The Man That Corrupted Hadleyburg

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"The Man That Corrupted Hadleyburg" is a piece of short fiction by Mark Twain. It first appeared in Harper's Monthly in December 1899, and was subsequently published by Harper Collins in the collection The Man That Corrupted Hadleyburg and Other Stories and Sketches (1900).

[edit] Plot Summary

Chapter I

Hadleyburg enjoys the reputation of being an “incorruptible” town known for its responsible, honest people that are trained to avoid temptation. However, at some point the people of Hadleyburg manage to offend a passing stranger, and he vows to get his revenge by corrupting the town.

The stranger's plan centers around a sack of gold, dropped off at the house of Mr. and Mrs. Richards, a model couple in the town. The sack is to be given to a man who purportedly helped the stranger long ago with some advice – the man will be identified by his accurate recount of the remark he said at the time. Mr. and Mrs. Richards inform the town of the situation, only too late considering the possibility of keeping the gold for themselves. Meanwhile, the story spreads all throughout the country, and Hadleyburg becomes the subject of national attention.

Chapter II

The residents beam with pride as the praises of Hadleyburg are sung across the nation, but the mood soon changes. Initially reluctant to give in to the temptation of the sack of gold, soon even the most upstanding citizens are trying to guess the remark.

Mr. and Mrs. Richards receive a letter from a stranger revealing the remark: “You are far from being a bad man: go, and reform.” Mrs. Richards is ecstatic that they will be able to claim the gold. At the same time, 18 other citizens in the town have received the exact same letter. Expecting to get the sack of gold, they begin to recklessly purchase things on credit in anticipation of their future wealth. The townspeople submit their claims to the sack to Reverend Burgess, who is in charge of holding on to them.

Chapter III

A town hall meeting is held to decide the rightful owner of the sack, and it is packed with residents, outsiders, and reporters. Burgess reads the first two claims, and quickly a dispute arises between two members of the town. Both of their letters contain nearly the same remark. To settle which is right, Burgess cuts open the sack and finds a note that reveals the full remark: “You are far from being a bad man – go, and reform – or, mark my words – some day, for your sins you will die and go to hell or Hadleyburg – try and make it the former.” Neither man's claim includes the second half of remark.

The next claim reads the same, and the town hall bursts into laughter at the obvious dishonesty. Burgess continues to read the rest of the claims, all identical, each greeted with boisterous mocking by the crowd. One by one the prominent couples of the town are publicly shamed. Mr. and Mrs. Richards rise to admit their guilt before their name is read, but are unsuccessful. The Richardses await their name with anguish, but surprisingly it is never read.

With all the claims presented, another note in the sack is opened. It reveals the stranger's plot and his desire for revenge. He says that it was foolish for the citizens of Hadleyburg to always avoid temptation, because it is easy to corrupt those who have never had their resolve tested. It is discovered the sack contains not gold but lead pieces. A townsperson proposes to auction the lead off and give the money to the Richardses, the only prominent couple in town that did not have their name read off. Mr. and Mrs. Richards are in despair, unsure whether to come clean and stop the auction or to accept the money.

The stranger who set up the whole scheme in the first place has been in the town hall the whole time. He contrives to reward the Richardses for their supposed honesty by buying the sack then selling it for its price in gold, a feat he manages to accomplish.

Chapter IV

The following day the stranger delivers checks totaling $38,500 to the Richardses. They fret about whether they should burn them. A message arrives from Burgess, explaining that he intentionally kept the Richards' claim from being read as a way to return an old favor done to him by Mr. Richards.

Mr. and Mrs. Richards become distraught over their situation. They grow paranoid and start to think Burgess has revealed their dishonesty to other people in the town. Their anxiety causes them both to fall ill and Mr. Richards confesses their guilt shortly before he and his wife die. Hadleyburg, with its reputation irreparably damaged, decides to rename itself. The story ends with the line “It is an honest town once more, and the man will have to rise early that catches it napping again.”

[edit] Adaptations

The story was adapted into a 37-minute television film as part of the PBS American Short Stories series. It first aired on March 17, 1980. A DVD version of the film was released on November 16, 2004.

Another adaptation of the story, featuring the Persky Ridge Players and filmed at a theater in Glasgow, Montana, had a VHS release on October 2, 2000.

[edit] External links

• The Man That Corrupted Hadleyburg - in an easy to read, page by page format.
• The Man That Corrupted Hadleyburg, available at Project Gutenberg.

Works of Mark Twain (Samuel Clemens)

Fiction: Advice for Little Girls • The Celebrated Jumping Frog of Calaveras County • General Washington's Negro Body-Servant • My Late Senatorial Secretaryship • Mark Twain's (Burlesque) Autobiography and First Romance • The Gilded Age: A Tale of Today • The Adventures of Tom Sawyer • 1601: Conversation, as it was by the Social Fireside, in the Time of the Tudors • The Prince and the Pauper • Adventures of Huckleberry Finn • A Connecticut Yankee in King Arthur's Court • The American Claimant • Tom Sawyer Abroad • Pudd'nhead Wilson • Tom Sawyer, Detective • Personal Recollections of Joan of Arc • The Man That Corrupted Hadleyburg • A Double Barrelled Detective Story • Edmund Burke on Croker and Tammany • A Dog's Tale • King Leopold's Soliloquy • The War Prayer • The $30,000 Bequest and Other Stories • A Horse's Tale • Captain Stormfield's Visit to Heaven • Letters from the Earth • The Mysterious Stranger • No. 44, The Mysterious Stranger Non Fiction: The Innocents Abroad • Memoranda (monthly column) • Roughing It • Old Times on the Mississippi • A Tramp Abroad • Life on the Mississippi • How to Tell a Story and other Essays • Following the Equator • What Is Man? • Christian Science • Is Shakespeare Dead? • Queen Victoria's Jubilee • Mark Twain's Autobiography • Mark Twain's Notebook • Mark Twain's Weapons of Satire: Anti-Imperialist Writings on the Philippine-American War • The Bible According to Mark Twain: Writings on Heaven, Eden, and the Flood Short Story Books: Sketches New and Old • A True Story and the Recent Carnival of Crime • Punch, Brothers, Punch! and other Sketches • Merry Tales • The £1,000,000 Bank Note and Other New Stories