 June 9, 1909. Can Mark Twain be a literary pirate? London publishers accuse him of appropriating from a volume on Shakespeare and demand reparation. Won't let his book, is Shakespeare dead, be sold in Great Britain? Fuss over an error of haste. Mark Twain went to the offices of his publishers, Harper and Brothers, in Pearl Street, one day last spring, and left some manuscript, asking that it be put into book form and published right away. It's part of my autobiography, explained the author, but I thought I'd like to have it put in covers and print it now. The publishers hurried matters, and it was not long before the manuscript assumed the form of Twain's latest book is Shakespeare dead. The book, in a green cover, was put on the market in April. The author admits that he incorporated in the book a larger part of a chapter from a volume called The Shakespeare Problem Restated, written by George G. Greenwood, MP, of London. It takes up twenty-two of the one hundred and fifty pages in Mark Twain's book. The humorous mentioned Mr. Greenwood's book in his own work, but neglected to mention Greenwood's name. Because of this oversight, there has arisen a bristling little controversy. Mr. Greenwood's publishers, the John Lane Company of London, with offices in West 32nd Street this city, have sent word to Harper and Brothers that they will not permit Mark Twain's book to be circulated in England until the plates are altered, giving Mr. Greenwood the credit that they maintain should go to him. They have no power to prevent the sale here. Verdict Against Shakespeare In his Shakespeare book, Mark Twain puts forth the argument that Shakespeare could not have written the plays ascribed to him because the author must have been a lawyer. He arrives at this conclusion because, as he says, of the peculiar freedom and exactness of legal phraseology that he finds occurs frequently in Shakespeare's plays. There is nothing he holds to show that Shakespeare knew anything of law. Mark Twain reprints the chapter from Mr. Greenwood's book to bear out this theory, and it is this appropriation, without using Mr. Greenwood's name, that has caused the member of Parliament, through his publishers, to protest. In Mr. Greenwood's book, the chapter in question, entitled Shakespeare as a lawyer, is the thirteenth, while Twain uses it without change in his own book, with the same caption as the eighth chapter. At the bottom of the page on which the chapter starts, there is the simple announcement from Chapter Thirteen of The Shakespeare Problem Restated. Mr. Greenwood's publishers have written several letters to Harper and Brothers, in one of which they insist that for Mark Twain to ignore Mr. Greenwood was a violation of all codes, in other words, unethical. What John Lane, head of the English publishing house, thinks of the situation as explained in the letter sent from his office in London, over which is placed the caption, Literary Larsony. To the editor of The New York Times. Dear sir, a friend in Philadelphia has kindly sent me a copy of Mark Twain's recently published book Is Shakespeare Dead? I find that, of its a hundred and fifty pages, no less than twenty-two are taken bodily from The Shakespeare Problem Restated by G. G. Greenwood, MP. It is true that he mentions the work, even commends it, but nowhere is there any reference made either to its author or to its publisher. Publisher Not a Humorist Mr. Clemens is a humorist with a worldwide reputation. He can view a burglary at his own house with a socratic detachment of unconcerned sufficient in itself to discourage the American Bill Sykes. He can pin on his door or gate, I forget which, a notice giving direction to the crack-man as to the whereabouts of the plate-basket. I can do none of these things. They are foreign to my nature. I am not a humorist. I confess it frankly, and I fail to see the point of this Mark Twain's latest joke. Good taste sometimes limits the boundaries of humorous perception in this country. Mr. Greenwood dryly remarked when he heard the compliment paid him. Mr. Clemens may urge that he would not be one that filches from me my good name, but why not show alike consideration for my feelings as the publisher? The unwritten law said, I believe, to be the only law popular in America, leaves no room for settlement. An author may filch whatsoever he pleases from a publisher, even his name, without any risk of conviction. It's the one compensation literature has to offer. That there should be a class of American publishers addicted to the amiable pursuits of one of their national heroes we have become accustomed, if not reconciled to, but that a distinguished man of letters should follow that lead fills me with pain, surprise. Had Mr. Greenwood or I been applied to we should have been proud to accord our permission. As a matter of fact Mr. Clemens and his publishers were entirely at the mercy of Mr. Greenwood and myself as regards the English edition of Is Shakespeare Dead? And the only claim that we can make to being humorists is that we have given the necessary powers without which at least one of Mark Twain's book would have been denied to Europe. It is not to the law that I appeal that protects Mark Twain, but to the courtesy that should exist between writers, distinguished or otherwise. I regret that Mr. Clemens should have taken advantage of the laws of his country instead of those of custom. If those laws permit a humorous to make demands upon another man's work, no consideration, not even that of an assumed position in the world of letters, should be allowed to stand in the way of his acknowledging his indebtedness just as if he were amenable to the same standards as the man in Grubb Street. Some weeks have passed since the matter to which this letter refers was brought to the notice of Mr. Clemens' publishers, and I presume he was informed of any protest, yet no word or apology or explanation has been vouchsafe to Mr. Greenwood. It was probably a similar experience that prompted that eminent divine, Robert South, to write, Is my friend all perfection, all virtue and discretion, has he no humours to be endured? I am yours faithfully, John Lane. What the Harper's say. An inquiry was made at the offices of Harper and Brothers yesterday, one of those in authority made this explanation. Mr. Mark Twain was in a great hurry to have the book printed. He gave the manuscript to us and said he was anxious to have us rush it as fast as we possibly could. There is a rule in his office that none of Mark Twain's copy shall be changed, not even a comma. He is always very particular about that, and his wishes are respected. So the manuscript, exactly as he gave it to us, with the title, Is Shakespeare Dead, was put into book form as quickly as we could do it. No one thought of looking particularly to see if Mr. Twain had given credit to Mr. Greenwood. It was noticed that the book itself was credited, and that seemed sufficient. Later on when the John Lane Company called our attention to it, we learned that Mark Twain had failed to speak to Mr. Greenwood. We felt very sorry about it then, but it was too late to recall the addition. We don't put the blame on Mark Twain, exactly. Of course, if we had noticed the omission we would have called his attention to it. Quite likely it escaped his notice as it did ours. He didn't mean to be unethical. The correspondence that passed between the John Lane Company and Harper and Brothers was shown to