Daily press. [volume] (Newport News, Va.) 1896-current, 1910-04-22
HEALTH FAILING SINCE
DAUGHTERS SAD DEATH
give Me Ny Glasses Arc Last
Words Written by the Famous
Author and in Short While s. l..
Clemens is no More-Broken Heart
Ends Ali-Had Enjoyed Life.

sRy Associated Prcss)
REDDING, CONN. April 81
Samuel Langhorn Clemens, Mark
Twain" died painlessly at 6:3o
o'clock tonight of angina pectoris.
He lapscd into coma at 3 o'clock TINS
afternoon and never recovered con
seriousness. II was the end OF a man
outwoIn by grief ana acute agony Oh
body.
For long hours yesterday the grey
aquilme features lay moulded IN ihet'
tia of death. while the pulse sank
lower and lower, but late at night
Mark Twain. passed from stupor INTO
the first natural sleep he had known
since he returned from Bermuda
and this morning he woke refresh
cd. even family cheerful and III inll
posse IS ion of all his faculties.
lie recognized has daughter. Clara
Mrs. Osip Gabrilowitch. spoke ra'
tional word or two and. feeling him
self unequal to conversation, wrote
out in pencil: Give me my glasses
Takes Sudden Turn.
They we're his last words. Laying
them aside. he sank first into reverie
There was no thought at the time
however. that the end was so near. Al
five o'clock DR.. Robert Halsey, VINO
had been constantly in attendance
said:
MIR. Clemens is not so strong al
| this hour as he was al the CORE
spending period yesterday. but he
has a wonderful vitality and he may
rally again.
Angina pectoris is paroxismal al.
I lection of the chest of bafIling ana
obscure origin. characterized by sew
ere pain. faintness and deep depre ;
/ sion OF the spirits. But Mark Twain
! did not uie in anguish. Sedatives
soothed his pain. but in his moments
of consciousness the mental deprts
! sion persisted. On the way up from
Bermuda he said to Albert B'geio"
Paine. who had been his constant
companion in illness:
This is a bad job; well never pull
through with il"
! On shore once more and longing
for the serenity of the New England
/ hills. he took heart and said to those
who noted his enlightenment in sor
row:
Give me breath of Redding ali
once more and this will pass But
| il did not pass. and tired of body
and weary of spirit. the old warrior
against shams aud suObs, said faint
~ TO his nurses:
why do you fight to keep me
alive? Two days of life are as good
/ TO me as -four"
Twenty Cigars Day.
Mark Twain was, for more thar
| fifty years. an invcteratc smoker. Dr
/ Halscy said tonight that he was un
able To predicate that lie angina pee
toris. from which Mark Twain died
was in any way a sequel Of nicotine
poisoning. Some constitutions. b'
said. seem immune from The effcc
Of tobacco, this was one of them
4 Since his illness began however. the
doctors had cut down lark Twan':
daily allowance of twenty cigars an6
countless pipes 10 four cigars day
No deprivation was a greater sor
row TO him. lie tried to smoke OF
, the steamer while returning iron
pcrmuda and only gave IL up because
he was too feeble TO draw on HI
Tipc.
Even on his death bed. when h'
lad passed the point Of speech. am
when NJ longer certain that his idea
were lucid. he would make the motion
81 waving cigar and smiling. expe
empty air from under the mOustache
lsiH stained with smoke.
Last summer the walks began q
faiicr. last fall they ceased for good
| The death of ~. n. Rogers. a clos
friend. was a sever blow. The dcau
Of his daughter Jean. who wa
seized with an attack n cpilcps'
last fall. while M her baihtub. was al
added blow from which he never re
I covered.
u was then that siabbing pains j.
the heart BEGAN. Mark Twain de
- truly. a. % can be said 81 an
man. of a broken heart
Sketch Of His Life
Tho mere chronoiry 81 Mari
/ TAam's life a. soon told. Ike mo.
IcvsIcrs IN the ina -inafion. hi
lsignifcancc 10 posicrify lics not. a.
with mon Of action. M how
wrought upon him. for from such re-
actions resulted bis imaginative on
rui-ouc Of the most considerable o
this firnc and. a. d. nov seems. on
nf the sccuFcsi.
Briefly. then. Mark Twain "a
I born Samuel f.auEhoruo Clemens j
n fsI..rf.T. ~. On Err 90 fa.r " II