Autobiography of Mark Twain (150 page)

299.9–11 Italian Ambassador, M. Nigra . . . Signor Cavallotti’s adventures in that line] Constantino Nigra (1828–1907) was the Italian ambassador to Vienna from 1885 to 1904, one of several diplomatic posts he held. Felice Carlo Emmanuele Cavallotti (1842–98) was an Italian politician, author, and journalist known for fighting duels (see the notes at 302.14 and 302.30–33).

299.12–13 the unfinished chapter] The sixteen-page manuscript of his “unfinished chapter” was pasted onto the pages of the typescript. Entitled “Dueling,” it was written in Vienna on 8 March 1898; Paine published it in 1923 in
Europe and Elsewhere
(SLC 1898a).

299.39–42 Some months ago Count Badeni . . . the State forbids dueling] On 25 September 1897, Kasimir Felix Badeni (1846–1909), the Galician-born Austrian premier, fought a duel with Karl Hermann Wolf (1862–1941), a German Nationalist leader who had called him a “Polish pig.” Badeni suffered a superficial wound to his right wrist. Although dueling was illegal and considered a mortal sin by the church, neither man was prosecuted or excommunicated (New York
Times:
“Premier Badeni Wounded,” 26 Sept 1897, 5; “The Badeni-Wolff Duel,” 27 Sept 1897, 5; “Count Badeni Not to Be Punished,” 28 Sept 1897, 7; Dolmetsch 1992, 67).

300.41–42 unter sehr schweren Bedingungen] Under very severe conditions.

302.3–12 duel between Colonels Henry and Picquart . . . the duel then terminated] French army colonels Georges Picquart (1854–1914) and Hubert-Joseph Henry (1846–98) were among the principal figures in the Dreyfus Affair, a long controversy that began with the 1894 rigged conviction of Captain Alfred Dreyfus (1859–1935), a Jew victimized by anti-Semitic elements in the army and the press, for passing secret information to Germany. Picquart discovered that Dreyfus was not responsible for the treason and came to his defense, despite official warnings to conceal the discovery. In February 1898 Picquart and Henry testified for and against Èmile Zola, respectively, in Zola’s trial for libel for his writings in support of Dreyfus. During testimony Henry called Picquart a liar, which resulted in their 5 March 1898 duel. Henry subsequently confessed to forging much of the evidence against Dreyfus and then, on 31 August 1898, committed suicide. Picquart, whose defense of Dreyfus had led to his dismissal from the army, was reinstated when Dreyfus was finally exonerated in 1906. Arthur Ranc (1831–1908) was a French politician, novelist, and writer on history and politics (“Col. Picquart Wins a Duel,” New York
Times
, 6 Mar 1898, 7).

302.14 fatal duel of day before yesterday in Italy] Clemens alludes to the 6 March 1898 duel in Rome in which Felice Cavallotti was killed by a political and journalistic adversary. Sources differ as to whether it was his thirty-second or thirty-third duel (“Roman Duel Ends Fatally,” New York
Times
, 7 Mar 1898, 1).

302.19 I did not disturb him] Clemens’s “Dueling” manuscript ends here; there was no additional text in the first typed version of this dictation. But the presence of pinholes on the
last leaf indicates that there was originally a newspaper clipping appended: below these words on the second, revised typescript, the following instruction is typed: “Here insert—and translate—the German article about Caval
_[
l
_]
otti’s duels.” When Clemens later read this second typescript he canceled the instruction and below it wrote the paragraph that follows, dated 13 May 1907. It is possible that the added paragraph includes his own paraphrase of the unidentified “German article.”

302.30–33 He held his sword . . . Death was instantaneous] According to the New York
Times
, when the duel began, Cavallotti “attacked his opponent vigorously”:

The first two engagements were without result, but in the third Signor Cavallotti received a thrust in the throat that severed his jugular. At first it was thought he was injured only slightly, but the gravity of the wound was perceived on his putting his hand to his mouth. He withdrew it covered with blood, and thereafter he could not utter a word. . . . Signor Cavallotti expired in ten minutes without speaking again. (“Roman Duel Ends Fatally,” 7 Mar 1898, 1)

302.37–38 Booker Washington’s Tuskegee Educational Institute] Washington (1856–1915), born into slavery in Virginia, taught himself to read. He attended Hampton Institute and became a teacher there. Chosen to head the Tuskegee Normal and Industrial Institute in Alabama in 1881, he was a prominent advocate for the education and advancement of African Americans. Espousing a policy of “separate but equal” facilities for the races, he secured white as well as black support for the institute and his larger goals, while clandestinely supporting more militant efforts to achieve full civil rights for African Americans.

