September 18 Friday – At 12:30 a.m. two burglars, Charles Hoffman and Henry Williams, broke into Sam’s home in Redding, Conn. They were surprised by Isabel Lyon as they were removing silverware. As they were fleeing Claude Benchotte the French butler fired shots at them, and a neighbor, Harry A. Lounsbury, followed them. A deputy sheriff joined the chase and after a shootout at the West Redding rail station the pair was arrested [MTHL 2: 835n2; Hill 210].
Sam entered the burglars names in to his new guestbook, along with the sheriff and his other guests.
Name Address Date Remarks
Charles Hoffman (per SL Clemens) The State Penitentiary (afterward) September 18 12:00 a.m. [* see below re: burglars]
Henry Williams (per SL Clemens)
Charles E. Wark (a guest) [NY attorney]
Harry A. Lounsbury {Arrived 1.30 a.m. September 18
George S. Banks, Dep. Sheriff {
Dorothy Sturgis M.A. 153 Beacon st. Boston September 18-28.
* Sam wrote on the Remarks column:
Burglars. They broke into the house at 12.30. Miss Lyon summoned Mr. Lounsbury, & he & the sheriff arrived within an hour. They & Mr. Wark tracked the burglars 6 miles to Bethel & caught them on a train. One of them shot the sheriff three times, but the sheriff held on to him & handcuffed him. On Nov. 12 they went to the penitentiary Williams (the shooter) forty [ten] years, & Hoffman for 4. The silverware they stole was recovered.
The ‘Muniments’ Notice to the Next Burglars, which hangs in the billiard room, is Dorothy’s work, from my ink original [Note: Dorothy Sturgis was thus not in the house at the time of the robbery, but arrived at 7 p.m. on September 18 (See Sam to Blackmer). In a small oval on the bottom left of the Notice to the Next Burglars, Dorothy’s name can be seen.(A “muniment” is a document as a title deed or charter by which various rights are given)]
Isabel Lyon’s journal: “At 12:30 I was wakened by a sound down stairs and it was burglars. I saw them. Reporters—Dorothy Sturgis came, Benares came too” [MTP: IVL TS 65].
Sam’s original guestbook included two names not found in the new guestbook for this date: Elsie Vanderhoff, and Dan Beard (with a spade symbol) [Mac Donnell TS 3].
At 2:30 a.m. in Redding, Conn. Sam wrote to Theodore A. Bingham, Comissioner of Police, N.Y.C.
Dear General: / A couple of hours ago these burglars entered this house, but were interrupted in their operations & fled. They got only the following silver articles: marked, in Italian script, with Mrs. Clemens’s maiden name, Olivia Langdon:
I do not want the burglars, but the silver has great value for me, because of its associations. One of the men was a professional & doubtless came from New York.
I would like to give notice to the next burglars, through you, that nothing but plated ware will be kept in the house hereafter. / Sincerely yours … [MTP].
Sam also wrote to Margaret Blackmer at the Woman’s Club, 9 E. 46th Street, N.Y.C.
You dear little Margaret! I am so glad to hear from you. Yesterday, in the billiard-room I said to Mr. Paine, “There’s Margaret, hanging on the wall, & I know by some instinct that within 3 days I shall hear from her”—& it has come true.
I have not been away from this house since I arrived here just 3 months ago; but I am going to New York Sept. 25, (Friday), arriving toward 1 p.m., & shall walk over from the Grand Central to the Woman’s Club, 9 East 46th street & call upon you & your mother. The rest of the day & evening I shall spend with my youngest daughter at the Martha Washington hotel, & then see her off to Germany next morning.
I have had a most pleasant 3 months here, with delightful guests coming & going, some staying a day or two & some a week. A while ago Louise Paine, M. A. & Dorothy Harvey M. A. were here together 6 or 7 days; Dorothy Quick, M. A. & her mother gave us 6 days; Marjorie Breckinridge M. A. left here last Monday; at 7 this evening Dorothy Sturgis M. A. & maid will arrive, & will remain until the 25th; on the 26th Miss Wallace (you remember her?) will reach New York from Europe, & she & Mr. Ashcroft will come home with me the next morning (Sunday) in the 9 a.m. train, which reaches Redding in about an hour & forty minutes.
And as soon as we can arrange the date, you & your mother must come. I hope you will like this place, & I am sure you will.