the Times reporter. He began with a letter written by the Harper firm on March 29th, saying that Mark Twain had written a little of a book called Is Shakespeare Dead, largely devoted to advertising George Greenwood's book, The Shakespeare Problem Restated. The letter went on to say then, in his little monograph Mr. Clemens wishes to use nine pages from Mr. Greenwood's book as this forms the basis of his praise. The post-script says, of course, we are writing at Mr. Clemens' request. The John Lane Company, through its manager, Rutger Bleeker-Jewitt, replied to this letter, giving permission to Mark Twain to quote from Mr. Greenwood's book as much as he pleased. But it was in Mr. Jewitt's mind, he said yesterday, that Mark Twain would not neglect to mention Mr. Greenwood's name. Shortly after the book was put out, Harper and Brothers received another letter from Mr. Jewitt, this one in a different tone. Is Shakespeare Dead had found its way to London, and Mr. Greenwood had seen a copy of it. They were indignant. In his letter Mr. Jewitt wrote that Mr. Greenwood and Mr. Lane, the publisher, were both justly indignant that Mr. Twain had refrained from using Mr. Greenwood's name in connection with the liberal passages taken from the latter's book. They have refused to allow Mr. Clemens' book to be imported into England, he added. In reply Harper and Brothers explained that they had intended making formal acknowledgment to Mr. Greenwood in a prefatory note in Mark Twain's book, but that it was overlooked in the rush. We may say, the letter continued, that at the author's request this book was issued more hurriedly perhaps than any volume we have ever published. Only eighteen days elapsed between the time we received the manuscript and the appearance of the finished book. Harper and Brothers added that a new edition of the book was forthcoming and that it would be sure to have a reference to Mr. Greenwood. The next day Mr. Jewitt wrote back to Harper and Brothers saying, We note, from your admissions, that Mr. Greenwood's contention is correct, vise that he has not been given proper credit in Mr. Clemens' book. You write that you think Mr. Clemens' book is largely devoted to advertising the Shakespeare problem restated, claiming that it is the crux. Both Mr. Greenwood and Mr. John Lane consider that Mr. Clemens has transgressed all codes in not giving proper credit to Mr. Greenwood as the author of this book, and to Mr. Lane the publisher. Divergent views of it. How Mr. Clemens' book can be considered by him or by you as a work devoted to advertising Mr. Greenwood's previous work is beyond our comprehension. If Mr. Clemens has studiously omitted the name of the author and publisher of the book, he so kindly undertook to advertise. Mr. Greenwood demands the following before he is willing to consent to allowing the book to be published in England. One, that the plates shall be altered so that full acknowledgment shall be made both to author and publisher before any further edition be printed. Two, that at the end of every copy of the English edition and of all copies of the American edition published after May 10th a full page advertisement shall appear to be supplied by me. This seems to me the least that can be done to make some amends for the injustice which has been committed in such a very extraordinary manner. Ten days after receiving this letter, on May 21st, Harper and Brothers sent a reply saying they would give credit in the next edition of Is Shakespeare Dead to Mr. Greenwood and to the John Lane Company, but nothing was said of any page of advertisement. The Lane Company reiterated its demands, and there the matter stands. Is Shakespeare Dead is being sold here unrestricted, but in England the John Lane Company, protected by copyright laws which do not extend to their books in this country, are watching to prevent a copy of Mark Twain's volume from being marketed. We don't like to be discourteous about this, said Mr. Jewett, but we feel we must protect the authors who put their confidence in us. Mark Twain should have been more careful. In going into his argument of the authorship of the Shakespeare plays, Mark Twain in his book says, if I were required to superintend a Bacon Shakespeare controversy, I would narrow it down to a single question. The only one, so far as the previous controversies have informed me concerning which illustrious experts of unimpeachable competency have testified, was the author of Shakespeare's works a lawyer, a lawyer deeply read and of limitless experience. I would put aside the guesses and surmises and perhapses and might have beens, and could have beens, and must have beens, and we are justified in presumings, and the rest of those vague spectres and shadows and indefinitenesses, and stand or fall, win or lose, by the verdict rendered by the jury on that single question. If the verdict was yes, I should feel quite convinced that the Stratford Shakespeare, the actor, manager, and trader who died so obscure, so forgotten, so destitute of even village consequence that sixty years afterward no fellow citizen and friend of his later days remembered to tell anything of him, did not write the works. An effort was made yesterday to see Mark Twain, but he was not at his home in Reading, Connecticut, and could not be reached. End of Section 102, June 9, 1909, can Mark Twain be a literary pirate? Read by John Greenman. Section 103 of Mark Twain in the New York Times, Part 5, 1907-1909. This LibriVox recording is in the public domain read by John Greenman. June 10, 1909. An Oversight. Mark Twain. And Mark Twain's Alibi. An Oversight. Mark Twain. Tells why proper credit was not given to English author. Special to the New York Times. Baltimore, June 9. Mark Twain arrived in Baltimore late this afternoon and went to the Belvedere, where he denied himself to all newspaper men. Shortly before midnight, however, in answer to a note sent to his room asking if he had any reply to make to the complaint that he had not incorporated in his latest book Is Shakespeare Dead, a chapter from a volume called The Shakespeare Problem Restated, written by George P. Greenwood without giving credit, Mr. Clemens wrote the following. It was merely an oversight in not giving the proper credit. Mr. Clemens will go to tomorrow to St. Timothy's School for Girls at Cantonsville and make an address to the graduates. Mark Twain's Alibi from the Brooklyn Eagle. Mark Twain would do or commit or suggest or abet or connive at no unnecessary wrong in the absence of Colonel George Harvey, who is today delivering an address at the University of Kansas in Lawrence on The Power of Tolerance. The physical absence of Colonel Harvey in Kansas establishes a moral alibi for Mark Twain, whether in Manhattan or Connecticut or elsewhere. End of Section 103, June 10, 1909, An Oversight, Mark Twain, and Mark Twain's Alibi, read by John Greenman. Section 104 of Mark Twain in the New York Times, Part 5, 1907-1909. This LibriVox recording is in the public domain read by John Greenman. In 11th, 1909, Twain's footnote lost. Wrote one, he says, crediting author and publisher of Borrowed Matter. Special to the New York Times. Baltimore, Maryland, June 10. Referring to the charges of plagiarism in connection with his book Is Shakespeare Dead, Samuel L. Clemens, Mark Twain, today, said, In writing my book I took the liberty of using large extracts from Mr. Greenwood's book The Shakespeare Problem Restated. I made