The "Samuel L. Clemens Visits The Fulton Theatre" Story

It was an ordinary day.  Reading about The Fulton Opera House in Lancaster, Pennsylvania.  I have written several stories about the historical theatre which is located in the first block of North Prince Street where Lancaster's first jail once stood.  But, what I discovered today about the historic building is who performed  on the stage at the Fulton in 1872.  Guy by the name of Samuel L. Clemens.  Do you recognize that name?  Maybe if I told you his pen name was Mark Twain you might know who he was.  Yep, Lancaster was honored by a visit from Samuel Langhorne Clemens during the years he took to the stage as a world-famous speaker and humorist.  His visit to the Fulton had him delivering selections from his book "Roughing It" which was a memoir of his wandering years.  

Samuel Clemens, age 15

Clemens was born on November 30, 1835 in Florida, Missouri.  He was the sixth of seven children of Jane and John Clemens.  At the age of four his family moved to Hannibal, Missouri, which was the town that he eventually used as the setting for his books, The Adventures of Tom Sawyer and The Adventures of Hucklebery Finn.  At the time slavery was legal in Missouri and it became a theme in his writings.  Samuel was one of three siblings who survived childhood.  His father was an attorney and judge who died of pneumonia when Samuel was 11 years old.  The following year he left school after the fifth grade to become a printer's apprentice.  Three years later he worked as a typesetter, contributing articles and humorous sketches to the Hannibal Journal, a newspaper that Orion, his older brother, owned.  When he was 18 he left Hannibal and worked as a printer in New York City, Philadelphia, St. Louis and Cincinnati where he joined the newly formed International Typographical Union, the printer's trade union.  

Book by Mark Twain

He later describes his boyhood in Life on the Mississippi, stating that "there was but one permanent ambition" among his comrades: to be a steamboatman.  Being a pilot on the river was the grandest position of all where he could earn up to $250 a month.  Eventually he convinced his younger brother Henry to work with him on the steamboat Pennsylvania.  But, on June 13, 1858 the steamboat's boiler exploded and killed his brother.  Samuel claimed to have foreseen his death a month earlier in a dream.  He took the blame for the accident and held himself responsible the rest of his life.   He continued to work on the river until the Civil War broke out in 1861.  He enlisted briefly in the Confederate Army and later wrote "The Private History of a Campaign That Failed."  Wasn't long before he headed west to Nevada to work for his brother Orion, who was Secretary of the Nevada Territory.  His journey and adventures from this experience is described in his book "Roughing It."  He eventually found his way to Virginia City, Nevada where he went to work at the Virginia City newspaper.  It was at this point in his life when he used his pen name of "Mark Twain" for the first time.  On February 3, 1863 he wrote a humorous travel account entitled "Letter From Carson" and signed it Mark Twain.  In 1864 he moved to San Francisco, still a journalist, and became involved with poet Ina Coolbrith.  

Mark Twain

Then in 1865 he wrote and published a humorous tale titled "The Celebrated Jumping Frog of Calaveas County.  This brought him national attention.  The following year he moved to the Sandwich Islands (Hawaii) as a reporter for the Sacramento Union.  The letters in the newspaper were very popular and before long he traveled to the Mediterranean aboard the "Quaker City" where he wrote a collection of travel letters which were later compelled as The Innocents Abroad.  While on ship a fellow passenger showed him a photo of his sister Olivia.  Twain claimed to have fallen in love at first sight.  He returned to the United States and was offered honorary membership in Yale University's secret society "Scroll and Key" in 1868.  Eventually Twain and Olivia married in 1870.  Through her he met Harriet Beecher Stowe, Frederick Douglass and other noteworthy and wealthy people.  They had a son who died at the age of 19 months from diphtheria.  They then had three daughters.  He and his wife moved to Hartford, Connecticut in the early 1870s.  It was here that he wrote some of his classic novels such as The Adventures of Tom Sawyer, The Prince and the Pauper, Life on the Mississippi, Adventures of Huckleberry Finn and A Connecticut Yankee in King Arthur's Court.  Olivia died in 1904 after 34 years of marriage.  He and his family are all buried in Elmira, New York.  

