Connecticut Yankees in Mark Twain's Life: Will Their Norwalk Home Be Demolished?

Although two Norwalkers may be indirectly immortalized as some of the "The Innocents Abroad" in Mark Twain's book of that title, their Norwalk house is on the verge of being demolished.

When Mark Twain boarded a steamer to embark on the grand tour that would make his literary reputation with the book The Innocents Abroad, four people from Norwalk were among the 75 on the passenger list.

That was one of a number of connections that amateur historians Madeleine D. and Edward S. Eckert recounted in their presentation, "Norwalk & Mark Twain: Being Some Interesting Connections Between the City of Norwalk & Mark Twain," delivered Sunday before an audience of 50 at the Silvermine Arts Center. Madeleine delivered the talk while her husband, Edward, accompanied it with a slide presentation.

Eckert also mentioned several connections, including several artists who portrayed Twain's fictional characters in book illustrations and on murals. Some of the 20th century book illustrations were celebrated in their day, and some Works Progress Administration murals from the 1930s hang promenently in Norwalk City Hall.

But the two most intimate and dramatic connections between the city and the great writer came near the beginning and end of his career, when Norwalkers, either "innocents" and the guilty, were present.

The first four Norwalkers Twain knew?

When the steamer Quaker City left for Europe in 1867, 31-year-old Samuel L. Clemens, among the 75 passengers were Frederick Dimon, 49, and his wife, Rebecca, as well as E. K. Lockwood, then in his mid-30s, and is wife, Harriet.

After the trip, Twain mentioned both Lockwood and Dimon in a humorous letter sent to another passenger. The letter "suggests he was very well acquainted with our Norwalkers," Eckert said. In the letter, Twain compared the ship to Noah's Ark, and the end of the trip to the ark's landing on Mount Ararat, with the "menagerie" of passengers going off, out into the world.

Never fear, Twain wrote, "There be those that are lovelier than Dimon, there be ripples of silvery laughter that issue from other lips than Lockwood's." Only three other passengers were mentioned in the letter, along with the captain of the ship, Eckert said.

Dimon was a prominent shipping magnate in New York City, although he lived in Norwalk in a home on West Avenue, between Chapel and Merwin streets. Ships he owned or partly owned plied the Atlantic, bringing many Irish to America. Others shipped along the East Coast. In 1856 one writer described his company as "one of the 19 largest ship owners in the country, and probably world."

His passport describes him as having a florid complexion and a large nose. Shortly after they returned from the cruise, the Dimons moved from Norwalk to New York City.

But the one-time home of two of the Lockwoods still stands at 41 High St.—although it may not stand much longer. A demolition notice has been posted on the two-story Italianate Victorian structure, which is still imposing, even though much of its lawn has been paved over.

At Eckert's invitation Tod Bryant, president of the Norwalk Preservation Trust, stood up and said a few words about the house's possible demise. Bryant said the Norwalk Historical Commission has delayed the demolition and scheduled a meeting for March 23, at a place not yet determined, at which time further steps may be taken to protect the building from demolition.

Eckert said she imagined the house must have some beautiful features inside, since it's sai to have parquet floors, floor to ceiling windows, marble baths and beautiful wood trim. (Pictures of the exterior of the house accompany this article.)

Edward K. Lockwood

From his father, a prominent businessman in Norwalk, Edward Lockwood inherited various business interests, including the Winnipauk Woollen Mill. Lockwood served on the governing boards of local banks and was a selectman for the then Town of Norwalk, as well as a vestryman, warden and treasurer for St. Paul's Church on the Green, where he, his wife and various relatives are buried in the churchyard.

The Lockwoods were distant relations of LeGrande Lockwood who built the large home later known as Lockwood-Mathews Mansion, Eckert said. She pointed out that Leon Marcotte, a prominent interior designer in the 19th century, decorated parts of the interiors both of Lockwood-Mathews and the house Mark Twain owned in Hartford before moving to Redding late in his life.

Eckert read from a biography published later in Lockwood's life. She said the biography stated: "Mr. Lockwood presents us the advice which the experiences of a long and fruitful life enabled him to give with a special import. He said very simply, get an educaton and cultivate proper observance of all laws."

She then commented, "Can you imagine Sam's amusement at spending five months aboard the Quaker City with this crowd?"

Twain may have been familiar with the South Norwalk train station before he moved into his new home in Redding on June 18, 1908, Eckert said, but he certainly would have become familiar with the station afterward. To get to it from his stays in New York City, Twain would have had to stop in South Norwalk to transfer to the Danbury Branch.

According to some accounts, Twain was a frequent guest at the Clifford Hotel, close by the station on South Main Street. Eckert said that according to a 1902 Norwalk directory listing for the hotel, it had 70 rooms, 30 baths an elevator and telephones.

Bumbling burglars

Eckert went on to describe "our town's most infamous connection to Mr. Twain which we like to call 'The Great Twain Robbery.'"

Charles Hoffman, at one time a resident of South Norwalk, moved to New York City and became acquainted with Henry Williams, a more experienced burglar. After reading newspaper accounts of Twain's home, the two decided to burglarize the place. They took a train from New York, transferred in South Norwalk and traveled up to Redding, where they waited in bushes on the evening of Sept. 16, 1908, near Twain's house as the lights eventually all went out.

Hoffman made it into the house through an open kitchen window, then he opened the front door for Williams. In the dining room, the two couldn't quietly open a locked sideboard containing the silverware, so they carried it outside, well away from the house, then broke into the sideboard and stuffed the silverware into their sacks. The two then went back into Twains house to search for more.

It was at that point that Hoffman tripped over a large brass bowl on the floor, not realizing that Williams had placed it thereto get it off the sideboard they were moving. The sound woke the inhabitants of the house, including Mark Twain, who thought some family celebration was going on. He simply turned over in bed and went back to sleep.

But once the others had been wakened, the burglars were chased off. Before they were able to catch the next train for New York at the Bethel station, the Twain household had used their telephone to notify a sheriff. Together with a posse of about a dozen men, the sheriff  entered the train in West Redding. When Hoffman saw them, he bolted, then jumped from the moving train, but he was later tracked down. Williams was arrested on the train.

The story about Mark Twain being robbed was picked up by newspapers across the country. ("Noted humorist likely to testify against men who looted his Redding home" ran one sub-headline.)

Twain enjoyed relating that he enrolled both of the burglars' names in his home's guest book, noting they were there "without permission" and listing their address as "The State Penitentiary."

Both Williams and Hoffman did serve sentences of several years in the state penitentiary in Wethersfield. Williams wrote a book about his experiences as a criminal and in prison. Later he settled in Hartford. Hoffman left prison and apparently disappeared from the historical record.

Shortly after the burglary, Twain posted a notice on the front door of his house. It read:

Notice.

To the next Burglar.

There is nothing but plated ware in this house, now and henceforth.

You will find it in that brass thing in the dining-room over in the corner by the basket of kittens.

If you want the basket, put the kittens in the brass thing. Do not make a noise—it disturbs the family.

You will find rubbers in the front hall by that thing which has the umbrellas in it, chiffonier, I think they call it, or pergola, or something like that.

Please close the door when you go away!

Very truly yours

S. L. Clemens

Twain attended the preliminary hearing held at the West Redding Town House on the afternoon of the arrests, and he confronted the prisoners, telling them: "Now you two young men have been up to my house, stealing my tinware, and got pulled in by these Yankees up here. ... Don't you see where you're drifting to? They'll send you from here down to Bridgeport jail, and the next thing you know you'll be in the United States Senate. There's no other future left open to you."