303.2–10 Mr. Choate presided . . . Fourth of July reception in Mr. Choate’s house in London] Renowned lawyer, diplomat, and wit Joseph H. Choate (1832–1917) was U.S. ambassador to Britain from 1899 to 1905. Clemens had been acquainted with him since at least 1876, and they had shared the platform on several occasions. Clemens first met Washington at Choate’s reception on Independence Day 1899—where there were over fifteen hundred guests. The day before, Choate had introduced Washington’s lecture on the “condition and prospects of the coloured race in America” at Essex Hall, London (“The Coloured Race in America,” London
Times
, 4 July 1899, 13; New York
Times:
“Forefathers’ Day,” 23 Dec 1876, 1; “Independence Day Abroad,” 5 July 1899, 7).

303.29 CHOATE AND TWAIN PLEAD FOR TUSKEGEE] Clemens dictated the instruction “Here insert the newspaper account of the meeting at Carnegie (of Jan. 22nd). The future editor of this biography can use what he chooses of it, or leave it out.” Hobby transcribed the entire article, which is also reproduced here. In the Autobiographical Dictation of 3 April 1906 he again wrote “[Insert Carnegie Hall speech here.]” on the typescript.

303.40 Robert C. Ogden] Ogden (1836–1913), a businessman and philanthropist, was a trustee of Tuskegee Institute and the Hampton Institute as well.

304.3–4 last November, when District Attorney Jerome . . . packing Carnegie Hall] William Travers Jerome (1859–1934), the district attorney of New York County, opposed the corrupt Tammany Hall “bosses.” He held rallies at Carnegie Hall on 18 October and 1 November 1905; at the latter he was introduced by “attendant spellbinder” Joseph H. Choate (New York
Times:
“Jerome Forces Expect a Big Crowd To-Night,” 18 Oct 1905, 5; “Whip the Bosses, Choate’s Bugle Call,” 2 Nov 1905, 1).

304.11 wealthy men who swear off tax assessments] Under New York City tax laws of the time, “a person assessed for personal property may ‘swear off’ the assessment by making oath that he does not own so much” (Hoxie 1910, 59).

304.22 William Jay Schieffelin] Schieffelin (1866–1955), a prominent businessman and civic reformer, was a trustee of Tuskegee Institute (“W. J. Schieffelin of Drug Firm Dies,” New York
Times
, 1 May 1955, 88).

304.26–27 Secretary of War Taft, President Eliot of Harvard, Bishop Galloway, and Andrew Carnegie] William Howard Taft, secretary of war since 1904 and later president (1909–13); Charles William Eliot (1834–1926), president of Harvard University (1869–1909), which granted Washington an honorary degree in 1896; Bishop Charles B. Galloway (1849–1909) of the Methodist Episcopal Church South in Mississippi; and Scottish-born industrialist and philanthropist Andrew Carnegie (1835–1919) (“Bishop Galloway Dead,” New York
Times
, 13 May 1909, 7).

305.6–8 I read in a book . . . by Mr. Murphy, Secretary of the Southern Education Board . . . wiped away more than one half ] Edgar Gardner Murphy (1869–1913), an Episcopal clergyman and amateur astronomer, was the board’s executive secretary from 1903 to 1908. Choate referred to
Problems of the Present South
, in which Murphy claimed that “the illiteracy of the negro males of voting age has been reduced in the Southern States from 88 per cent in 1870 to 52 per cent in 1900” (Murphy 1904, 165; Bailey 2009).

307.37 Dr. Parkhurst] In 1892, New York Presbyterian clergyman Charles Henry Parkhurst (1842–1933) preached a sermon attacking the Tammany government’s complicity in crime and vice. A grand jury decided that his charges were made without sufficient evidence; but Parkhurst rose to the empirical challenge, researching New York’s underworld in person and through detectives, obtaining enough data to instigate the Lexow Investigation and Tammany’s defeat (1894).

308.8–9 historian John Fiske, whom I knew well and loved] The historian John Fiske (1842–1901) published many works on evolutionary theory, and was a popular lyceum circuit lecturer. He lived in Cambridge, Massachusetts; Clemens knew him through Howells (
MTHL
, 1:36–37, 181 n. 5).

308.12–15 his wife . . . little son] Fiske married Abby M. Brooks (1840–1925) in 1864 and they had six children (“Obituary Notes,” New York
Times
, 13 Jan 1925, 19).

308.29 Henry Clay Trumbull] James Hammond Trumbull’s brother was a Hartford Congregational minister and author (1830–1903).

