Hannibal was a growing community with a sizable amount of commerce. Being a slave town, it was sleepy but not lifeless. "The white town drowsing in the brightness of a summer morning," was how Mark Twain described it. Hannibal had brought John Clemens varied fortunes, and his commercial misfortunes prompted him to sell his slave girl. The majority of the experiences detailed in this book, according to Mark Twain, actually happened.
Original Tom Blankenship, a local waif, was Huck Finn, the "Red-Handed." Six o'clock that steamy morning in the middle of June, sixty miles below Memphis, the Pennsylvania was loading wood when four of its eight boilers suddenly erupted. The house was rather unique compared to other homes at the time; it featured several wings and balconies, as well as a large veranda at the back that overlooked the forested hill. Mark Twain was now widely considered as the greatest American novelist, he said when asked why he constructed the kitchen toward the street. He was a kind and honorable man who was adored by everyone who knew him.
Orion Clemens passed away much as he had lived—a kind dreamer who was constantly hatching new schemes. He was sitting at a table early one morning, writing down the specifics of his most recent endeavor using a pencil and paper, when he suddenly passed away.