use of the extracts because of the great admiration which I have for that book, and with the full permission of the publishers. I added a footnote in which I gave full credit to both author and publishers. The book was put through the press in great haste, and somewhere, nobody seems to know where, the footnote was lost, probably in the composing room. That is the sum and substance of the whole story. But of course the John Lane Publishing Company of England, the publishers of Mr. Greenwood's book, are good advertisers. Now one of Mark Twain's books, so they tell me, is considered worth while reading. I know at any rate that my books have always sold well. But to have a man like Mark Twain steal portions from another man's book makes that book something extraordinary. Messrs. Lane are well aware of this fact, and it is to be regretted that a mistake in the mechanical department of another publishing house should be made much of to accuse falsely one who has already won fame in the literary world, and to put in a false light another who is the most modest and retiring of men. End of Section 104, June 11, 1909, Twain's Footnote Lost, read by John Greenman. Section 105 of Mark Twain in the New York Times, Part 5, 1907-1909. This LibriVox recording is in the public domain read by John Greenman. July 15, 1909. Wants Mark Twain to explain to her. Mrs. Ashcroft hurries back from her honeymoon abroad to find out about $4,000 suit. Formerly his secretary. She thinks the attachment on the humorous gift-house is the work of his daughter. Mrs. Ralph Ashcroft, who until her marriage a few weeks ago was Ms. I. N., sick, lion, secretary to Mark Twain, arrived yesterday on the Cunard liner Carmania to learn why Mr. Clemens had obtained an attachment of $4,000 against the house in Reading, Connecticut. He gave her when she got married. She is a demure-looking woman, but was wroth when she landed, for she had to leave her husband and cut short their honeymoon to return to America. She lays the blame for it all on Ms. Clemens, daughter of the humorist, whose artistic temperament, she said, often led her in the wrong direction. Mrs. Ashcroft was met at the pier by her mother, and after a day in New York she will beared Mark Twain in his country home, Stormfield, to learn the true inwardness of the attachment and seek an adjustment of the matter. Two weeks ago in London I was notified that Mr. Clemens had sworn out an attachment against the house he gave me, said Mrs. Ashcroft. I came home as soon as I possibly could, leaving my husband behind. I cannot think that Mr. Clemens is responsible for what has happened. He and I were the best of friends, and he has treated me almost as would a father. For seven years I was closely associated with him. I relieved him of every care I could, and he gave me the house, and later lent me the money with which to furnish it. This money, both understood, was to be paid back when I could do so. Knowing him as I do I cannot believe that he attached the property. I believe the whole trouble is caused by his daughter. Mrs. Clemens is of the artistic temperament, but in this affair I believe that she has been wrongly advised into taking a step she would never have taken had she the right understanding of the case. Mrs. Ashcroft said she intended to take steps at once to adjust the matter. She thinks that the whole trouble must be due to some mistake. She said that no request had been made by her former employer for a return of the money. Indeed she said that several times she had refused suggestions from him that she considered the cost of fixing up and furnishing the house as a gift from him. If Mrs. Clemens knows all about the case, and I notice that she says she has fully informed us to her father's affairs, she must know that every step in the restoration of the house was done not only with her father's knowledge but with his approval, continued Mrs. Ashcroft. She does not exhibit a surprising knowledge of affairs when she presented her case, for in spite of what is said to the contrary, every cent that was expended for renovation I incurred a liability to pay. Mr. Clemens has notes amounting to nearly one thousand dollars, which were signed by my husband when the first rough estimate was made of the cost of fitting up the place. Mr. Clemens made a written agreement with Mr. Ashcroft to accept his notes for the balance of the indebtedness outstanding upon the completion of repairs. The whole case will be settled, but the shame of it is that I should have been placed in an improper and false light. Mr. Ashcroft was formerly financial secretary to Mr. Clemens. It is said that both left the humorous service because of differences with Mr. Clemens. Section 106 of Mark Twain in the New York Times Part 5, 1907-1909. This LibriVox recording is in the public domain read by John Greenman. July 16, 1909 Mrs. Ashcroft not seen. Former secretary whom Mark Twain is suing did not call on novelist. Special to the New York Times. Reading Connecticut, July 15. Mrs. Ralph W. Ashcroft, a former secretary of Mark Twain who is being sued by the author for four thousand dollars and who has just got back from England, where she was on her honeymoon, did not see Mark Twain today nor has she yet come back to her home here. Mr. Clemens and Mr. Clemens's secretary saw a Times reporter at Stormfield, the novelist home, and said that Mr. Clemens would have nothing further to say about the matter, which was in the hands of his lawyer. End of Section 106, July 16, 1909 Mrs. Ashcroft not seen. Read by John Greenman. Section 107 of Mark Twain and the New York Times, Part 5, 1907-1909. This LibriVox recording is in the public domain read by John Greenman. July 28, 1909 Clemens sued a surprise. R. W. Ashcroft says his wife was prostrated by news of author's action. Among the passengers on the coronia from Liverpool yesterday was R. W. Ashcroft, whose wife was formerly private secretary to Mark Twain, and was recently sued by the author for a return of the house he presented her with on her wedding day. Mr. Ashcroft said that they went abroad on June 9 and spent some days at the Hague. On their arrival in London he was surprised to receive a letter containing clippings and a notice of the suit begun by Mr. Clemens and the attachment on the dwelling presented to Mrs. Ashcroft. It came like a bolt out of the blue, said Mr. Ashcroft. And I was glad to hear that the matter had been settled as my wife was completely prostrated by the news and wanted to sail home at once to face the music. I persuaded her to take things calmly and come by the carmenia, which she did. Mr. Ashcroft admitted that there might be some truth in the report that a wealthy friend of his father's had some influence with Mr. Clemens in settling the matter, but he declined to give his name. End of Section 107, July 28, 1909, Clemens sued a surprise, read by John Greenman. Section 108 of Mark Twain and the New York Times, Part 5, 1907-1909. This LibriVox recording is in the public domain, read by John Greenman. August 4, 1909, Ashcroft accuses Ms. Clara Clemens, says Mark Twain's daughter made charges because she was jealous of her success. Quotes humorous letter. In it he praised his secretary and rebuked daughter for complaints. No diversion of funds. Ralph W. Ashcroft, manager of the Mark Twain company at 24 Stone Street, whose wife, for years before her marriage, was private secretary to Mr. Clemens, was sued by the humorist to