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MARK TWAIN

. . . first saw the light of a Missouri day November 30, 1835. Buffalo has a good claim on Mark Twain alongside Hannibal, Elmira, Hartford and New York City as a place where, for however short a time, the celebrated humorist worked, suffered, joked, un-stuffed stuffed shirts, and exploded all sham balloons that floated his way.

He came to Buffalo with his wife Olivia on Saturday, August 14, 1869 to run the Express for J.N. Learned, George H. Selkirk, himself and others who had bought out the Clapp Brothers and Thomas Kennett. The staff gave him a dinner that night and Monday he got down to business.

Mark Twain didn’t know a great deal about Buffalo real estate so he commissioned Mr. Slee of Elmira to find him a modest boarding place. Mr. Slee said he would make the search forthwith and Mark Twain accordingly forgot about the whole matter until the afternoon of February 3rd, 1870 when he came to Elmira with his bride, Olivia.. The couple was met at the station and then slowly and aimlessly drove to 472 Delaware Avenue where Mark Twain soon was to be flabbergasted by the announcement that the “modest lodgings” he had asked for was this fine house and that it was the present of Mr. Langdon to his daughter and son-in-law. When Mark Twain regained his composure he remarked to Mr. Langdon, “Whenever you are in Buffalo, if it’s twice a year, come right here. Bring your bag and stay overnight, if you want to. It shant cost you a cent.”

His Buffalo sojourn ended in April, 1871, when sorely tried by a winter of sickness and death in his family, he gave up his interest in the Express – in fact, gave up newspaper work altogether.

 

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