308.39 Thomas Dixon, Jr.] Dixon (1864–1946), born in North Carolina but a resident
of New York City, was an actor, lawyer, politician, and Baptist minister before becoming an immensely popular and controversial author. At the time of this Tuskegee benefit, his latest novel was
The Clansman
(1905), in which the Ku Klux Klan free the South from “negro rule”; the book was ultimately the basis of D. W. Griffith’s
The Birth of a Nation
(1915).

310.12 Langdons, the family into which I married] See the Autobiographical Dictation of 1 February 1906, note at 321.25–27.

310.20–22 reference was made . . . in Washington, day after to-morrow] Clemens spoke at the meeting of the Gridiron Club on 27 January 1906. Its tradition of inviting the president and other officials for an annual satirical “roast” continues to this day. In 1906 the target of fun was the Panama Canal; President Roosevelt, Secretary of War Taft, and Colonel Harvey were among the invited guests. Evidently Clemens considered reviving his Whittier dinner speech for this occasion; earlier he had spoken of delivering it at Boston’s Twentieth Century Club (“A Night in Panama,” Washington
Post
, 28 Jan 1906, 1, 6).

310.37–38 Reverend Charles Stowe, a son of Harriet Beecher Stowe] Charles Edward Stowe (1850–1934), a Congregationalist minister, was the youngest of the seven children of fellow Nook Farm residents Harriet Beecher Stowe (1811–96), the author of
Uncle Tom’s Cabin
(1852) and other works, and her husband, Calvin Ellis Stowe (1802–86), a retired professor of theology (10 and 11 Jan 1872 to OLC,
L5
, 20 n. 4; “Rites Set for Rev. C. E. Stowe, Son of Author,” Los Angeles
Times
, 26 July 1934, 6; “Nook Farm Genealogy” 1974, 5, 28–29).

310
footnote *May
25 . . . I gave it a final and vigorous reading . . . my former admiration of it. M. T.] On his copy of the Whittier dinner seating plan, Clemens later wrote:
“Note, 1907
. This is Mr. Whittier’s 70
^th
birthday dinner—that disastrous cataclysm!
See account of it in my Autobiography. SLC
” (CU-MARK). Given his praises of the speech in the present dictation and in the dictation of 11 January 1906, it is likely that “disastrous cataclysm” was ironic hyperbole.

311.3–4 Rev. Dr. Burton’s “Remains,” . . . your remarks at his funeral] See the Autobiographical Dictation of 12 January 1906. By “Burton’s ‘Remains’ ” is meant the posthumous collection of his lectures, which was prefaced with the funeral orations by both Twichell and Parker (Burton 1888, 27).

312.21 The Character of Man] Clemens dictated the instruction, “Put old MS. here.” He wrote this essay in 1884 or 1885, and revised the manuscript in January 1906 before Hobby transcribed it. The essay was first published in Paine’s edition of the autobiography (
MTA
, 2:7–13; see also
WIM
, 60–64, 586).

312.26–27 Creator. * * * *] Here, and below at 313.1 and 313.26, Clemens canceled passages in his manuscript and substituted asterisks to indicate the omissions. The canceled passages are transcribed in the Textual Commentary,
MTPO
.

313.32–35 one single independent man . . . to breed his fellow] In his manuscript Clemens interlined “H. L. Goodwin” in pencil above “fellow” and then canceled the interlineation in ink. Henry Leavitt Goodwin (1821–99) was a longtime resident of East Hartford, a member of the Connecticut general assembly in the early 1870s, and always much involved in public
affairs. Over the course of years he “protested irregularities in the Hartford transit system and the New York, New Haven, and Hartford Railroad Company” (
WIM
, 537; “Henry L. Goodwin Dead,” Hartford
Courant
, 17 Mar 1899, 1). It has not been determined when this “one single independent man” took his stand for seating.

313.35–36 Asylum street crossing] In Hartford.

313.42 Mrs. Grundy] An imaginary personage, proverbially standing for the threat of society’s disapproval; derived originally from Thomas Morton’s play
Speed the Plough
(1798).

314.15–18 Hartford clergyman . . . relative of mine] Clemens probably refers to Matthew Brown Riddle (1836–1916), professor at Hartford Theological Seminary from 1871 to 1887. Well known locally as one of the principal American contributors to the Revised Version of the New Testament (1881), he seems also to have been related to James G. Blaine (
WIM
, 537; “Dr. M. B. Riddle Dead, Aged 80,” Hartford
Courant
, 2 Sept 1916, 18).