Mark Twain in Williamsport

Not many local residents know that author and lecturer, Mark Twain, visited Williamsport on December 31, 1869. Twain's first article, "The Celebrated Jumping Frog of Calaveras County," was his first major success as an author. At the time, he was employed by the Sacramento Union, a California-based newspaper. He also became popular as a lecturer, recounting his travels of the Sandwich Islands (which is now known as Hawaii) and other points of interest. This lecture tour brought him to Williamsport to the Ulman Opera House on Market Square on New Year's Eve (2).

Mark Twain

Interestingly enough, Mark Twain's visit to Williamsport was not heavily publicized. Twain was just beginning to enjoy his popularity as a writer and lecturer, and only three small items appeared in the Daily Lycoming Gazette, and the West Branch Bulletin to announce his speaking engagement to the public (1).

While touring Williamsport prior to his lecture here, Twain was disgusted by the condition of the Ross Park Cemetery, which was then located on Pine Street. The cemetery was run-down and neglected, and it inspired a sketch entitled "The Remarkable Dream". In the sketch, Twain recounted a conversation between himself and a ghost from an old, run-down graveyard (1).

"I slept profoundly, but how long, I do not know. All at once, I found myself awake, and filled with a sudden shuddering expectancy. All was still. All but my own heart-I could hear it beat. Presently, the bedclothes began to slip away toward the foot of the bed, as if someone were pulling them! I could not stir; I could not speak. I put out the light and returned to bed, paused with fear. I lay a long time, peering into the darkness and listening. Then I heard a grating noise overheard, like the dragging of a heavy body across the floor; then the throwing down of the body, and the shaking of my windows in response to the concussion. In distant parts of the building I heard, at intervals, stealthy footsteps creeping in and out of corridors, and up and down stairs. Sometimes these noises approached my door, hesitated, and went away again. I heard the clanking of chains faintly, and remote passages, and listened while the clanking grew near-while it wearily climbed the stairways, marking each move by the loose surplus of the chain that fell with each accented rattle upon each succeeding step as the goblin that bore it, half-uttered screams that seemed smothered violently; and the swish of invisible garments, the rush of invisible wings. Then I became conscious that my chamber was invaded-that I was not alone"(2).

Twain goes on to tell about his visit from a ghost-John Baxter Copmanhurst, who died in May, 1839, who tells him of his disgust and disappointment at being laid to rest in a shroud of rags, and a battered old coffin. The ghost tells of his disgrace at being left in a cemetery that is in ruins, but was once a beautiful, wooded setting and well-cared for. "Ah, it was worth ten years of a man's life to be dead then! Everything was pleasant. I was in a good neighborhood, for all the dead people that lived near me belonged to the best families in the city. Our posterity appeared to think the world of us. They kept our graves in the very best condition; the fences were in faultless repair, headboards were kept painted or whitewashed, and were replaced with new ones as soon as they began to look rusty or decayed; monuments were kept upright, railings intact and bright, the rose bushes and shrubbery trimmed, trained and free from blemish, the walks clean and smooth and graveled. But that day is gone by. Our descendants have forgotten us...I sleep in a neglected grave...I an friends that lie with me founded and secured the prosperity of this fine city, and the stately bantling of our loves leaves us to rot in a dilapidated cemetery which neighbors curse and strangers scoff at"(1).

Mark Twain's sympathy for the plight of the forgotten founders of Williamsport was summed up by "Do not let that disturb you. The community that can stand such graveyards as those we are emigrating from can stand anything a body can say about the neglected and forsaken dead that lie in them"(1).

Twain's lecture may have shamed our city fathers enough to relocate the Ross Park Cemetery's inhabitants to the Williamsport Cemetery on Washington Boulevard in 1894. At the very least, it must have given Williamsport residents a new respect for the founding fathers of our City.