recover $4,000, gave out a statement yesterday in which he warmly defends his wife against insinuations that she misused Mr. Clemens' money. Mr. Ashcroft, in his statement, accuses Ms. Clara Clemens, daughter of the humorist, of having been envious of Ms. Lion's achievements as secretary to her father. Ms. Clemens, he says, wanted to have Ms. Lion removed from her place. Mr. Ashcroft declares that it was without the knowledge of the humorous New York lawyers that the cottage at Redding, Connecticut, adjoining the Clemens estate, which he gave to Ms. Lion, was attached in his recent suit. He gives excerpts from the author's letters to indicate the high opinion he once had of Ms. Lion. This is the statement. Since my return from Europe, a week ago, I have thoroughly investigated the occurrences connected with quarrels forced on Mrs. Ashcroft by Mary Twain's daughters, and have heard what both sides have to say in the matter. To understand the matter in its true light, it is necessary to hark back to the summer of 1904, when Ms. Clemens died in Italy. Ms. Ashcroft, then Ms. Lion, was Mark Twain's secretary. When his wife died, Mark Twain was like a ship without a rudder, and as Henry H. Rogers said to me a few days before he died, at that crisis in his life Clemens needed just such a person as Ms. Lion to look after him and his affairs, and Ms. Lion came to the front and has stayed at the front all these years, and no one has any right to criticize her. Daughters jealous of Ms. Lion. For two years or more after their mother's death, both girls were in sanitaria most of the time, and a younger daughter has been under the care of nerve specialists ever since. Under these circumstances Ms. Lion naturally became Mr. Clemens' hostess and person of affairs, and how well she fulfilled the position is known to all who met her in those capacities. Both daughters, however, became jealous of her. They were afraid that Mark Twain would marry her, and often endeavored to destroy his confidence in her. She probably would have been supplanted two or three years ago, but the elder daughter had musical and other ambitions, and thought more of them than of taking care of her old father and filling her mother's place. One's vocal ambitions, however, sometimes exceed one's capabilities in that direction, and the bitter realization of this has, in this instance, caused the baiting of a woman who has earned and kept the admiration and respect of all of Mark Twain's friends. Mark Twain well has said of her, I know her better than I have known any one on this planet except Mrs. Clemens. When one of his daughters made an attack on her about two years ago, he wrote this, I have to have somebody in whom I have confidence to attend to every detail of my daily affairs for me except my literary work. I attend to not one of them myself. I give the instructions and see that they are obeyed. I give Miss Lyon instructions. She does nothing of her own initiative. When you blame her, you are merely blaming me. She is not open to criticism in the matter. When I find that you are not happy in that place, I instruct her to ask Dr. Peterson and Hunt to provide change for you, and she obeys the instructions. In her own case I provide no change, for she does all my matters well, and although they are often delicate and difficult, she makes no enemies, either for herself or for me. I am not acquainted with another human being of who this could be said. It would not be possible for any other person to see reporters and strangers every day, refuse their requests, and yet send them away good and permanent friends to me and herself. But I should make enemies of many of them if I try to talk with them. The servants in the house are her friend. They all have confidence in her, and not many people can win and keep a servant's friendship and esteem, one of your mother's highest talents. All Tuxedo likes Miss Lyon, the hack-men, the aristocrats and all. She has failed to secure your confidence and esteem, and I am sorry. I wish it were otherwise, but it is no argument since she has not failed in any other person's case. One failure to fifteen hundred successes means that the fault is not with her. The expense accounts explained. The only person, so far as I know, who has charged Mrs. Ashcroft with dishonesty is Clara Clemens. Mark Twain has not, and his lawyers have not, as is the custom in all large households, so it was in the Clemens household. Money was drawn from the bank in cash to pay the thousand and one debts and expenses that it is not convenient to pay by check. And Mark Twain placed all of his financial responsibilities on Miss Lyon's shoulders, in addition to her other manifold duties. He did not tell her to employ a bookkeeper to keep a set of books, and she simply followed the custom that had been in vogue under Mr. Clemens' regime to it. No books of account were kept, other than the checkbook, and no itemized or other record was kept of cash expenditures. Miss Lyon was never asked to keep any such record, and did not do so. Clara Clemens now insinuates that Miss Lyon embezzled a large part of the money she drew from the bank in cash. Fortunately, Miss Lyon is in a position to prove that the bulk of the money was paid to Clara Clemens herself for the expenses of concert tours, and the delightful experience of paying for the hire of concert halls, destined to be mainly filled with snow or paper, for the maintenance of her accompanist, Charles E. Wark, and to defray other cash expenditures that an embryonic tetrazine is naturally called upon to make. Returning home one day from an unsuccessful and disheartening tour, Clara Clemens simply couldn't stomach the sight of Miss Lyon's successful administration of her father's affairs. So it became a case of, get rid of her by hook or crook, and she endeavored to enlist my sympathies and services along these lines, with the result that, well, I married Miss Lyon. Mr. Clemens' New York lawyers now state that Mrs. Ashcroft's cottage was attached without her knowledge or advice. They also now state that they did not know that Mr. Clemens and I had made an arrangement regarding the money he advanced for the rehabilitation of the cottage, which agreement makes his suit against Mrs. Ashcroft for this indebtedness absolutely groundless and farcical, in that no one can sue for a debt which has been partially paid and the balance of which is not due. The agreement is as follows. Heading Connecticut, March 13, 1909. Received from R. W. Ashcroft his notes for the sum of $982.47, being estimated balance due on money advanced to Isabel V. Lyon for the renovation of the lobster pot. This receipt being given on the understanding that said Ashcroft will pay in like manner any further amounts that his examination of my disbursements for the fiscal year ending February 23, 1909 shows were advanced for like purposes. S. C. Clemens. Seal. I agree to the above and to make said examination as promptly as my other duties will permit. R. W. Ashcroft. Seal. An amicable settlement. The matter has been settled amicably as far as Mark Twain, Mrs. Ashcroft and I are concerned, and the adjustment will be consummated as soon as the proper papers can be drawn up, although it may be necessary for Mrs. Ashcroft to commence suit against Mark Twain, to set aside the deed transferring the cottage to him simply to protect her legal rights for the time being. As, while we believe that Mark Twain and his lawyer John