25 October 1876 • Hartford, Conn. (Memphis Avalanche, 5 November 1876, UCCL 01379)
(SUPERSEDED)
Mrs. ——:— Dear Madam—Yes, I am that person, &Ⓐemendation I have been trying to place you, but I have such a disgraceful memory that I can’t quite compass it. It is mainly because that week in Memphis was so terrible that I have never liked to think about it. I could not even think of the many pleasant features of that sojourn without drifting into the others—the dreadful ones.1explanatory note
You will easily believe that I did not want to forget you, or any other of the kind friends who helped me there, &Ⓐemendation made me forget that I was a stranger—no, the forgetting was the result of the process I have just described. What I do remember, without the least trouble in the world, is, that when those sixty scalded &Ⓐemendation mutilated people were thrown upon her hands, Memphis came forward with a perfectly lavish outpouring of money &Ⓐemendation sympathy, &Ⓐemendation that this did not fail &Ⓐemendation die out, but lasted through to the end. Even then, neither the purse nor the compassion of Memphis was exhausted; for the “Pennsylvania’s” victims were hardly disposed of before those of the “St. Nicholas” were brought there, &Ⓐemendation were received &Ⓐemendation treated with the same splendid generosity.2explanatory note
Do you remember how the physicians worked?—&Ⓐemendation the students—the ladies—&Ⓐemendation everybody? I do. If the rest of my wretched memory was taken away, I should still remember that. And I remember the names (&Ⓐemendation vaguely, the faces) of the friends with whom I lodged, &Ⓐemendation two who watched with me—&Ⓐemendation you may well believe that I remember Dr. Peyton. What a magnificent man he was! What healing it was just to look at him &Ⓐemendation hear his voice!3explanatory note
I have planned a journey down the Mississippi for the spring of 1878, &Ⓐemendation then I hope I may see him again, &Ⓐemendation you too.4explanatory note Meantime, I heartily wish you both may be obliged to journey eastward, &Ⓐemendation that you will do me the real kindness to break bread &Ⓐemendation eat salt with me in Hartford. You shall have the best rooms in the house—&Ⓐemendation refurnished, if you require it.
Truly &Ⓐemendation gratefully yours,
Clemens replied to a Memphis woman who recalled the death of his brother Henry in June 1858, from injuries received in the explosion of the steamboat Pennsylvania. She may have been the Miss Wood who had been on the scene “like a good angel to aid and console” (Orion Clemens to Wood, 3 Oct 58, NPV). A moving record of Clemens’s vigil at his brother’s deathbed survives in the letters he wrote at the time (see 15 June 58 to Moffettclick to open letter, 18 June 58 to MECclick to open letter, 21 June 58 to Moffettclick to open letter).
The St. Nicholas actually exploded on 24 April 1859, near Helena, Arkansas, a few miles from the scene of the Pennsylvania disaster. The survivors and injured were taken to Louisville and Memphis. It is not known if Clemens was in either city at the time. He persisted in believing that the disaster occurred in 1858: in “A Curious Experience,” published in the Century magazine in November 1881, he reported that the St. Nicholas “blew up in the neighborhood of Memphis, in ’58” (SLC 1881, 44; “News of the Day,” New York Times, 27 Apr 59, 4; Way 1983, 413; N&J2 , 536).
Thomas F. Peyton, a leading Memphis physician (see L1 , 82–86).
Clemens postponed his return to the Mississippi until the spring of 1882 (see N&J2 , 432–34, 436–37, 464–80).
“‘Mark Twain.’ A Sad Incident of His Early Life Recalled,” unidentified newspaper, unknown date, in Covington Collection scrapbook, OOxM; “A Grateful Remembrance,” Hartford Courant, 13 November 1876, 2.