Crowd Endangers Steamer to Get Passing Glimpse of Humorist Mark Twain

Collision Between Steamer Sylvester and Yacht Kanawha Narrowly Averted
--Author Responds To Calls.
_____

It was a very close shave that the steamer John Sylvester had yesterday morning as she was proceeding down the river for the exposition grounds with 1,200 people aboard.

The steam came within an ace of colliding with H. H. Rogers' steam-yacht the Kanawha. It was a frightened crown of passengers for a short time. The yacht was clearly at fault.

If the vessels had come together it would have been what is known as a "sideswipe" collision. It is a question as to which vessel would have gotten the worse of it.

Crowd Wanted to See Mark.

The Sylvester was just below Fort Norfolk making pretty good time when the Kanawha crept up on the steamer. As it had been printed that Mark Twain, the famous humorist, was aboard the Standard Oil magnate's vessel, the passengers on the steamer all seemed to get on the starboard side of the vessel, which caused her to careen. There were cries for Twain. The skipper of the yacht heard them and it appeared that he tried to run his vessel as close to the steam as possible.

The master of the yacht evidently did not count on the current for the yacht was swept close tot he steamer and it appeared that a collision was inevitable. Seeing the danger, the master of the yacht steered away and soon the vessels were far apart.

Mr. Clemens, whose nom de plume is Mark Twain, heard the shouting. He had been seen in the saloon of the yacht, his thick, bushy white locks standing out plainly through the windows.

The demand for his presence on the deck was so great that the famous writer came out, took off his hat and bowed. A mighty shout went up from the passengers on the steamer. Then Mark retired. He wore that famous white suit. On his head was a yachting cap. The yacht anchored near the warships.

Second Narrow Escape.

While the Sylvester was going through the long lane of warships in the Roads she had another narrow escape from colliding, this time with the yacht Embia, of New York. Again it was the fault of the other vessel, for the yacht tried to cross the bow of the steamer. The captain of the steamer exercised rare judgment and maneuvered his vessel so that she steered clear of the white flyer that got in her way.

The police lines in the Roads were drawn tight. The Sylvester hadn't proceeded far before a navy launch hove in sight and the commander through the megaphone warned the master of the steamer not to get within the lines.
Virginian-Pilot, April 27, 1907

MARK TWAIN HERE WITH H. H. ROGERS
_____

Humorist and Standard Oil Magnate Arrive of the Latter's Yacht
ROGERS CAME ALONG TO PAY THE FREIGHT
At least That Is the Reason Mr. Twain Says He Brought Him. Attend the Exposition
_____

A luxurious mahogany tender bearing the name Kanawha lay wallowing in the slip adjoining the Norfolk-Portsmouth ferry pier this afternoon. Off shore lay a great white steam yacht, while o the pier an inquisitive person connected with the local newspaper sought to pump out of the head man on the yacht tender whether Norfolk's greatest benefactor Henry H. Rogers, was aboard his yacht or to the best of his knowledge and belief ever had been aboard and failed completely.

Then a figure in ghostly garb, which recently with rare humor announced that it had just rounded "pier 70," and did all its work of illuminating the world in bed, came down the pier from the connected end and the inquisite person instantly concluded, it seems, that it was the head of the Standard Oil Company.

It was escorted by Walter H. Taylor, attorney for the Virginian railway company, and H. P. Reigart, purchasing agent for the same road, formerly the Tidewater-Deepwater. Its locks were white as the fleece of that Angora goat from the raising of which more profit is derived by amateurs than is from raising chickens, and it was clothed in a sort of light grey cloth of almost an ice cream hue.

Mark Twain; Not Rogers

This distinguished figure was introduced to the inquisite person as Mr. Rogers, but MR. Taylor gave proof that he has a conscience by explaining subsequently that it was Mr. Clemens. Then everybody did what all the world does when Mr. Clemens wills with words. They laughed.

Mark Twain then told who was aboard the Kanawha, saying that Henry H. Rogers was brought along because he owns the yacht and pays the freight, that Mr. Rogers son, Henry H. Rogers, Jr., Messrs. W. E. Benjamin and Urban Broughton, his sons-in-law, and Mr. Lancaster, an English gentleman, were along.

He said that all the others went out on the Tidewater this morning to inspect the line and that the party will stay here over tomorrow, at least, to see the ceremonies incident to opening the Jamestown Exposition. He said he had no impressions fit for publication and immediately afterward said that the fleet in Hampton Roads this morning was a pretty sight.

Speed of Sound.

Then he started to tell, in a story which stretched from the ferry landing almost to the Monticello Hotel, sometimes taking long strides and occasionally halting, how he counted the guns which were fired from our warships this morning when the British and Austrian squadrons came in from sea; that he counted eight between the flash of fire and the sound which reached the Kanawha and estimated that the firing ships were eight-elevenths of a mile away.