Yes indeed, dear heart, you can have any book of mine you want.
My favorites are: Joan or Arc; Prince & Pauper; Huck Finn; Tom Sawyer. I will take them to you on the 25th.
I hope you will have your shell with you, for you have been away a long time, & without it I should be almost certain to mistake you for somebody else. / With lots of love / SLC / (Curator) [MTP; MTAq 204-5].
Sam also wrote to Frances Nunnally.
Francesca dear, you are nearing these shores, now, & in less than half a week you & your mother will arrive, & run up here, according to schedule. You will be very very very welcome. I hope your father can come, too. Will you please ask him? Expresses leave the Grand Central for Redding at 9 a.m. & 4.15 p.m. on all days but Saturdays, & come through in an hour & forty minutes.
Will you telephone Miss Lyon or me & tell us your train, so that we can meet your at the Redding station, which is about 20 minutes by country road from this house. / With love, … [MTP].
Sam also wrote to Dorothy Quick.
Dorothy dear, the postcards have just arrived, & I judge you are reaching Plainfield to-day. You have had a long holiday, & I guess by your letters that you have had a healthful & delightful good time. So have we. Very pleasant guests right along, all the time. Among them a Member of the Aquarium, (Marjorie Breckinridge M. A.) Who left here last Monday. This evening Dorothy Sturgis M. A. will arrive, & remain until the 25th; & not long after that date I shall expect Margaret Blackmer M. A. & her mother to come. Yes indeed, it has been a most delightful summer for us.
With lots of love / SLC / (C.A.) Curator of the Acquarium
Burglars broke in after midnight this morning. But they were caught afterward, & are on their
way to jail this afternoon.
Note from Francesca Nunnally M. A., England. She & her mother are due here next Monday for a short visit [MTP; MTAq 206].
The New York Times, p. 9, ran the following account of the Redding burglary:
BURGLARS INVADE MARK TWAIN VILLA
Captured After a Pistol Fight on a Train in Which Prisoner and Officer Are Shot.
——— ——— ——— ———
ALARMED BY A WOMAN
Special to The New York Times.
Notice Posted by Mark Twain Notifying the Next Burglar Where to Find the Plated Ware.
DANBURY, Conn., Sept. 18.—Mark Twain’s home at Redding, “Innocents at Home,” was visited by two professional burglars last night. The wakefulness of Miss Lyons, the humorist’s private secretary, was the undoing of the bold crooks, who were captured after a fight on a New Haven train.
Mr. Clemens today posted this notice on the door of his house:
Notice: To the Next Burglar:
[see notice text on following page]
Miss Lyon the humorist’s secretary, was aroused about midnight by the sound of breaking glass in the lower part of the house. She went softly down the stairs to find a flood of light in the dining room and that the sideboard, with its solid silver, was missing from its customary place in the room. Cautiously slipping along in the shadows to a point where she could have a view of the garden, to which her attention had been called by an open window in the dining room, Miss Lyon saw two men forcing the doors and drawers of the sideboard, which they had carried out, apparently in the hope that they would not be interrupted in their work. Without giving the burglars any cause for alarm Miss Lyon summoned Mr. Clemens and the butler and then telephoned for Deputy Sheriff Banks, Harry Lounsbury, and several neighbors.
Before any of them reached the scene the burglars had fled with their booty.
Following the awakening of Miss Lyon and her discovery that burglars had been at work, search of Mark Twain’s place was made by Mr. Lounsbury, the Deputy Sheriff, and neighbors, and on the lawn some distance away was found the empty drawer.
Mr. Lounsbury and Deputy Sheriff Banks found peculiar footprints, which they followed to Bethel.
Mr. Lounsbury discovered the men on the train in the smoking car. He attempted to engage them in conversation and asked them if they lived in Danbury. The men replied vaguely. Mr. Lounsbury said he noticed that both men’s shoes had rubber heels, which it was said would correspond with the tracks in the roadway. When the train arrived at Redding Mr. Lounsbury got off and notified Banks that he believed the men they were after were the two to whom he had been talking. Banks boarded the train, and when an attempt was made to arrest the burglars one ran out of the car door and jumped off and the other showed fight and drew a revolver. He fired four shots, one of which struck the Sheriff in the leg, and one, the last in the struggle, hit the burglar himself in the head.
