In a message dated 97-04-03 19:57:53 EST, you write:

<< s there a specific citation for the $5.75 fare mentioned in
 _Extract From Captain Stormfield's Visit to Heaven_.  I've
 gone through the latest Oxford edition of this work and have
 been unable to locate it.

 Barb

Nope, just happened to find it and thought I'd pass it on. It could be
complete
fabrication.         George Kasprzak



 On Thu, 3 Apr 1997, George Kasprzak wrote:

 > I found this the other day, anyone else seen it?
 > comments?
 >
 > Here is the answer to the question of why the $5.00 and quarters in the
 > victims pockets.
 >
 >       Interestingly enough, in 1907, Samuel Langhorne
 >  Clemens, aka Mark Twain, wrote a short story
 >  entitled "Extract from Captain Stormfield's Trip to
 >  Heaven," in which the hero leaves Earth for "an
 >  extended excursion among the heavenly bodies"
 >  on the tail of a comet.
 >       In the story, the hero has his passport on him,
 >  plus five dollars and three 25-cent pieces for the fare.
 >       Many of the Heaven's Gate victims had their
 >  passports on their persons and $5.75 in their hands.
 >  (See New York Post, March 29, 1997, page 6)
  >>