At intervals afterward, while his brain was chewing away upon this problem and his lips occasionally expressed aloud the fear that the brain was not telling the truth, and the wish that he could have a look into the encyclopedia in order to verify the impression gained therefrom some thirty years ago the only one made side remarks.

Then he, and Messrs. Taylor and Reigard, his entertainers, sailed for the exposition grounds in an automobile. As the infernal machine made the preliminary thundering noise preparatory to starting he shouted that all he wanted to know was how far sound travels in a second; that he thought then it was 1,100 feet and his seconds in the opening chapter of this story were much too short.
- Norfolk Ledger-Dispatch, April 25, 1907

EASY MARK TWAIN

The man whom a few people know as Samuel L. Clemens is an easy mark. That was demonstrated Thursday when he came here aboard the steam yacht Kanawha, as the guest of Henry H. Rogers, the Standard Oil Collossus, and talked when a newspaper reporter was within short ear shot.

He seems to have none of that quality which one who wished to exhibit a deplorable lack in a fancy dress might well perhaps, call business acumen. Why everyone of those little words which slipped out of his mouth might have been sold for something.

True, they were not exactly new words, but he could have dressed them up so no one would have known that they ever had been used and they could have been worked off at a good profit to the producer.

Instead of the producer profiting, however, the public profited. That goes to show that a man may have the art to dress up old words in a new style and amuse the public immoderately and still be without business acumen.

Men do not make money talking for nothing. Mark Twain, as he lies slumbering aboard the Kanawha, the breeze from the Dismal Swamp which Tom Moore peopled with the ghost of a maid which never ceases from paddling, fanning the sleeper, is surrounded by several luminous examples all pursuading to the contrary.

Not all he said yesterday has yet blossomed into print either, but may be expected to be hoarded and retailed by the newspaper men slowly, so as to not break the market. He said something to the effect that some people here expressed concern lest the Jamestown Exposition should not be complete.

Such a possibility as that, he could not comprehend in view of the fact that he really was the show and he was all here and it was all right. He allowed that his daughter once said that her Papa never went any where except it was some place where he could show himself off and he thought that he was doing that here pretty well.

The reporters say that he said these things. Of course, the reporters sometimes misquote a man. Who has not known men whom they have quoted in print as saying something which sounded entirely different when read than when uttered. Fortunately for reporters the things which they write which please the public and make that public applaud the man who uttered them are rarely misquotations.

Mark Twain, though, has rarely been misquoted. Perhaps the principal reason why this is true is that nobody else could think of anything which might be said which was so good as that which Mark Twain really said.

He can say good things, there isn't any doubt of that, but that he has business acumen three is no earthly use of pretending. Perhaps it is because of this very lack that the world loves him so dearly. The crippled child generally is loved by the mother better than the perfect one is.
- Norfolk Ledger-Dispatch, April 27, 1907

MAROONED MARK TWAIN

Was Bottled Up at Old Point Because He Refused to Go Home by Rail

Mark Twain marooned at Old Point Comfort on the yacht Kanawha, and so far from Fifth avenue that he says he will never look upon the Washington Monument again; that was the whisper that went around the lots or at the Hotel Chamberlin Yesterday.

Mark himself held a reporter with his glittering eye and drowned the blare of the loud basso in the dining room in recounting his modern versin of the ancient marinter's tale:

"Here I am," said the author, nervously flicking a big of cigar ashes from his copyrighted white flanner suit, "here I am alone on Mr. H. H. Rogers' yacht Kanawha anchored out there and not one saint to look down in pity.

"Rogers has gone home, his son, Harry, has gone and the only remaining guest that came down to this merry, exposition opening last Friday says he is going back to New York tonight. But I cannot go. For two days we have been held up by the fog out by the Capes, and the navigation officer says that he won't risk the passage.

"I simply will not go back by train, so here I remain, pacing the boards of the Kanawha or the carpets of the Chamberlin, utterly, unforgiveable alone, I think of that Fifth avenue and of th edear omnibus trunding up and down from the monument and I feel that I am without a country."

Mr. Clemens bit deep into his cigar end, and went on to explain that he had come down as Mr. Rogers' guest on the Kanawha to witness the opening of the exposition, believing in his innocence that he would straightway be carried back to New York and his work after the show was over. But when the fogs of the last three days chained up the Capes and the navigatin officer on the yacht would not move anchor one inch, Mr. Clemens had the alternative of taking the train back with hishost or waiting on the pleasure of the weather bureau. Since he detests railroad travel, he says that there is no alternative, and that he will remain a marooned mariner until the fog lifts.