Mark Twain in the rear of the Fulton Opera House

So, why was Mark Twain in Lancaster you ask!   Well, it seems that Mark Twain was in great demand as a featured speaker, performing solo humorous talks similar to modern stand-up comedy.  And, just in case you wanted to know...he also used the pen names of "Josh" and "Thomas Jefferson Snodgrass."  So, just when did he appear on the stage of the Fulton Opera House in downtown Lancaster?  Check out the list that follows:

1872

January 1 - Association Hall, Indianapolis, Indiana - "Roughing It" - One version of this speech is published in Mark Twain Speaking, pp. 48-63.
January 2 - Opera House, Logansport, Indiana - "Roughing It" - One version of this speech is published in Mark Twain Speaking, pp. 48-63.
January 3 - Richmond, Indiana - "Roughing It" - One version of this speech is published in Mark Twain Speaking, pp. 48-63.
January 4 - Music Hall, Dayton, Ohio - "Roughing It" - One version of this speech is published in Mark Twain Speaking, pp. 48-63.
January 5 - Opera House, Columbus, Ohio - "Roughing It" - One version of this speech is published in Mark Twain Speaking, pp. 48-63.
January 6 - Arcadome Hall, Wooster, Ohio - "Roughing It" - One version of this speech is published in Mark Twain Speaking, pp. 48-63.
January 8 - Concert Hall, Salem, Ohio - "Roughing It" - One version of this speech is published in Mark Twain Speaking, pp. 48-63.
January 9 - Gray and Garrett's Hall, Steubenville, Ohio - "Roughing It" - One version of this speech is published in Mark Twain Speaking, pp. 48-63.
January 10 - Washington Hall, Wheeling, West Virginia - "Roughing It" - One version of this speech is published in Mark Twain Speaking, pp. 48-63.
January 11 - Mercantile Library Hall, Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania - "Roughing It" - One version of this speech is published in Mark Twain Speaking, pp. 48-63.
January 12 - Kittanning, Pennsylvania - "Roughing It" - One version of this speech is published in Mark Twain Speaking, pp. 48-63.
January 16 - Opera House, Lock Haven, Pennsylvania - "Roughing It" - One version of this speech is published in Mark Twain Speaking, pp. 48-63.
January 17 - Milton, Pennsylvania - "Roughing It" - One version of this speech is published in Mark Twain Speaking, pp. 48-63.
January 18 - Court House, Harrisburg, Pennsylvania - "Roughing It" - One version of this speech is published in Mark Twain Speaking, pp. 48-63.
January 19 - Fulton Opera House, Lancaster, Pennsylvania - "Roughing It" - One version of this speech is published in Mark Twain Speaking, pp. 48-63.
January 22 - Old Methodist Church, Carlisle, Pennsylvania - "Roughing It" - One version of this speech is published in Mark Twain Speaking, pp. 48-63.
January 23 - Maryland Institute, Baltimore, Maryland - "Roughing It" - One version of this speech is published in Mark Twain Speaking, pp. 48-63.
January 24 - Steinway Hall, New York, New York - "Roughing It" - One version of this speech is published in Mark Twain Speaking, pp. 48-63.
January 29 - Klein's Opera House, Scranton, Pennsylvania - "Roughing It" - One version of this speech is published in Mark Twain Speaking, pp. 48-63.
January 30 - The Tabernacle, Jersey City, New Jersey - "Roughing It" - One version of this speech is published in Mark Twain Speaking, pp. 48-63.
January 31 - Opera House, Paterson, New Jersey - "Roughing It" - One version of this speech is published in Mark Twain Speaking, pp. 48-63.

Samuel L. Clemens died of a heart attack on April 21, 1910 and upon hearing of his death, President William Howard Taft said Mark Twain gave pleasure to millions, and his works will continue to give such pleasure to millions yet to come.  I'll always remember The Adventures of Tom Sawyer!  It was another extraordinary day in the life of an ordinary guy.