Sept. 20, 1906 (Thursday)

PEOPLE IN NEW YORK ARE A BIT MORE CASUAL ABOUT GOLD SHIPMENT THAN PEOPLE IN LONDON: The greatest delivery of gold in one ship ever delivered to New York City arrived yesterday on board the Cunard liner Carmania, which is shown above. The gold is worth about $10.3 million. It's about 82,000 pounds, in about 275 boxes, weighing between 250 and 300 pounds apiece. It came from London. On board, there were round-the-clock guards. The article in today's New York Times says, "New York took the great gold shipment less seriously." The shipment was taken from the docks on ordinary two-horse trucks, guarded by private citizens, whose only hint of an ability to protect the gold came from "significant lumps in the region of the hip pocket." There's more: "The boxes might have been filled with iron washers for all the signs of caution in evidence."

TWAIN SETS THE RECORD STRAIGHT: Many newspaper editors and publishers gathered last night at the Waldorf-Astoria in New York City -- as part of a gathering of The Associated Press. One of the speakers was Mark Twain, who was introduced by the AP's general manager, Melville E. Stone.
The AP man mentioned in the introduction that Twain was "the inspiration of the first press club in America."
Here's Twain's response: "That is the first inaccurate statement I ever heard Mr. Stone make. The truth is that the inspiration was due to a jug that some one carried in. That club is still running."