Impatient Mr. Clemens was the only unhappy man in and about Hampton Roads. Exhilaration shrieked from the whistles of every launch that plied between the steel ships and the pier at Old Point, there was promise of joy in the piled cases of beer that awaited transport to th battleships against Thursday night's feasting.

_____

Though the fog lifted yesterday morning, Mark took no chances, but lay overnight below. This morning a big steam yacht pretty well identified as the Kanawha passed out the Virginia Capes at 4:45 o'clock. She was followed an hour later by the Carola, another big steam yacht, which has been here during the exposition opening festival.
-Norfolk Ledger-Dispatch, May 1, 1907.

OWNER OF VIRGINIAN IN EXCELLENT HEALTH

Henry H. Rogers and Dr. Samuel L. Clemens (Mark Twain) Good for Many Years Yet--A Talk With Them.

Henry H. Rogers and his party, who came down from New York on the Old Dominion line steamer Jefferson to attend the celebration of the opening of the Virginian Railway, debarked on the pier here about 10 o'clock.

Raymond Du Puy, vice-president and general manager of the Virginian, met them at the pier, bundled them into three big Rambler automobiles, which were in waiting, whisked them to the Lynnhaven Hotel and after registering them and seeing that they were comfortably settled, went off to resume his work of running the big railroad.

According to pre-arrangement with Mr. Du Puy, a reporter for the Ledger-Dispatch met the Rogers party upon their arrival at the hotel, and gained audience with Mr. Rogers, Mark Twain, whom Mr. Rogers said, should be given his proper name and title, which is, Rogers said, Doctor Samuel L. Clemens, Charles Lancaster, H. H. Rogers, Jr., others of the party who had something to say, during an informal talk of perhaps a half hour.

In Fine Health

One of the most gratifying things observed during the sorting out and stowing away of something like a couple car loads of luggage which the visitors brought along, was the fact that both Messrs. Rogers and Clemens, notwithstanding each is well along in years and the latter confessed a couple of years ago to having then "rounded pier 70," appeared to be in as good health as ever in their lives.

Mr. Rogers in fact, seems to be stronger than he has been for many years. Neither of these gentlemen manifested an inclination to take one of the comfortable seats in the hotel lobby, but stood up and seemed as spry as any of the party.

Mr. Rogers who has never been quoted in print in his life, so far as newspaper men know, save that once when he permitted this newspaper to quote him as saying that Norfolk is going to be a great city, said little today beyond expressing his pleasure at being here and his gratification over the completion of his railway and the manner in which the people here are celebrating it.

Hardly a more democratic man than Mr. Rogers is may be imagined. He is, although of commanding presence, frank, outspoken, direct, approachable and particularly courteous. He laughed when he said that the newspaper men should be particular about addressing his close friend, Mark Twain, as Doctor Clemens, and there seemed to be some joke in connection with this, which was not explained. It was suggested later, however, that the title was bestowed because of the literary attainments of Mr. Rogers' friend, which are by man esteemed considerable.

The Twain Mine

Mark, being a mine, was next worked.

"Mr. Twain, I beg your pardon, Dr. Clemens, will you say a few words for publication in the Ledger-Dispatch, but before you begin will you kindly mention what your price per word is; I have heard that it is thirty cents, but want to be sure about it before ordering?" said the newspaper man in an unbroken stream of words.

Then he was informed that his newspaper wants only the highest class of literary word and has heard of some writers who lately have charged a dollar a word.

"I have raised my price, " the only one said, "and am as high as the highest of them now."

Here Mr. Rogers observed:

"The call you Mark Twain, Incorporated," apparently alluding to an editorial which recently appeared in this newspaper.

"Yes," said Mr. Clemens, "the newspapers may treat that matter humorously, but it is no laughing matter. Do you know that I have received a letter from the German Government about that and my incorporation of myself is probably going to break the present international copyright system all to smash?"

Next, Mr. Clemens, who it is known by some was a pilot on the Mississippi river a little earlier in the game of life and knows all about the bars and snags and other nightmares of navigators, was asked whether he is going to pilot the river steamer Nanticoke from Franklin, Va., to Venezuela, which steamer was said in a recent press report to have been sold to one who perhaps is an agent of former President of Venezuela, Castro.

"What does the job pay?" he inquired, "it is altogether a question of how much there is in it and the security.

With this evasive answer Mark ported his linguistic helm and sheered off.

English Capitalist.

Charles Lancaster, chairman of the Council of the Chamber of Commerce of the city Liverpool, one of England's greatest capitalists, who is largely interested in the Virginian Railway, and is a member of the Rogers party, spoke optimistically of the future of this port, which he said he visited some two years ago.

