Milford chronicle., 1910-04-29
King Of Wits Passes Away al
His Connecticut Home.
WROTE HIS LAST WORDS
Humorist Lapsed Into Unconscious
ness and Passed Away Without a
struggle-Tried to Joke Until the
Last.

Redding. Conn. April 22-SamueI
L. Clemens Mark Twain died OF an
gina peetOris at his home near this
city. He became unconscious and sank
gradually until his death
All hope Of a recovery was aban-
doned on Wednesday night when It
was evident to the physicians attend.
ing him that the patient was grad
ually losing ground. He had been con
scious through practically all Of his
illness and had considerable know
edge OF his condition and OF the fight
that was In progress. His spirits kept
up to the last. and until Wednesday
night he tried to joke a little with the
people about him.
He recognized his daughter. spoke
a rational word or two and. feeling
himself unequal to conversation. wrote
out in pencil Give me my glasses "
Those were his last words Laying
them aside he sank first into reveria
and later into final Inconsistencies.
Americas Most Popular Author.
DEgOAAQ QuE5llOu N4aA n 4 W Gill " d1
the most popular American author |
Some persons think Of him as the most
popular writer in the English Ian
guage. certainly the most widely |
known humOrist. and philosopher OF
parts. In recent years his conspicuous |
and pungent personality has made him
not less than a national institution.
He was born in 1885 in the town Of
Florida, Mo. His father was a lawyer
who kept store" because he could
not live by his profession. in those
times Something of the visionary
qualities Of one Of Mark Twain's par
ticularly deathless characters, Colonel
Mulberry Sellers. may have been pres
ent in Judge Clemens. They also reap
peared in his son He died when Sam
uel Clemens was only twelve years old
and thereafter. throughout his life. the
son kept moving on" about the cOun-
try and the world The family was liV'
ing at Hannibal, Mo- when his father
died, and the boys first writing was
done for the Hannibal Journal At the
age Of eighteen he came to New York
and worked as a printer; then to Phil
adelphia and Washington. then back
TO Missouri and Iowa. He went from
Cincinnati to New Orleans, where he
decided to become a Mississippi pilot
to learn almost literally to feel his way
in the dark through the more than
thousand miles OF river between New
Orleans and St Louis. Something OF
all this he has set down in Life on
the Mississippi"
He married. in 1870, Miss olivia
Langdon of Elmira. and went to live
In Buffalo where he became inter.
asted in the Express newspaper But
after a few years the family moved tn
Hartford. where they lived from 1874
ior nearly seventeen years. Many
books were published during this per
cd. and Mrs. Clemens began her work
IS her husbands literary adviser and
iept up this work as long as she lived.
An occasional lecture tour afforded va
-iety but the platform became very
listasteful to him and he declared he
would never lecture again. Yet in 1895
le started out on the reading tour
round the world which set him on
us feet again financially and gained
i'm wide appreciation Then came a
tay in Europe. but after period OF
amily bereavement he came back To- @
america in 1900 In 1883 Yale gave
i'm the degree of master Of arts. and .
\ 1901 the degree of doctor of litera 7
ure. In 1907 oxford university crown {
d his honors with the degree Of Lift.
Doe. The world rang with his name o
;lSHED BABY OUT OF RIVER Il