Mark Twain Visits Ellicott City Station

It was that on the 10th of June, 1909 after traveling from New York on the B&O’s Royal Blue and transferring to a local train at Camden Station, that Mark Twain found himself walking through the Ellicott City Station. Passing through the Main Waiting Room, down the narrow stairs and out to the street he met a carriage dispatched to transport him up to Catonsville where he would be the guest speaker at the commencement exercises for
Saint Timothy’s School for Girls.

His address that day was short, to the point and typical Twain:

“I don't know what to tell you girls to do. Mr. Martin has told you everything you ought to do, and now I must give you some don'ts.

There are three things which come to my mind which I consider excellent advice:

First, girls, don't smoke--that is, don't smoke to excess. I am seventy- three and a half years old, and have been smoking seventy-three of them. But I never smoke to excess--that is, I smoke in moderation, only one cigar at a time.

Second, don't drink--that is, don't drink to excess.

Third, don't marry--I mean, to excess.

Honesty is the best policy. That is an old proverb; but you don't want ever to forget it in your journey through life.”

This was to be Mark Twain’s last public address. He passed away 10 months later.

Courtney B. Wilson

Executive Director

Mt. Clare Telegrapher John Edward Spurrier

The period ink inscription on the back of this post Civil War period tin type photograph indicates that this young gentleman is John Edward Spurrier who was the telegrapher at Mt. Clare. In those days the little trapezoidal brick Mt. Clare Depot (which replaced the first 1831 wooden station in 1851 and is still preserved as a part of the B&O Railroad Museum) still served some Baltimore passengers as well as freight trains alongside the new big city depot Camden Station located several blocks east.

John E. Spurrier began his career during the Civil War in 1862 as the telegraph operator along the B&O line near Mount Airy, Maryland before being transferred to the little depot at Mt. Clare in Baltimore. Though physically small, the telegraph office inside Mt. Clare Depot held an important post. It was the only telegraph office for the B&O’s huge Mt. Clare shop complex where, during this period, more than 2,000 workers plied their trades building and maintaining the B&O Railroad.

John Spurrier was not the first of his family to work for the B&O. His grandfather, Thomas, was an engineer on a “Grasshopper” locomotive that operated between Mount Airy, Maryland and Frederick, Maryland in the 1840s and his father, Edward, was an operating official in Baltimore.

It’s rare to find a photograph from this period that has both the subject’s name and occupation. Without someone’s forethought, this wistful young man and his story would have been lost to the ages. Maybe it’s worth going through your box of family photographs one wintry night and jotting down some names and, even, a few interesting facts about your relative’s life and times…you never know.

Courtney B. Wilson

Executive Director