George B. Hopkins, another of Mr. Rogers' guests, proved to be most engaging and widely informed.

Henry H. Rogers, Jr., who is of the party, expressed his pleasure at being in Norfolk again, and in meeting a number of those whom he met upon former visits.

The party includes Henry H. Rogers, H. H. Rogers, Jr., Charles Lancaster, of Liverpool; James M. Beck, the great lawyer; William Evarts Benjamin and W. R . Coe, sons-in-law of Mr. Rogers; Samuel L. Clemens, alias Mark Twain; Melville E. Stone, general manager of the Associated Press; R. W. Ashcroft, George H. Church, treasurer of the Virginian Railway Company, and George B. Hopkins. The latter is a guest of Mr. Rogers, while MR. Ashcroft is secretary of Mark Twain, Incorporated.

Urban H. Broughton, director of the Virginian Railway, and also of the great new smelting company, the International Refining and Smelting Co., the rival of the American Smelting Company, and a son-in-law of Mr. Rogers, with Franklin Q Brown, of Redmond & Co., bankers of New York, a director of the Virginian and formerly vice-president and general manager of the Plant System of Railways and Steamers, are due to arrive her from New York this evening, by rail and to join the Rogers party here.

At the banquet tomorrow night the principal speeches are to be made by Melville E. Stone and James M. Beck. It is expected that Mr. Clemens also may sparkle at this function.
- Norfolk Ledger-Dispatch, April 2, 1909

Mr. Rogers' Joke

Norfolk's distinguished guest, Mr. Henry H. Rogers, pleased the large company who were yesterday evening entertaining him at a reception at the rooms of the Board of Trade and Business Men's Association by a display of oratorical gifts which he has heretofore never been suspected of possessing.

Incidentally, he incurred a debt which it is safe to say bears interest and is likely to be paid shortly by Mr. Rogers' great friend, Dr. Samuel L. Clemens.

At the conclusion of the reception Dr. Clemens got up on a perch or raised dais of some sort in response to irresistible demands for a speech and made a very felicitous one, in which he said he had been greatly complimented by innumerable people who have since he came here called him "Mr. Rogers," mistaking him for the great financier and railway builder. This talk was punctured at short intervals by tumultuous applause.

When Dr. Clemens finished speaking there were insistent calls for a speech from Mr. Rogers. To the great surprise of many, the great capitalist arose, and in the clear and resonant voice of an orator of great power, and with the grace of such an one, said that his business is the building of railroads; that he employs the ablest men he can secure to build them, and when they are finished he employs orators to tell about them. Then he pointed at "Mark Twain" and said that he was one of those. Tremendous applause followed this clever sally. Then Mr. Rogers explained that "Mark" was his friend, with whom he occasionally took liberties, thus unmistakably indicating that was a joke of no mean ability.

The reception to Mr. Rogers and his party at the Board of Trade was an enthusiastic success, and gave the representative business men an opportunity to become acquainted with the owners of the Virginian railroad, whose coming means so much to this section.
- Norfolk Ledger-Dispatch, April 3, 1909

MARK TWAIN AT RAILROAD FEAST

Humorist in Speech Makes Jest of H. H. Rogers' Road Building

NORFOLK, Va., April 3. - The opening of the new Virginian railroad was celebrated tonight with a banquet given in honor of H. H. Rogers by the businessmen of Norfolk. Among the speakers was Samuel Clemens (Mark Twain), who made one of his characteristic humorous speeches. He appeared in his well known suit of immaculate white and declared he was the whitest man in attendance.

Explaining why he did not leave the car to inspect the great steel pier of the Virginian railroad, Clemens said he saw it en route to the city and noted that, like Rogers' foot, "it was long and bony."

Clemens said: "It is no small thing to be classed as you have classed Mr. Rogers. Why didn't he say it was the proudest moment of his life, like Julius Caesar did? They can't be here to defend themselves, but I'm here. Napoleon built 50 roads, and your toastmaster here has put Mr. Rogers, who has built only one road, in that class, and he has not got that done yet. I like to hear him complimented, but I don't like to hear it overdone.

"The chairman says Mr. Rogers is full of practical wisdom. I remember when he took his first trip across the Atlantic. He did not like to ask questions and show his ignorance, so he just kept quiet and observed. On the way over some of the young Englishmen go to betting on the time the ship was making. They got him to wager half a crown, but he did not know what half a crown was, so he went to bed and tried to figure out what he had bet. He did not know whether a half a crown was money or what. He figured it out that a crown belonged to a king and that it was probably worth $20,000.
- San Francisco Daily Morning Call, April 4, 1909

[I am indebted to Dave Thomson for providing a clipping of this news report.]