The Leavenworth echo. [volume] (Leavenworth, Wash.) 1904-current, 1910-04-29
DEAR OLD MARK TWAIN" GONE
Noted American Humorist Passes Away
Peacefully at His Connecticut
Home Universal Sorrow

He passed away without pain at 6:22
Thursday evening OF last week at his
countryshome, Stormfeld, Connecticut,
among the wild tamarack hills he loved
so well.
For five hours he had been uncon-
scious and the end was almost unno-
ticeable. 1t was primarily a cessation
Of pulse and respiration.
At his bedside were his only living
child, Clara, who is the wife Of Ossip
Gabrilowitsch, the Russian pianist; Al
bert Bigelow Paine, his secretary and
literary executor, who was almost a son
to him; Drs. Quintard and Halsey. the
heart specialist, who had kept him
alive by stimulants for nearly twenty
four hours, and his servants, headed by
odd Katchen," who for three years
has been his housekeeper.
His last words were spoken at l
o'clock to his daughter. What they
were she only heard, for they were
faint and almost inarticulate. Unable
then to speak, he grasped pad and
pencil-the instinct to write seeming
dominant even in the face of approach
ing senselessness.
He traced the words, give me my
glasses" and with the spectacles ad-
justed he gazed at the paper, placed
his pencil TO it as if to put down some
message, then his strength waned and
the writing materials slipped from his
grasp. He smiled YEARLY at his daugh-
ter, then his head sank back to the
pillow and he lapsed into the coma
which death ended. Angina pectoris,
the doctors say, but what laymen call a
broken heart was more responsible than
the world in general knew.
In 1905 occurred the death of his
loved wife. The death of H. H.
Rogers, a close friend, was a severe
blow. The death of his daughter
Jeane last fall was another blow from
which he never recovered. 1t was
then that the stabbing pains in the
heart began.
The body of the beloved humorist is
laid at rest in the family plot at Elmira,
NY, where already have been buried
his wife, his daughters Susan and Jean,
and his infant son, Langhorne.
Mark Twain's death removes from
the international field of letters the
creator of American literary humor, and
one Of its most distinguished literateurs.
With his passing the people of the
world - the militant and persuasive
doers of things alike-have lost a
gentle, sympathizing friend and fear
less champion. For almost rs years
he lived, and for two-score he num-
bered his admirers by figures that rival
the census of the enlightened world.
Samuel Langhorne Clemens was
born in 1885 in humble log cabin in
the then frontier village of Florida,
Missouri. Learning the printers trade
when a boy he visited various sections
of the country, principally in the west,
gathering much Of the experience that
became fruitful later on.
In 1870 Mr.. Clemens married Olivia
L. Langdon of Elmira, N. Y, resulting
in happy and true comradeship.
-Four children were born as a result
Of the union, OF whom two, a son and
daughter, died early.
Mark Twain's first book was The
Jumping Frog" His best known in
this country possibly was "Innocents
Abroad" His surest title to fame
generally is believed to be Tom Saw
yer," and its companion volume, The
Adventures Of Hucklebeuy Finn"
In all, his books had sale Of more
than 100000 copies and were trans
lated into six languages.
Others among the better known OF
his books are: "A Tramp Abroad"
THE Prince and the Pauper," "A
Yankee in King Arthur's Court"
''Pudd' nhead Wilson" Joan Of Arc"
"A Double Bareled Detective Story"
and Ewes Diary" He left an un-
finished autobiography, portions Of
which have appeared serially.