B. Stanchfield will abide by their promises, still there is always the contingency of the death of either or both to be provided against. If Mr. Rogers had not died so suddenly and unexpectedly the affair would have been settled long ago without any publicity. It is an unfortunate occurrence all around. I am still manager of the Mark Twain company and shall so remain for the present. My contract has nearly two years to run. Efforts to talk with Mr. Clemens at his home at Redding last night were futile. A Times reporter called up the humorous home on the telephone was informed that he had retired and that under no circumstances would any word of Mr. Ashcroft's statement be conveyed to him. It was stated that Ms. Clemens was at home, but that she too had retired and that no communication would be taken to her until morning. It was also found impossible to reach John B. Stanchfield, Mr. Clemens' lawyer. End of Section 108, August 4, 1909, Ashcroft accuses Ms. Clara Clemens, read by John Greenman. Section 109 of Mark Twain in the New York Times, Part 5, 1907 through 1909. This LibriVox recording is in the public domain read by John Greenman. August 10, 1909, End of Children's Theatre. East Side Playhouse dissolved because of lack of funds. Supreme Court Justice Goff yesterday granted the motion for the dissolution of the Educational Theatre for Children at Jefferson Street and East Broadway, which was opened in 1907 in connection with the Educational Alliance. The President of the Board of Managers was Samuel L. Clemens, Mark Twain, and among the members of the Board of Directors were Robert J. Collier, the Reverend Percy Stickney Grant, and President Stanley Hall of Clark University. It was expected to carry the Enterprise along on voluntary contributions, but they were not forthcoming, and the matter of dissolution came up some weeks ago. There was no opposition to the decision of the Court yesterday. On November of last year Mr. Clemens took several hundreds of his friends to the theatre where they witnessed a performance of The Prince and the Pauper, a dramatization of his story. It is said that, of late, Mr. Collier has contributed most of the funds toward maintaining the theatre. End of Section 109, August 10, 1909, End of Children's Theatre. Read by John Greenman. Section 110 of Mark Twain in the New York Times, Part 5, 1907 through 1909. This LibriVox recording is in the public domain read by John Greenman. September 13, 1909, Mark Twain suits all off. All litigation between him and the Ashcrofts is finally dropped. The differences between Mark Twain and his daughter Ms. Clare Clemens, on the one side, and his former Secretary, Mrs. Ralph Ashcroft and her husband, have been settled without an appeal to the courts. All criticism of the conduct of Mrs. Ashcroft has been withdrawn, and all suits have been dropped. On their part, the Ashcrofts ratify and confirm the conveyance to Mark Twain by Mrs. Ashcroft of the House, known as the Lobster Pot, which adjoins Mr. Clemens' estate at Reading Connecticut, the gift of which to his former Secretary on her marriage is understood to have been the beginning of the trouble. During the controversy it was contended by Mr. and Mrs. Ashcroft that the deed transferring the House back to the humorist had been signed by Mrs. Ashcroft under duress. In addition, Mr. and Mrs. Ashcroft have agreed to withdraw the suits which they brought against Mark Twain and Ms. Clemens for defamation of character. On the other hand, Mark Twain has agreed to drop his suit against Mrs. Ashcroft for an alleged loan of $3,050, and has removed the attachment which he had caused to be placed on the property of his former Secretary at Farmington. Reparation has also been made for the hard things which the Ashcrofts alleged had been said of them by the author and Ms. Clemens. Mark Twain has signed a document acquitting Ms. Ashcroft of all blame for her conduct of his affairs while she was in his employ as his Secretary. Ms. Clara Clemens has also, to the satisfaction of Mr. and Mrs. Ashcroft, retracted the criticisms she is alleged to have made on Mrs. Ashcroft. Meanwhile, Mr. Ashcroft continues to be Secretary and Treasurer of the Mark Twain Company which manages the business connected with the publication and sale of the humorist's works. It is understood that on the exoneration of his wife he offered to resign his place, but Mark Twain requested him to continue to hold it. End of Section 110, September 13, 1909, Mark Twain Suits All Off, Read by John Greenman Section 111 of Mark Twain in the New York Times Part 5, 1907 through 1909. This LibriVox recording is in the public domain read by John Greenman. October 6, 1909, Ms. Clemens Weds Today Mark Twain's Daughter to Become the Bride of Osip Gaborilovitch Ms. Clara L. Clemens, daughter of Mark Twain, will become today the Bride of Osip Gaborilovitch, the Russian pianist. The ceremony will take place at noon at the bride's home in Reading, Connecticut. About forty intimate friends of Ms. Clemens and Mr. Gaborilovitch have been invited to the wedding, and a special car for their use will be attached to one of the morning trains from New York. The Reverend Dr. Joseph Twitchell of Hartford, Connecticut, a lifelong friend of Mark Twain, will perform the ceremony. End of Section 111, October 6, 1909, Ms. Clemens Weds Today Read by John Greenman Section 112 of Mark Twain in the New York Times Part 5, 1907 through 1909. This LibriVox recording is in the public domain, read by John Greenman. October 7, 1909, Ms. Clemens Weds Mr. Gaborilovitch Mark Twain in Scarlet Cap and gown sees his daughter married to Russian pianist. avoids ceremony delays. Humorist in prepared interview says a happy marriage is one of the tragically solemn things of life. West Reading, Connecticut, October 6. Ms. Clara L. Clemens, daughter of Samuel L. Clemens, Mark Twain, was married at noon today to Osip Gaborilovitch, the Russian pianist. The wedding took place in the drawing-room at Stormfield, Mr. Clemens' country home, with the Reverend Dr. Joseph H. Twitchell of Hartford, a close friend of Mr. Clemens, as officiating clergyman. The bride was attended only by her sister, Ms. Jean Clemens, but her cousins, Jervis Langdon of Elmira, New York, and Mrs. Julia Loomis, wife of Edward Loomis, vice-president of the Delaware Lackawanna and Western Railroad, were present. Ms. Ethel Newcomb of New York City played a wedding march as the bridal party entered the drawing-room. This room was prettily decorated with evergreens, autumn leaves, and roses, and the bride and bridegroom stood beneath a bower of white roses and smilex. While the ceremony was being performed, Mr. Clemens was attired in the scarlet cap and gown which he wore when the degree of doctor of literature was conferred upon him by Oxford University. After the wedding he wore a white flannel suit. Forty guests from New York City were present and attended a wedding breakfast which followed the marriage. Mr. and Mrs. Gaborilovitch left for New York this afternoon. After remaining in that city about a week they will go to Berlin, where Mr. Gaborilovitch has taken a house. Later Mr. Gaborilovitch will make a tour of Germany in concerts. Mark Twain's interview. Mr. Clemens prepared the following characteristic interview to avoid any delays at the ceremony, as he expressed it. Speaking of the bride and bridegroom, Mr. Clemens said, Clara and Gaborilovitch were pupils together under Leshetitsky in Vienna