One night, Mark Twain was drunk, and feeling like writing something. At the time, he was working for a newspaper, and wrote up an article. In the article, he essentially accused a few prominent members in Virginia City of embezzling from charity, and he also accused another newspaper of withholding their donations from charity. Now these were some serious accusations, and none of them were actually true. But he was drunk, so he wrote it anyways. By accident, the article was published. And people were pissed.
The other newspaper owner, named James Laird, publicly degraded Twain and called him a liar. Twain decided that the only way to defend his honor was to challenge him to a duel. Laird accepted, and the plan was set. Mark Twain would duel the James Laird to the death.
When it was time for the duel, Twain got one of his buddies and went out to the site early. He confessed that he was actually a terrible shot, and this was a big mistake. His buddy decided to quickly show him how to shoot, so he took aim at a bird, and decapitated it with a single shot.
Right after that, his opponent showed up to duel. He saw the decapitated bird, and he asked who did it. Twain’s buddy thought fast and said that Twain had done it. He also said he was a great shot and could make the shot almost every time he tried.
That spooked Laird, and he decided to talk to Twain. He made amends and asked him if he was willing to call it off. Twain quickly agreed and they parted ways.
Soon after, Twain left Virginia City and moved to San Francisco. He started writing books, and eventually became one of the greatest American authors in history.
If his buddy hadn’t had the quick wit to say that Twain had shot that bird, Huckleberry Finn and Tom Sawyer might not exist today.
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