Mark and William

     Samuel Clemens, AKA Mark Twain, and William Morris Stewart Stewart crossed

paths several times during their lives. Eerily similar in personality traits, they could not

stand each other. Both Stewart and Twain wanted to make fortunes and control situations.

 They did not always tell the truth in their autobiographies. Clemens  showed up in

Carson City in 1861 along with his brother Orion. President Abraham Lincoln appointed

Orion to be the territorial secretary. Sam came along for the ride and the possible

opportunity to make a few dollars. With his talent for writing he soon became employed

at the Territorial Enterprise, one of Nevada’s many newspapers. The witty Clemens

expanded and exaggerated the political news. The politicians who generated his stories

frequently suffered abuse in his columns. Readers loved the humorous adaptations of

Clemens, which only served to egg him on to become even more outlandish. Clemens

soon picked up the name Mark Twain. During this Comstock period Twain invented a

Third House of Representatives. He set himself up as the governor. When he reported

about the Third House, he skewered William Morris Stewart, a politician given to lofty

rhetoric. Stewart kept making the same speech over and over when he campaigned

against taxing the mines during the first constitutional convention. One time Twain

thundered, “Take your seat, Bill Stewart,” because he had heard the same speech so many

times he could recite it himself. This did not go over well with Stewart. Neither he nor

Twain cared to be the victim of a joke.

      It was generally accepted practice to bribe journalists to write about new silver

mines in order to get more investors. Miners promised a few shares or certificates in

exchange for good press. Stewart and Twain had an agreement regarding a new mine. 

 Supposedly Stewart never gave Twain the money he owed him. Twain claimed fraud.

 He finally paid Stewart back in Roughing It by portraying Stewart with an eye patch,

making Stewart appear to be a pirate.
  
      Twain did not leave Annie Foote Stewart alone either. She loved giving spectacular

parties.  He delighted in describing her numerous social events in great ridiculous detail.

Twain made fun of her clothes, her friends and the food she served. Stewart got even for

this by arranging for Twain’s stagecoach to be attacked on a trip between Carson City and

Virginia City. The desperadoes roughed up Twain and stole  his money and his

pocket watch. When Mark Twain returned to Virginia City, he went to a bar to tell his

story. His so-called friends bought drinks for everyone using Twain’s money. He figured

it out when he got his watch back. Twain left the Comstock shortly after he explained to

readers he had been involved in one of the greatest robberies ever carried out in the west.

     It is hard to believe Stewart would associate himself with Mark Twain more

than once, but they could not stay away from each other. Senator Stewart hired Twain as

his secretary in Washington D.C. Some thought Stewart liked the prestige of having a

world traveler work for him since Twain had recently returned from Europe. At this time

Annie was on a world tour so Stewart rented rooms at 224 “F” Street at the corner of

14th. The landlady, Miss Virginia Wells,  was a prim and proper spinster. Stewart

told Twain he could write his current novel on the premises as well as serve as his

secretary at a salary of one hundred eighty dollars a month. He even offered his cigars
 
and whiskey to Twain, which turned out to be a bad move. It was not long before Twain

played tricks on poor Miss Virginia – or perhaps he was just being himself. Twain drank

heavily, wandered through the house at nighttime and even smoked in bed. Miss Wells

threatened evictions for both of them. Following a tongue-lashing, Twain vowed to

behave. That was a promise he could not keep. Aside from the bad behavior with the

landlady, Twain began answering the letters of constituents in very creative ways. One

town wrote to request a post office. Twain questioned  why in his response - no one

knew there anyway; what they needed was a jail! The backlash from

constituents infuriated Stewart. Twain and Stewart parted company soon after. 

     Stewart mentioned Twain in his autobiography. “I was confident that he would

come to no good end, but I have heard of him from time to time since then, and I

understand he has settled down and become respectable.” Twain and Stewart had more in

common than they cared to admit. Both had an indomitable spirit and had no problems

taking off for extensive journeys. Twain traveled to the west, farther west to Hawaii and

also to the Holy Lands. Stewart left home at an early age with his travels taking him back

east from Ohio to New York, Panama, the west and to Europe several times. They both

became national figures, and were both sometimes successful and sometimes to the point

of financial insolvency. They both spent lavishly, especially on houses.

      E Clampus Vitus was an odd organization similar to the Masons but with fewer rules  

and regulations. The group began in California in 1851. The members, known as

“Clampers”, tended to be the crowd that favored drinking, carousing and high living in

general. It suited the newly developed west. Twain and Stewart joined the group. In fact,

 Stewart started the branch in Virginia City. The group had power in numbers. Some say E

 Clampus Vitus helped Stewart get elected as the first Senator from Nevada.

     The biggest difference between the two giants came toward the end of their 

lives. Twain turned bitter and his writings reflected this. Stewart never gave up on the

dream of finding just one more big silver mine. He traipsed around Nevada on a mule

looking for silver his eighties. Stewart remained the eternal optimist.