ten years ago. We have known him intimately ever since. It's not new the engagement. It was made and dissolved twice, six years ago. Recovering from a perilous surgical operation, two or three months passed by him here in the house, ended a week or ten days ago in a renewal. The wedding had to be sudden, for Gaborilovitch's European season is ready to begin. The pair will sail a fortnight from now. The first engagements are in Germany. They have taken a house in Berlin. Can you say a word or two about the wedding Mark Twain Library? The village did me the honour to name it so. It flourishes. The people came to it from a mile or so around. We are all engaged in propagating the building fund in a social and inexpensive way, through picnics, afternoon teas, and other frolics in the neighbourhood, with now and then a full strength concert in my house at ostentatious prices. We had one last week, with a team composed of Gaborilovitch, David Bisfam, and his bride, with me as introducer and police. We had an audience of 525. When I have a male guest I charge him a dollar for his bed, and turn the money into the fund, and give him an autographed receipt, which he carries away, and sells for a dollar and ten cents. Doesn't work, but takes exercise. Are you at work now? No, I don't work. I have a troublesome pain in my breast which won't allow it, and won't allow me to stir out of the house. But I play billiards for exercise. Albert Bigelow Payne, my biographer and business manager, plays with me. He comes over every day for two or three hours. He has a farm half a mile from here, upon which he raises hopes. Do you like it here at Stormfield? Yes, it is the most out of the world and peaceful and tranquil, and in every way satisfactory home I have had experience of in my life. The marriage pleases you, Mr. Clemens? Yes, fully as much as any marriage could please me, or perhaps any other father. There are two or three tragically solemn things in this life, and a happy marriage is one of them, for the terrors of life are all to come. A funeral is a solemn office, but I go to them with a spiritual uplift, thankful that the dead friend has been set free. That which follows is to me tragic and awful, the burial. I am glad of this marriage, and Mrs. Clemens would be glad, for she always had a warm affection for Gabrilovich. But all the same it is a tragedy, since it is a happy marriage, with its future before it, loaded to the plume-soil line with uncertainties. Among the guests at the wedding were Richard Watson-Gilder, Mrs. Gilder and three daughters, Mr. and Mrs. A. M. Wright of Boston, Mrs. E. F. Bauer and the Mrs. Flora and Marion Bauer of New York, Ms. Lillian Burbank, Ms. Marie Nichols, Ms. John B. Stanchfield, Mr. and Mrs. Frank J. Sprague, Ms. Foote, Ms. Comstock, Ms. Mary Lawton, Mr. and Mrs. Theodore Gaylord, Mr. and Mrs. Charles Hopgood, Mr. and Mrs. Albert Bigelow Payne, and Ms. Ethel Newcomb, all of New York. End of Section 112, October 7, 1909, Ms. Clemens Weds, Mr. Gabrilovich, read by John Greenman. Section 113 of Mark Twain and the New York Times, Part 5, 1907 through 1909. This LibriVox recording is in the public domain read by John Greenman. November 6, 1909. This edited article includes only the portion related to Mark Twain. Humorous books of recent issue. Many a good laugh to be found in new volumes. Are we growing more serious? Has there not been something of a slump of late years in American humor as regards both its quality and its relative quantity? The most of those who produce it nowadays seem disposed to work overtime and to spread out their more or less slender talent over an amazing amount of printed paper. But notwithstanding their industry the amount of humorous literature published in the United States as compared with the total output of books seems notably less than it did twenty years ago. Apparently we grow more serious as we mount the rungs of our second century. Here, however, is a bunch of fall fiction, all of humorous intent, that has in it many a good laugh, even if its quality be not so highly and so finely flavored as it might be. First on the list must be placed Mark Twain's capital piece of half-serious drawlery Captain Stormfield's Visit to Heaven, Harper and Brothers One Dollar. It is told in the first person, in the language of an uneducated old sea-captain from the Pacific Coast, who wings his way through space for thirty years, having meanwhile a race with a comet, and doing other interesting things before he reaches heaven. There his discoveries and experiences are of a sort to make the orthodox gasp and the self-satisfied crave some new means of inflation. The humor depends mainly upon the juxtaposition of incongruous ideas, the method upon which Mark Twain has always depended for his effects. But underneath the drollery of Captain Stormfield's forms of expression there is an immense lot of philosophy of a shrewd and homely sort concerning the future life. End of Section 113, November 6, 1909, Humorous Books of Recent Issue, read by John Greenman. Section 114 of Mark Twain in The New York Times, Part 5. 1907 through 1909. This LibriVox recording is in the public domain read by John Greenman. December 2, 1909. This article has been edited. Americans Active for Tchaikovsky. Five hundred prominent men petitioned Stolipin for a fair trial for him and Madame Briskovsky, signers in several cities. The movement originated among those who met the revolutionists here. Their trial is approaching. Mr. Tchaikovsky, who has become known as the father of the Russian Revolution, until his return to Russia a couple of years ago, had been an exile for many years, making his home principally in London where he earned a livelihood by his pen. In 1907 he visited the United States. He was taken up by some of the most prominent men in this country and made an effective plea for the cause to which his life has been devoted. He was watched here by Russian spies, and upon returning to his native land was arrested and immured in the fortress of St. Peter and St. Paul. For some time he has been at liberty on bail pending his trial, owing to a serious breakdown in his health under the rigors of prison life. No date has been fixed for his trial, but according to reports from the Russian capital it is imminent. Madame Briskovsky, who early in life underwent the hardships of Siberian exile for the cause of Russian freedom, also visited this country for the purpose of arousing sentiment for the oppressed people of her native land, she was imprisoned on her return to Russia. Madame Briskovsky is still in prison. The charges against both arose in part from their activities while visiting this country. It was said last night that the latest effort on behalf of the two distinguished revolutionists was not inspired by the Friends of Russian Freedom, but was undertaken by men of prominence and influence who had learned to know and respect Mr. Tchaikovsky and Madame Briskovsky when they were here. Among the other signers of the petition are the right Reverend William Lawrence, Bishop of Massachusetts, John D. Crimmons, Samuel L. Clemens, Mark Twain, Robert W. DeForest, William J. Shiflin, Jacob A. Rills, Hamilton Holt, Oswald C. Villard, Horace White, and R. Fulton Cutting. End of Section 114, December 2, 1909, Americans Active for Tchaikovsky, read by John Greenman. Section 115 of Mark Twain in the New York Times, Part 5, 1907 through 1909. This LibriVox recording is in the