known as the husband Of
Annie Pixley, tells New York newspaper
man the following story Of Mark Twain,
whom he knew in his early days in Nevada
City: "One Of these" said Mr.. Fulford,
,"who has made both fame and fortune, is
Mark Twain (Sam Clenens). knew him
well. He was reporter on the Enterprise
while was a young boy setting type on
the same paper. He had salary Of thirty
dollars week. There was q wide differ.
ence then between the man who wrote for
the paper and the man who set the type
for it. While it is true, as Ihave said, that
Mark Twain is one of the few men / knew
at Virginia City who is to-day worth a
fortune, and while 1t is equally true he has
acquired fame as well, yet he made neither
while out there, and gave no hint that he
would ever make them anywhere else"
"You never suspected, then, that he was
q humoristW
"Never. I saw him every day, and read
everything he wrote for the paper, but
never suspected there was anything funny
about him beyond little dro1ery in his
manner Of speech. think he got the most
of his jokes from fellow in the Office we
called Truthful James. His true name was
Thompkins, and he wrote very fairly, but
he was at his best when surrounded by a
lot of friends. He had an inexhaustible
supply of jokes and stories, and he told
them all with inimitable humor, He was
thoroughly original, and was noted char
acter in Virginia City. You will UNDER
stand that there was gentle sarcasm
about the appellation Truthful James.
But Thompkins, with all his good stories,
never amounted to anything more than
the good-natured, good hearted joker of
the Enterprise office, and he is to-day I'M
known to either fame or fortune, but there
is Mark Twain, whose books are now read
by all mankind"
: "Was Mark Twain well liked among his
acquaintances~
"No; he was rather unpopular. did not
like him then and do not like him now. I
dislike him so much that never read much
that he writes, but think I can tell the
truth about him, and am sure am right
when say he retains as friends to-day
very few, if any, of those who knew him
I. in Virginia City. To illustrate the truth of
what I say viii tell you of an incident
that occurred just about the time he left
Virginia City to go down TO San Francisco.
There was a little town or camp just out
side of Virginia City, and the two places
were separated by deep guleh, and the
road that crossed this was the scene of
many a midnight murder and robbery.
Some of the boys laid plot to give Sam
Clemens good scare before he left San
Francisco. The plan was to waylay him
some night as he passed along the
lonely road and to take his
watch, pistol and money away from
him and return them C day or
two later. The night came. He was COM
ing home pretty late from the other side.
The boys knew he had pistol, and that it
was a dangerous joke; but that was the
sort of practical jokes we alrindulged in at
that time. 1t would, Of course, be neces-
'sary to get the drop on him, otherwise
somebody would get hurt. The plan
worked all right. They rushed out from
behind rock, with pistols cooked and lev
eled, and commanded him to throw up his
hands, which he did very promptly. There
was nothing else to do. Of course the boys
were masked. They took everything he
had, including very common old silver
fch md ha al To- a ;Dt,f led 10
get away with his life. The next day he
wrote a thrilling article for the Enterprise,
giving detailed account of the affair,
abusing the supposed robbers with ter
rife vengeance. The secret was kept
dark until he was going to leave on
the stage-coach for San Francisco. Just
as Clemens was about to get on the stage,
a committee Of the boys with very solemn
countenances walked up to him and with
q formal speech presented him with a
neat-looking case, which be supposed
contained some pleasing memento by
which his Virginia City friends wished
to be remembered. You can imagine
his surprise and the yell that went MP
from the crowd when he opened the case
and found inside the watch, pistol and
small amount Of money OF which he had
been robbed a few nights before. The
driver cracked his whip and the coach
went of with a whirl. Il was the sort of
practical joke Clemens did not apprs-
ciste, and it was the last be ever saw of
Virginia City"
INGENIOUS BEAUTIES.
They Make Rich Dresses from Leaves and
NOISES.
fBtsmarck ID. t. Tribune.l
Three Philadelphia bellies attracted con-
siderable attention on last evenings east
bound passenger train They had been 70
California, had visited the National Park
and were en- route home. While In the
park the young ladies manufactured
dresses Of leaves and MOSES. which they
gathered from the giens and brooks along
the route. The dresses were most artistic
ally made, and were IS beautiful as novel.