Mark Twain in German-Language Newspapers and Periodicals

Bermuda

Clemens visited Bermuda several times throughout his life and twice in 1908. The trip that fits the time frame of the article is his stay at the Princess Hotel from 27 Jan.-3 March. He was accompanied by Ralph W. Ashcroft, who had formerly worked as treasurer of the American Plasmon Co. (Lauber 304 and REMT 43) and was subsequently hired by Clemens as a personal travel secretary on the trips to Bermuda (Hoffmann 83) and Oxford in 1907-1908 (REMT 43). Clemens saw this trip primarily as a means to recover his health which had suffered during the winter and to escape his everyday life and activities which he found lacking in variety (Hoffmann 88-89). Clemens’ absence from New York caused the Plasmon bankruptcy case to come to a halt as he held the company books and without them the trustee, C. L. Brookheim, could not proceed with the company inventory. This delay – and Clemens’ part in it – was remarked upon by English-language newspapers as well (see "Looking seaward for Mark Twain" in The sun, 30 Jan. 1908, 12).