public domain read by John Greenman. December 21, 1909, Mark Twain done with work. Humorous says there'll be no more work for him in this world. I am through with work for this life and this world, said Mark Twain on his arrival yesterday from Bermuda. He had said a good word for the suffragettes and his reply came when he was asked whether he intended to lecture for the cause of votes for women. I have often been asked to lecture for the cause of women, but I am through with lecturing. He said, I can't do it any more. The state of my health will not permit it. The fact is I am through with work. I have no new books in contemplation. There are five or six that were begun, but they are uncompleted. I have done almost nothing on them for the last few years. My health has not permitted it. Of course I may do a trifle on my autobiography. There is still much to be done on it. But most of it will appear after my death, as is known. I like to have some uncompleted work about me. It gives me something to do, and the humour for work seizes me. The last few years have found me seldom in the humour to write. With Mr. Clemens was Albert Bigelow Payne. They were met by Ms. Clemens, the writer's daughter. End of Section 115, December 21, 1909, Mark Twain done with work, read by John Greenman. Section 116 of Mark Twain in the New York Times, part 5, 1907 through 1909. This LibriVox recording is in the public domain read by John Greenman. December 24, 1909, Twain's Merry Christmas. Humorous says he would not think of dying at his time of life. Reading Connecticut, December 23, Mark Twain today gave out the following statement as a result of various reports concerning his condition of health following his recent return from Bermuda. I hear the newspapers say, I am dying. The charge is not true. I would not do such a thing at my time of life. I am behaving as good as I can. Merry Christmas to everyone. Mark Twain End of Section 116, December 24, 1909, Twain's Merry Christmas, read by John Greenman. Section 117 of Mark Twain in the New York Times, part 5, 1907 through 1909. This LibriVox recording is in the public domain read by John Greenman. December 25, 1909, Ms. Jean Clemens found dead in Bath. She was overcome by an epileptic seizure an hour before her body was discovered. Had planned a happy Christmas. On Wednesday her father helped her trim a Christmas tree. Mark Twain now all alone. Special to the New York Times, running Connecticut December 24, Ms. Jean Clemens, youngest daughter of Mark Twain, was found dead in the bathtub at Stormfield, Mr. Clemens country home, near here, early this morning. Her body lay submerged in water when the young woman's maid discovered it shortly after sunrise. An attack of epilepsy to which Ms. Clemens had been subject for many years is believed to have rendered her unconscious while she was taking her morning bath with the result that she drowned in the water of the bath. Mark Twain, her father, while heartbroken at the blow which has taken away one daughter who had remained single to be his mainstay in his declining years, is bearing up bravely under the shock and says that, in spite of his sorrow, he cannot help feeling glad that death came to his daughter at home. He had feared for many months that she might be stricken while on horseback, far away on the lonely country roads, and that she might be mangled beneath the horse's hoofs. He had many warnings that his daughter might be stricken down, less than a month ago she suffered a violent attack of epilepsy, and for several years she had been under the constant care of an attendant. For several months Ms. Clemens was in a sanatorium, but in April last had come to Stormfield in order to be her father's housekeeper and to help him in his literary work as his secretary. Had prepared for a jolly Christmas. Ms. Clemens herself had no thought of death. Several days ago she invited one of her girlfriends in New York to come to Stormfield to spend the holidays, and elaborate plans had been made for a jolly Christmas. This friend had been instructed to come today, on the Pittsfield Express, and Mark Twain had arranged with the New York, New Haven and Hartford officials to have the train stop at Redding, which is a flag station, at five-nineteen this afternoon. A telegram was sent to her this morning informing her of what had happened and telling her not to come, but she evidently did not get the message, for she arrived according to the arrangement and was driven at once to Stormfield. Ms. Clemens and her father were up late last night discussing plans for Christmas Day and talking of the future. This morning about six-thirty o'clock, Katie, one of the maids at Stormfield, who usually accompanied Ms. Clemens wherever she went, wrapped on her door and asked if she were ready to dress. No, Katie, you can wait an hour for I am going to lie in bed and read, said Ms. Clemens, through the door. She often did this in the morning, before arising, so the maid went away. An hour later she returned to the bedroom, which is on the second floor of Stormfield. Ms. Clemens was not there. Her father hears the news. Katie went at once to the bathroom, one glance inside and the maid screamed in terror. She ran to the door of Mr. Clemens's room, who was still in bed, and told him that he had better come at once. Mr. Clemens hastily donned a bathrobe. The servants were grouped around the bathroom door, uncertain what to do. In a few minutes the body had been lifted from the tub and a telephone call brought Dr. Ernest H. Smith, the family physician and county medical examiner, to the Clemens' home. For a long time the doctor tried by artificial respiration to bring the young woman back to life, but it was useless. She had been dead at least an hour before he arrived, said the doctor, later. Soon after Dr. Smith arrived Mr. Clemens telephoned to Albert Bigelow Payne, who has been assisting the author in writing his biography and who lives not far from Stormfield. Mr. Payne and his wife were soon at the house and did what they could for Mr. Clemens. The news of Ms. Clemens' death spread rapidly through the countryside, and there were many messages of sympathy and offers of help over the telephone. Many of Mark Twain's neighbors also called in person and soon the reporters arrived. Mr. Clemens met them and told the sad news of his daughter's death. My daughter, Jean Clemens, passed from this life suddenly this morning at seven thirty o'clock, he said. All the last half of her life she was an epileptic, but she grew better laterally. For the past two years we considered her practically well, but she was not allowed to be entirely free. Her maid, who has served us 28 years, was always with her when she went to New York on shopping excursions and such things. She had very few convulsions in the past two years, and those she had were not violent. At seven thirty this morning a maid went to her room to see why she did not come down to her breakfast and found her in her bathtub drowned. It means that she had a convulsion and could not get out. She had been leading a very active life. She spent the greater part of her time looking after a farm which I bought for her, and she did much of my secretarial work besides her last talk with her father. Last night she and I chatted later than usual in the library, and she told me all her plans about the housekeeping, for she was also my housekeeper. I said everything was going so smoothly that I thought