Essex County herald. [volume] (Guildhall, Vt.) 1873-1964, 1905-01-06
MARK TWAlA'S FRANKS
Recollections Of a Mi.souriar
VINO Knew Him.as q Boy.
TRICK PLAYED on HIS ROOM NATE
How the Hsnsrist Fissrea In the
Original stsry sf Jia wsirs T~a-
snt a. Rsiatsa ~ CaDtaia n. Lacy.
Tramp Printer Whs ssld = Skele-
ten anA Celebrated.

Captain II. Lacy. editsr Of the Vet
Mountain Tribune, WsstcliE, Colo. who
was in Bresknsil, Ne, recently for the
nrst Ams since he went through in
1864 a. postal clerk Oh the Pony Ex-
press, a. the Hannibal and VI. Joe
mail train WAS then known. was born
In Hannibal in 1889 and WAS a play
mate and later fellow prlnter OF
Samuel Clemens, the famous AulnoriSt,
though q few Years younger, says
Brookneld (Ao) correspondent Of the
Ksnsas City Star. Like most OF Marx
Twain's" early chums Captain Lacy
never saw the siixhtest Indication OF
coming greatness In his friend.
The worst trouble about Sam when
he was boy" said Csptsih Lacy, was
his iax:nessa He was dreadful shirk.
err When the war cane on and every
body WAS taking sides, he Joined Major
Thomas A. Harris Confederate regi.
ment and was In a littisln ght at Flori.
da. Monroe county, with Colonel U. s.
Grants command. Harris was licked,
and Sam came home. lie said he be
lisyed the Confeds were " reny, because
the other fellows were the strongest.
THE nrst thing that, called my. at
tention to Sam a. a, writer, while out
west was his yarn about Jim Wells
tonioat. which was published In a San
Francisco paper. recognised the Incl.
dent and knew, there was nobody cut
there bat Sam who esuid have teld It.
jim was a printer, aud he roomed with
Sam, who he thsaght was the smartest
boy that ever lived. One night the
girls Of the h0use gave \ 'caady pull
and lot Of sticky ,laolssaas candy was
laid out on the back porch to cooi. be.
fore pulling. The ysuny folks were
raising high links downstairs. and inns
tomcat ives out On the back fence sing
Ing an accompaniment.
Sam couldn't sleep, aud he told Jim
to get up and murder his cat. Jim
would have committed suicide II Sam
had told him to-. and without taking
the trouble to put On his clothes he
climbed cut on the tre!fs. intending to
make connections with the fence. But
the trsids was fragile, ard Jim was 4
good, healthy beg. The thing gave
way with 4 crash, ana psor jim was
precipitated Aks chunk cut o. me
tser 81 that Arsihst nsisssa eatldy,
He gave . Shrek that brsuGhttali the
boys and girls cut On the porch, and the
landlady kindly fetched q lamp. Jim
was never a very pretty boy. but al
that moment everybody thought he
was the sweetest, thing On earth. The
candy hung to his naked legs. and
breast like barnaeles to a. ocean der~
iict.a It broke, up the party. and every
body blamed Sam for 1t. Well. he
touched up that yarn lin way that
made it even funnler than II was. and
then | knew that the careless, ftln Low.
ing lad had struck his gait-that he
was really ssod for something.
"A tramp printer named Smell. blew
into Hannibal one day and was given
work On the paper. He was an uncom-
muhientivs sort Of fellow. but a good
worker and sbeiieAt. Sam decided to
bring him out Of his reserve and to do
1t borrowed q skeleton, from a doctors
once and slipped It into the printers
bed Then VIC cot around to a window
about bedtime to see what was going
to happen. The print; pulled off hi.
shoes. piled his clothes over, on, the,
moor and blew out the, light, The nexi
thing we supposed would DO yell mud
printer shooting cut Of the window
IN his nightshirts But there, wasn't
anything Of the sort. There, awasy q
sleepy yawn and: