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The New York Times, October 9, 1953

MARK TWAIN HOME BURNS
Two-Century-Old Landmark in Redding is $100,000 Loss

Special to THE NEW YORK TIMES

REDDING, Conn., Oct. 8 - A defective oil burner was blamed today for a $100,000 blaze that destroyed a two-century-old house once owned by Mark Twain.

The estimate of the damage was made by the present owner, the Rev. Anson Phelps Stokes Jr., rector of St. Bartholomew's Protestant Episcopal Church, New York, who acquired the twelve-room landmark in 1952 as a summer home. The blaze yesterday afternoon destroyed many antiques, including family heirlooms, according to the owner, who said the loss was partially covered by insurance.

Mark Twain had acquired the house for one of his daughters and had named it the "Lobster Pot" because he said it resembled a lobster trap used in Maine.

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