I would make another trip to Bermuda in February, and she said put it off till March, and she and her maid would go with me, so we made that arrangement. But she is gone, poor child. She was all I had left, except Clara, who married Mr. Gabriljevich lately, and has just arrived in Europe. In one of the downstairs rooms of Stormfield was today a half-trimmed Christmas tree which the bereaved author pointed to while tears came to his eyes. My daughter was trimming the tree yesterday, and I was helping her, he said. She was so anxious that the lads and lassies of the neighborhood should have a tree, so we brought this one in and began to trim it for them. Tomorrow they were to have trooped in to see the tree, and to get presents from it. It is all so very sad, upstairs in my daughter's room are still a number of gifts which she had bought for some of her dear friends, and which were to have been sent out by her today. It will be a sad Christmas for poor old me. Last Monday Ms. Clemens went to New York with her maid to meet her father on his arrival from Bermuda. She took advantage of her presents in town to buy several Christmas presents for her friends. Some of these she sent by mail, and they will be received this morning about the same time that some of her friends learn of her death. Death was clearly accidental. Dr. Smith, after leaving Stormfield, made out a certificate of death from accidental cause which he sent on to Clifford B. Wilson, the coroner at Bridgeport. In this the doctor stated that the primary cause of death was epilepsy and the secondary cause drowning. It was a plain case, and no mystery about it, said Dr. Smith. There have been two other cases of epilepsy here recently which met death in the same way. It is very common for an epileptic to fall unconscious in the water while bathing. One of the other cases here recently was drowned in three or four inches of water after being rendered unconscious by an attack of epilepsy. The bathtub in which Ms. Clemens met her death was nearly full of water when I got there. She simply must have lost consciousness and sunk down beneath the surface. Mr. Clemens is burying up bravely under the blow, and he will survive it, I am sure. He is strong and healthy for a man of his years. Ms. Clemens had recently attended to much of her father's mail. Only yesterday she telephoned to the Associated Press a statement from her father contradicting the newspaper reports that he was in failing health. A cable-gram was sent today to Mrs. Clemens' married daughter, who, with her husband, is spending her honeymoon abroad. It told her of her sister's death. Arrangements for the funeral have already been made. The body will be taken to Elmira, New York, and will on Sunday be buried from the former home of Mr. Clemens' wife. Ms. Clemens will be laid at rest alongside her mother in the old churchyard at Elmira. Mr. Clemens will not be able to attend the funeral. He is now seventy-four years old, and his physicians discourage the unusual fatigue that he would necessarily undergo on such a journey. For the present he will remain at Stormfield. Mark Twain's plans for his daughter. It had been Mr. Clemens' ambition for the past twenty years to provide a future home for his daughters and to leave them a sufficient income to continue their existence after his death in the same comfort as they had before. As the copyrights on all his books are rapidly expiring, and soon will bring in no return, it occurred to him that if he wrote an autobiography, which might be brought out, a little in each volume in a new edition of his works, which the publishers should publish after his death, then he might secure a new copyright for these volumes. Much of this autobiography is finished, and the home for his daughter is built, but there seems to be no occasion for either precaution at present. Ms. Clara Clemens, who is a musician, was married last summer to Osep Gavrilovich, the celebrated Russian pianist, and the two are now in Europe. Ms. Clemens had been engaged to Gavrilovich twice before, and each time the engagement had been broken. Last spring the pianist was seized with a desperate illness, and spent some time in a hospital near the point of death. At that time Ms. Clemens spent a great deal of time with him, and they were married soon after his recovery, and left for Europe. End of Section 117, December 25, 1909, Ms. Jean Clemens found dead in Bath. Read by John Greenman. Section 118 of Mark Twain in The New York Times, Part 5, 1907 through 1909. This LibriVox recording is in the public domain read by John Greenman. December 26, 1909, Mark Twain bears up well, and Twain Manuscripts in Demand. Mark Twain bears up well, body of his daughter accompanied by household servants, taken to Elmira. Reading, Connecticut, December 25. Mark Twain has borne up well under the bereavement which came to him yesterday in the death of his daughter Ms. Jean Clemens. Today he was fully composed and gave final directions for the removal of the body to Elmira, New York. The coffin was taken from Stormfield this evening in time to be placed on the seven o'clock train for New York. Several of the household servants accompanied it, with a few of the most intimate friends of Ms. Jean and of Mr. Clemens. A great many wishes of sympathy from friends in all parts of the country were received today by Mr. Clemens. Twain's Manuscripts in Demand. Items bring high prices, especially since he said he had quit writing. Mark Twain's recently announced determination to write no more books is of interest to autograph collectors, especially to those whose hobby is the collecting of distinguished authors' manuscripts. There is quite a demand for Mark Twain items, and whenever a manuscript of his turns up in the auction room there is lively competition for it, and it almost always fetches a good price. There was hope among the younger collectors and those of limited means that if Mark Twain kept on writing for publication his later manuscripts might come under the auctioneer's hammer, and if the wealthier or older collectors were satisfied with what they had already obtained some of the good things might fall to their own lot, but his announcement would seem to put an end to such a hope. There was further evidence at Anderson's recently of the popularity of Twain among collectors. Manuscripts of his are seldom offered for sale, but there were two in this collection. One of them was the original manuscript in his handwriting of the Invalid Story, better known as the Limburger Cheese Story. It is signed in full Mark Twain. There is also a memorandum in his autograph reading Insert These Twenty Three Pages Manuscript Invalid Story Making the Insertion at Page Ninety of the Small Book, Entitled Punch Brothers Punch. The manuscript is in cloth binding with a specially printed title page on Japan vellum paper and portrait of the author. Dodd Mead and Company had to bid $150 to get it. The other item was the original manuscript of The Regular Toast, Woman, God Blesser, delivered by Mark Twain at the New England Society Dinner, December 23, 1882. It is in this address that Twain describes the dress of the African savage woman as just her complexion. This was also knocked down to Dodd Mead and Company for $100. End of Section 118, December 26, 1909, Mark Twain bears up well, and Twain Manuscripts in Demand, and End of Mark Twain in the New York Times, Part 5, 1907 through 1909, read by John Greenman.