A passenger jumped into the fight and subdued the burglar with a club, cutting his head open.
The burglar who jumped was found under a bridge in Brookside Park.
A physician was called and the wounds of the Sheriff and of the injured robber were attended
to.
Later in the morning the men were taken before Justice Hickerson for a hearing. Mr. Clemens, his daughter, Miss Clara, and Mr. Wark appeared at the hearing. The men had taken only the solid silverware and this was all recovered. The plated ware they had evidently discarded.
The hearing was held in a small room of an old-fashioned house. Justice Nickerson sitting at a little table. The witnesses and the prisoners occupied the same settee. Mr. Clemens had on his white suit.
The prisoners described themselves as Charles Hoffman, aged 30, of South Norwalk, and Henry Williams, aged 40, no address. Both men were held for the Superior Court. Other counts of assault, resisting an officer, and carrying concealed weapons were lodged against Williams. He was the wounded man. They were taken to the Bridgeport Jail this afternoon. Later they were taken before Judge William Case of the Superior Court. Williams was charged with burglary, and held under $5,000 bail. Besides the burglary charge, a second charge of assault, with intent to kill, was entered against Hoffman, and his bail fixed at $7,500.
The May 1924 issue of True Detective Magazine, p. 46-9, & 70-2, “The Love Story of Mark Twain’s Burglar” told the episode from one of the burglars points of view (Henry Williams, though his name is not given; he was the burglar who shot the Sheriff); the tale was set in a romantic envelope by one of the burglars, who was on his “last job” after being changed by the love of “Alice.” Names were changed, and even the date was in error as the night of Sept. 16 instead of Sept. 17. In this narrative the following account is offered after the two burglars were apprehended:
We were to before the justice of the peace at Redding Center. In the dingy back room of the Town Hall the handcuffs were removed from The Smiler [pseudonym for his partner in crime] and me, and we were taken before him.
A carriage drawn by a pair of spirited horses stopped at the Town Hall. Mark Twain, his daughter, Miss Clara Clemens, and his social secretary, entered.
As he passed very close to me, he stopped long enough to deliver a scathing lecture on morality, ending by denouncing me as “a disgrace to the race.” I was so weakened from loss of blood and so crushed by the thought that I would never see Alice again, that I did not feel the sting of his mental punishment. …
The aged humorist took a seat near the Justice of the Peace, and court convened. We were given a preliminary hearing, the bag with the stolen silver and my revolver being produced as evidence [the Sheriff has been shot by the burglar during a struggle on apprehension]. It was a clear case of burglary. We had been caught with the goods. A heavy bail, which neither of us could furnish, was the ultimate conclusion, and the Fairfield County Jail at Bridgeport the lock- up.
The sentenced me to ten years in the Connecticut State Prison at Wethersfield. My partner was given five years, because technically he had not attempted to resist arrest.
Alice A. Driggs wrote from New Canaan, Conn. to Sam. “Hurrah! / We are glad you Reddingites were smart enough to catch those two burglars” and felt it might be the same burglars who had robbed homes there [MTP].
M. Lightpen wrote from St. Louis to suggest that the two burglars were really looking for the Ascot Cup! [MTP]. Note: While in England the newspapers spoofed that Clemens had made off with the Cup.
B.A. Myers of Myers & Levitt Amusement Enterprises, NYC, wrote to offer Sam $1,500 per week for ten weeks in Vaudeville [MTP].
Melville E. Stone of Assoc. Press sent a telegram to Sam. “Are you willing to pay carfare and the other expenses New York to Redding and return for two efficient and trustworthy burglars / Best of reference” [MTP]. Note: see Clemens’ reply of Sept. 19.
John Elton Wayland sent a telegram to Lyon c/o Clemens about the burglary: “Are you and the king all right can I do anything” [MTP].
Later, with the help of Dorothy Sturgis, who arrived at 7 p.m. for a visit,. Sam wrote the above “NOTICE!” insert [MTP]. Note: perhaps too small to see here is Dorothy’s name inside the oval on the lower left corner, just to the right of the drawing of a burglar.
In Gloucester, Mass. Jean Clemens sent a telegram to Isabel Lyon. “Couldn’t get room tried for, what hotel shall I go to [?]” [MTP].