The Adventures Of The Real Tom Sawyer | History & Archaeology | Smithsonian Magazine

The Real Tom Sawyer
Description Frontispiece from The Adventures of Tom Sawyer by Mark Twain (1st ed., 1876): Tom Sawyer fishing | Source Library of Congress ...
Description Frontispiece from The Adventures of Tom Sawyer by Mark Twain (1st ed., 1876): Tom Sawyer fishing | Source Library of Congress ...

On a rainy afternoon in June 1863, Mark Twain was nursing a bad hangover inside Ed Stahle's fashionable Montgomery Street steam rooms, halfway through a two-month visit to San Francisco that would ultimately stretch to three years.

At the baths he played penny ante with Stahle, the proprietor, and Tom Sawyer, the recently appointed customs inspector, volunteer fireman, special policeman and bona fide local hero.

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