WGXC Town Recorder Joan Geitz captured the performance of "A True Story by Mark Twain" at the Hudson Opera House Sun. May 29. Presented by Dr. John Cooley with Carline Murphy and Azouke Legba, "A True Story" was told to Mark Twain and his family in 1874 by their cook, Mary Ann Cord. They were so moved by Mrs. Cord's slave narrative of cruelty, family loss, and survival, that Twain reconstructed it on paper, "repeated word for word as I heard it." Co-sponsored by the Hudson Opera House and The Olana Partnership. A True Story was published in Atlantic Monthly magazine in November, 1874. Mary Ann Cord, born into slavery in Virginia in 1798, came to Elmira, New York after the Civil War, and worked at Quarry Farm, the Clemens' summer home, until her death in 1888. Click here to listen to mp3 recording of the performance.