Mark Twain 
An Item Which the Editor Himself Could Not Understand 

Our esteemed friend, Mr. John William Skae, of Virginia City, walked into the office where we are sub-editor at a late hour last night, with an expression of profound and heartfelt suffering upon his countenance, and, sighing heavily, laid the following item reverently upon the desk, and walked slowly out again.  He paused a moment at the door, and seemed struggling to command his feelings sufficiently to enable him to speak, and then, nodding his head toward his manuscript, ejaculated in a broken voice, ‘Friend of mine – oh! how sad!’ and burst into tears.  We were so moved at his distress that we did not think to call him back and endeavor to comfort him until he was gone and it was too late.  The paper had already gone to press, but knowing that our friend would consider the publication of this item important, and cherishing the hope that to print it would afford a melancholy satisfaction to his sorrowing heart, we stopped the press at once and inserted it in our columns… 

About the author

Samuel Langhorne Clemens (November 30, 1835 – April 21, 1910),   known by his pen name Mark Twain, was an American writer, humorist, entrepreneur, publisher, and lecturer.